XL PLANTER

XL planter residential development inscribes itself on a sloped land defined by two intersecting roads. It is situated in a calm residential neighborhood, overlooking the heart of Beirut's cityscape and the green valley's landscape.

 

 

The area once was completely untouched and green. Wild plants still invade parts of the hills, and edges of the site. When standing on the plot, one's sight can still wonder from one vale to another.


Residents of Baabda escape the harsh concrete reality that the city is irrevocably drifting towards.

 

The building reads as an uninterrupted succession of green pockets, extended private terraces, and recessed intimate semi outdoor patios.

The green roof insulates the building. All the glazed panels are recessed on the south façade, to protect the residents from the strong summer sun. The apartments have a stretched façade towards the view, with an open layout allowing cross ventilation to cool down the space naturally in summer. All the units have different configurations, emphasizing the individuality of each flat. Residents would feel that they are living in private green havens.

The project stands on that hill, as a tribute to what used to be and a greener vision of erecting structures in the urban landscape. Instead of ornamenting the edges of terraces and niches with scarce flowerbeds, the building itself becomes a giant planter. The landscape infiltrates and punctures the site's extruded mass. Three cuts pierce laterally through the long and narrow structure to connect the lower and upper road at the pedestrian scale.