Ramlet Al Bayda
Bringing back the old Beirut corniche
Project description
Ramlet Al Bayda is a prominent neighborhood in Beirut, famous for its sandy beach and crowded summers. The project aimed to take a new look at this part of the city, and propose a vision that would enhance the pedestrian experience along the corniche and benefits from its spectacular natural assets.
The brief
The Beirut Municipality aimed to achieve two objectives:
- Improving the pedestrian experience along the Beirut corniche and rehabilitating the Ramlet Al Bayda strip
- Reducing the vehicular flow with the intent of reducing the dominance of cars as a mode of transportation in the city
- Our response
- Designing a landscape anchored around platforms that can be used by residents for a diverse array of programs (leisure, sports, pop up retail, …)
- Extending the corniche and limiting the flow of vehicular traffic adjacent to it
- Brining back historic Beirut trees into the corniche, providing a spectrum of shades and colors that vary along the seasons and protects pedestrians from extreme climatic conditions
- Introducing the only walkable pier in Beirut as an extension to the corniche
- Improving accessibility towards the sandy beach, specifically for the population with disability
- Rethinking the totality of the neighborhood and devising a framework that connects all the public spaces in a manner that provides complementarity and a diversity of user experiences
