The Cube / Orange Architects

Architects: Orange Architects

Location: Beirut, LebanonClient:   Masharii, BeirutStructural Engineer: Senmar Engineering & Consultants, BeirutProject Area: 19 apartments, 3600 m2 (surface), 50m (height)Project Year: 2011-2013

Orange Architects, a partnership between Dutch architecture firms JSA, CIMKA andHofmanDujardin, shared with us their design of a luxury apartment block on Plot 941 in Sin el Fil, an eastern district of Beirut. The design was commissioned by the Lebanese development corporation Masharii.  The 50-metre-tall block will contain 19 apartments ranging in size from 90 to 180 m2.

Follow us after the break for more on this project.

The concept for the tower is simple but extraordinarily effective: ‘maximizing’, making optimal use of the site’s potential, the local building code and the fantastic views of Beirut and the Mediterranean. Within this conceptual framework, the team of architects sought to develop an extensive program that reflected the potential of the building. Primarily, the floor plans are 100-percent flexible, reaching the maximum allowable height of the building and optimizing the view from each apartment.

Fixed core of lifts and staircases at the heart of the building pose few constraints for the layout of the apartments on each floor. The floors run straight from the core to the exterior walls, which are composed of two transparent façades and two supporting walls on each floor, rotated 90 degrees per level. The walls, which are perforated, largely determine the appearance of both the exterior and the interior. The core also serves to stabilize the tower, which is in a seismologically active area.