Beirut explosion was like a "nuclear blast" say Lebanese architects and designers

Architects and designers in Beirut have shared their first-hand accounts of the huge explosion that destroyed a large part of the city on Tuesday, with one describing the devastation as "beyond an apocalypse".

"I thought it was a tsunami or a bomb, or even a nuclear blast," said architect Lina Ghotmeh, who witnessed the massive explosion from a waterside cafe.

"No one can possibly imagine the scale of the disaster, it is beyond an apocalypse, the entire city is in rubbles," said co-founder of design studio T Sakhi, Tessa Sakhi, who was at home when the explosion happened.

"PSLab Beirut HQ is gone, completely wiped," added Rania Abboud, communications director of lighting designer PSLab.

Large parts of Beirut including Lian Ghotmeh's Stone Garden project were damaged in the explosion. Photo is by Lina Ghotmeh

The explosion at a warehouse where 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate was being stored on 4 August caused widespread destruction in the Lebanese capital.

It is estimated to have killed 149 people and injured more than 5,000. Local architect Jean-Marc Bonfils was among the dead.

A number of buildings in the city were also destroyed or badly damaged, among them Pierre Neema's 1965 headquarters for power company Électricité du Liban and the Sursock Museum.

"I honestly still don't believe we are alive"

"Since it happened by the seaside, the explosion was very powerful," Ghotmeh told Dezeen. "You could feel that the water had actually taken on a lot of the charge of the explosion."

Ghotmeh, who was shortlisted for a Dezeen Award in 2018 and had just completed her first project in Beirut, was sitting in a small cafe by the water across from the part of the port where the incident occurred when the warehouse exploded.

"What was really surprising were the red fumes coming out of the water," she continued.

"It was surreal because you couldn't understand if it was bombardment from a plane, a natural event, or something chemical because the fumes were a completely different colour. I thought it was a tsunami or a bomb, or even a nuclear blast."

Numerous houses in the city were ruined by the explosion. Photo is by Tessa Sakhi

Ghotmeh stayed on the scene with her son and her family in the aftermath of the explosion.

"You just stay in place because you don't know what's going to happen – having left the war, in these events, one bomb happens and then you expect another, so you stay in place and wait to understand what's happening," she explained.

"Then you discover the consequences," she continued. "My sister's home was completely shattered, my eight-year-old nephew was hit by shattered glass. My partner's office completely collapsed – the false ceiling was ripped off and four-metres high glass panels were shattered."

"I was there just 30 minutes before the explosion and I honestly still don't believe we are alive."

"Every single person in the city and outskirts had a near-death experience"

Beirut-based architect Sakhi, who was in her house four kilometres away from the explosion, thought that she was witnessing an earthquake.

"I thought it was a strong earthquake and since I live in a typical old Lebanese house, I was afraid it might collapse," she told Dezeen.

"I grabbed both my dogs and the next thing I remember was a massive sound of an explosion," she said. "My windows exploded, glass shattered everywhere, ceilings and walls were falling, objects exploded, and there was immense smoke."

Sakhi tried to get to the only room in her house without windows, something she says her parents taught her and her sister during the Lebanese civil war, but the ceiling had fallen.

It is "beyond an apocalypse," Sakhi said. Photo is by Tessa Sakhi

"Every single person in the city and outskirts had a near-death experience and is suffering from physical injuries and emotional trauma," she explained. "Physical and psychological scars we will carry for the rest of our lives."

"The scale of the explosion and the amount of damage it has caused will take years to rebuild."

"It's like a nuclear bomb happened"

Ghotmeh recently completed her first project in Beirut, the Stone Garden housing complex, which is located about a kilometre from where the explosion occurred.

"The next day I went to the site immediately," the architect said.

"I was shaking because it's close by and I didn't know what to expect. And it was there, just standing, but all the glass had shattered completely. It's like a nuclear bomb happened."

Only a few apartments were occupied, and the tenants and people working on the project had all escaped unharmed.

Tenants and workers escaped unharmed as Stone Gardens was hit by the blast. Photo is by Lina Ghotmeh

Ghotmeh had intended the building to be a bunker or protective shield for the city. "As a child here, you grew up with the city completely destroyed and being reconstructed," she said.

"It has always been able to rebuild but that always a part of the feeling and I wondered, how can architecture be a place of shelter?"

All the glass in the Stone Garden complex had shattered. Photo is by Lina Ghotmeh

Lighting designer PSLab said that its Beirut headquarters, which includes one of the city's only Bauhaus buildings was been completely destroyed.

