The project was firstly thought as a system that supports a line that connects both citizens and waterfront. The system first identifies the main problems in Beirut and the port area. Some of the identified problems in Beirut are water pollution, excess waste, hunger, the port's isolation from the city, and the lack of contact with people on the waterfront. It is predicted that the problems were distributed in three big areas while focusing on the similarities. These are the problems that affect the economy and development of Beirut, the isolation of the port from the city, and the ecological life. In the light of the problems, It is determined that three different approaches concepts in order to be able to solve these problems. These concepts are ecological, attainability, and economic approaches.
The Project followed the four-leaf clover method when setting up the system. The steps followed are understanding the problems, suggesting solutions to the issues, keeping the port alive, and connecting the port with the city with these solutions.
Some suggestions are made for solving the problems. In order to increase the connection of the port with the city, a square suggested to remember the explosion area and also a treatment system to purify the polluted water in the port, and an urban market for the production and sale of products to revive the economy. Combining the concerns in the port area with the problems in Beirut, three approaches were implemented in three hubs in the system.
The main concern in the innermost part of the port is the sea pollution, which is the most intense region due to the stagnant water flow and the pollution caused by the wastes intertwined with the city. As a strategy, it has been suggested a dense ecological system that will reduce sea and air pollution in this area with urban farming space and with a water treatment center.
The main concern in the area of the explosion is that this area has lost all meaning as the most damaged area from the explosion and is completely cut off from the city. As a solution strategy, it is suggested to construct a social system in order to be the main connection point with the city and waterfront and to use this area as a collective memory area that will remind the explosion that has become a part of the city.
Finally, the irregular and unusable distribution of large-scale containers at the sea entrance of the port and large vessels were identified as concerns. As a strategy, it was suggested that the area to be used by large boats should be determined as here and that the events related to transportation and export-import that affect the economy should be gathered here as an economic system.
After determining the concerns and strategies of these hubs, a spine system connecting the hubs and proposals are proposed. The spine aims to create the whole system by continuing the continuity on the waterfront, acting differently according to the concerns and solutions in each zone. Roads in the context of Beirut also define moveable spaces in a layered way, and the main spine works together in different layers to define indoor and outdoor spaces.
Accordingly, it is a system that takes people from the city and returns them to the city by establishing different relations with the sea in the hubs. In the eco-approach hub, the sub-spines work with the water treatment system as infrastructure. In the attainability hub, they work as a human collector while in the economic hub they worked as cargo, and container connectors. The hubs that formed with the extension of urban porosity as economic, eco, and attainability
The idea of strengthening both the port and the city's relationship with the waterfront by trying to solve the problems in Beirut at the port is based on some analysis. When the human population in Beirut is examined, it is seen that the living part is mostly concentrated in the lower part of Beirut.
At the same time, it has been analyzed that the cultural venues that tourists from other cities such as Lebanon will visit are interrupted in the port and the port is just an element that is overlooked.
The points entering the port from the city were considered important for the concept of keeping the port alive and making it public. In this context, when looking at the urban corridors coming from other cities in Beirut, it is seen that there are 3 main corridors and one main entrance from each corridor to the port. These points contributed to the determination of the porosity nodes in the spine system.