Vertical Garden influenced by a public garden located in the adjacent 1960s Electricité du Liban headquarters that is no longer accessible to the public. The aim is to reintroduce a more space-efficient vertical green space that the community could enjoy.

The concept consisted of lifting key contextual elements – traditional building material and Lebanese gardens – and reworking them with contemporary interpretations. Conventional wood and dark stone juxtapose an unexpected contrast in vivid red metal, and space-efficient vertical gardens replaced their horizontal predecessors. These elements complement the diversity of the surrounding context.

While it looks like a simple geometric shape from afar, the structure consists of three parallel elongated blocks each with a unique identity that’s revealed on approach, while a cantilevered section that extends out towards the street emphasizes the building’s partly public function, a contemporary art gallery that occupies the ground floor to introduce a cultural and commercial element to the project.

East Village includes 13 loft units, each of the double height characteristic of the region: 10 duplexes, two penthouses with pools on each of their terraces, and one simplex, its balcony framed by red metal. On the simplex’s terrace is a private bar that overlooks the pubs and lounges scattered across Gemayzeh and through Downtown, exposing a panoramic view of the city.

“East Village is a kind of suprematist composition playing with the paradoxical conditions of today and linking us to a kind of paradigm” – Jean Marc Bonfils.

Architecture:
J.M.Bonfils and Associates
Lead Architects: Jean-Marc Bonfils
Project location: Mar Mikhael, Beirut – Lebanon
Completion Year: 2015
Gross Built Area: 8000 sqm

Photography:
Art Director Kinan Mansour – Director Chadi Younes – Wael Khoury Photography

Collaborator Architects :
Marwan Matta & Lea Ksayer

Consultants:
Structural Engineers: Rodolphe Mattar
M.E.P Engineers: Kamal Sioufi & Associates
Contractors: Kfoury Contracting & Engineering