"PSLab Beirut HQ is gone, completely wiped," said Abboud, communications director of the lighting brand. "One of our buildings is one of the only remaining Bauhaus buildings of Lebanon. Structurally it is not salvable."

The PSLab in Beirut is "gone, completely wiped." Photo is by PSLab

According to Abboud, much of the neighbourhood surrounding the headquarters was also destroyed, but she was confident it would be rebuilt.

"Our neighborhood has a small gem collection of old Lebanese houses – they are mostly gone," she continued. "It will surely rebuild. We will rebuild. But the old Mar Michael and Gemayze neighborhood is forever gone."

Increasing anger with "corrupt government"

In the aftermath of the explosion the people of Beirut have come out to help get the city back to normal, but there is also a lot of anger among residents.

"There is a lot of anger as well, against the government and against the negligence that has been happening," said Ghotmeh. "People want to change that."

Abboud added that she was "angry" as "for five years we have been working with those dangerous chemicals under our noses."

Beirut residents are angry about the negligence behind the explosion. Photo is by PSLab

According to Sakhi there is little sign of help from the Lebanese government on the ground.

"The French and German aids are present, yesterday the French president was amongst us on the streets," she said. "But none of our so-called Lebanese authority aids, and a government we have been revolting against since our Revolution in October 2019."

There is now "massive anger" over corrupt government, Sakhi said. Photo is by Tessa Sakhi

People are devastated, she added. "Our homes were our only safe haven from such an unstable country, now we are left with nothing. Grief and mourning, for the friends and family we lost and got injured. And anger. Massive anger towards our corrupt government for their 40 years of murders and criminal acts."

The explosion ravaged some of the city's most important and historical architectural landmarks, as well as museums, galleries, residences and residencies.

"They survived the 15 years civil-war but did not survive this explosion, that is how strong it was," said Sakhi. The structural, electrical, mechanical and plumbing works are just inconceivable at this moment due to our financial and economical crisis. We do not have any money whatsoever to buy nor import anything."

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Black staircase twists up Joseph store in Miami Design District

London studio Sybarite has designed a store for fashion label Joseph in the Miami Design District to include round balconies, curved railings spiral stairs as a reference to the city's seaside architecture.

A black metal corkscrew staircase is among the details that takes cues from Miami's seaside architecture dating back to the 1940s and 50s.

Featuring contrasting white polished-marble stair treads, it twists through a circular opening to lead from womenswear on the ground floor to menswear and accessories on the first floor.

Smoked-black glass wraps around the opening with a curved black balustrade adding to the decorative motifs. Sybarite said other details include the irregular wall cutouts that form windows.

Marking the fashion label's largest store to date, the 243-square-metre Miami Design District space is among a number the British studio has designed for the fashion label.

In each, Sybarite follows the theme of opposites common in Joseph apparel with contrasting tones of black and white, and harsh and soft materials.

"Our designs for Joseph are based on opposites and the unexpected to provide a complete brand experience for the customer," said Sybarite co-founder Simon Mitchell.

White-painted walls and concrete floors are a backdrop to black metalwork fitted with LED lighting that forms frames around clothing rails and extends up in an angular form to meet the ceiling.

Plinths for bags and shoes made from oriented-strand board (OSB), brass and Corian are arranged in groups on an area of the ground floor marked by a brass grid embedded in the concrete floor.

A pop of colour is provided by the till desk made of Italian green marble, following on from a recurring concept in Jospeph stores in which a different marble from around the world is used.

Sybarite has also used geometric shapes of softer carpeting, as and rich shearlings and velvet upholstery in the changing rooms, to add a more cosy elements.

The studio completed the Joseph store in 2018 making the latest addition to the Miami Design District, which property developer Craig Robins transformed from a formerly neglected area into the hub for design boutiques, luxury fashion brands and art galleries.

Other fashion brands that have opened up architecturally interesting shops in the area include Christian Louboutin, which has a flagship store covered in tree bark, Dior, which has a boutique sheathed in curved white concrete panels, and Tom Ford, which is housed in a pleated concrete shop designed by Aranda\Lasch.

Founded in 2002, Sybarite has completed a number of retail and hospitality interiors, including shops for fashion houses Alberta Ferretti and Marni.

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Unused Microchips, Motherboards, and Other Electronic Waste Make This Upcycled Watch Tick

All images © Vollebak

Recent reports estimate that the world produced 53.6 million metric tons of electronic waste last year alone, a record high that’s expected only to rise. In an effort to prevent digging up precious materials like gold, silver, and aluminum just to return them to the ground later on as trash, the sustainable fashion brand Vollebak has introduced Garbage Watch.

As its name suggests, the upcycled timepiece is constructed with old motherboards, microchips, and computer parts, utilizing bright electrical cords as the strap with an open face and exposed mechanisms. “We’ve taken an ‘inside-out’ design approach with the Garbage Watch, making the functional inner workings highly visible,” said Vollebak co-founder Nick Tidball in a statement to Inhabitat. “Our aim was to reframe an often invisible and hazardous end of the supply chain, and make people think deeply about the impact of treating their wearables in a disposable manner.”

An undertaking in partnership with the Wallpaper* Re-Made project, the timepiece officially launches in 2021, although a waitlist is currently open. Until then, find more of Vollebak’s sustainable designs on Instagram.

 

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UK government attempting to "destroy" planning system say architects and critics

The UK government's planning reform proposals, which were revealed yesterday, will fail to address the root causes of England's housing crisis according to architects and critics.

The government's Planning for the Future white paper, which aims to reform the planning system, prioritises the interests of developers over the building of good-quality, affordable housing, architects told Dezeen.

"The government are proposing to hand volume housebuilders the right to build whatever they want," warned architect Charles Holland. "This is unlikely to be either beautiful or affordable."

"While there's no doubt the planning system needs reform, these shameful proposals do almost nothing to guarantee the delivery of affordable, well-designed and sustainable homes," said RIBA president Alan Jones.

White paper aims to fast-track development

In the Planning for the Future report, the government laid out proposals for ways to fast-track schemes that conform to pre-set beauty standards or will be built in areas earmarked for development.

Prime minister Boris Johnson called the proposals "radical reform unlike anything we have seen since the second world war". The current planning system was created in 1947.

But the proposals are an attempt to "destroy" the planning system, according to Dezeen columnist Owen Hatherley, who noted that while affordable housing was a focus of the white paper, the question of social housing was conspicuously absent.

"Since 2010, the government has had only one idea for planning," he said. "To attempt to at once destroy it and social housing along with it, while also preserving the pickled villages and protected landscapes that make up the Tory base."

"There's not enough provision for social housing"

Co-founder of architecture firm dRMM Sadie Morgan called on the industry to "make the best of the reforms proposed" but agreed that there "are aspects in the reforms that are of concern", especially relating to social housing.

"There's not enough provision for social housing, which needs much greater investment," Morgan told Dezeen.

"The target for carbon-neutral homes by 2050 is too slow and design codes are only ever as good as the client and architect who interpret them,".

"But I do welcome the commitment to good design; the involvement of local people in the planning process as early as possible; and the recognition of local services through a hopefully non-negotiable infrastructure levy," added Morgan, who was given an OBE for services to the advocacy of design in the built environment.

Housing crisis caused by "structural inequalities"

The UK is currently in the grip of a housing crisis, with an estimated 8.4 million people living in unaffordable or insecure houses according to the National Housing Federation.

The possibility of scrapping section 106 – a legal agreement between a planning applicant and the planning authority to provide infrastructure to make an otherwise unacceptable planning application, acceptable – was floated in the paper.

The plans would turn the existing community infrastructure levy into a single tax based on floor space that would be paid by the developer to the local authority upon occupation. A discount would be available for including affordable homes in developments.

"While the government has identified a lack of affordable housing as a major problem, this isn't an effective plan to deal with it," Holland told Dezeen.

"The white paper blames the planning process for delays and blocks to housing development and therefore proposes deregulation as the answer," he added.

"The housing crisis is really about structural inequalities between different areas of the UK. What we should be doing is addressing how to create jobs and places to live across the country as a whole."

"Marginalisation of architects here is shocking"

The proposals also marginalise the opinion of architects, according to Holland.

"It is also very noticeable how absent architects and architecture is from government thinking," he said.  "If you want to increase the quality of housing design in the UK then the marginalisation of architects here is shocking."

RIBA president Jones agreed that the proposals missed the point, warning the changes could "lead to the creation of the next generation of slum housing".

"The housing crisis isn't just about numbers, and deregulation won't solve it," he said.

"If the government is serious about addressing the dominant position of large housebuilders and the lack of quality social housing, the secretary of state needs to make changes to the tax system, look at why land approved for development lies untouched for years, and give local authorities power and resource to promote and safeguard quality."

The architecture community responded with similar energy last year when the government announced its commission into improving design quality. The Building Better, Building Beautiful final report eventually recommended the fast-track for beauty included in the Planning for the Future document.

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Lauren Thorson’s graphic design practice shows dedication and a profound fascination with the field

Following an explorative relationship with the medium, through to her studies to being a teacher now, we learn more about this designer bringing out the true craft of design.

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