http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&Article_id=6736
By Kaelen Wilson-Goldie
Daily Star staff
Thursday, July 29, 2004
BEIRUT: The story of Beirut's urban regeneration over the fifteen years since the civil war ended has overlapped substantially with the narrative of Solidere, the private real estate company founded by Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and charged with rebuilding the city center. With its emphasis on real estate speculation and physical construction, on up-market restaurants, luxury retail outlets, and high-rise commercial complexes, Solidere has garnered no shortage of criticism from those who argue that the new downtown is economically self-selecting (meaning the city's middle and lower classes are effectively priced out of the area) and culturally lacking (meaning there's not much to do other than eat, drink, shop, and smoke narghileh).
Last week, however, Solidere made a hard and sudden push to counter those claims. A score of new shops - including contemporary art galleries, spaces for artisans and antiques, and boutiques devoted to furniture, lighting, and object design - just opened in Saifi Village, a residential neighborhood squeezed in between Gemmayzeh on one side and the upper end of Martyrs' Square on the other. The move has transformed Saifi into a veritable arts district almost overnight, one replete with public spaces and pedestrian traffic.
"This is a preview," explains Randa Armanazi, a public relations manager at Solidere who has long been urging for arts and cultural initiatives to take priority on the company's agenda. Nearly all the shops in the area have been rented, though most of them won't open properly to the public until November. So to activate the area during the summer, when tourism hits its peak in Lebanon, Solidere encouraged the new tenants to move into their raw spaces early.
Walk through Saifi's L-shaped streets now and you'll find a showcase for local talent, such as furniture designer Nada Debs, architect and interior designer Annabel Kassar, and leather smith Johnny Farah. Shopkeepers have arranged their wares along concrete floors and unfinished walls, giving the district a spontaneous, almost accidental feel. But there is a certain charm in seeing a series of canvases in gilded-gold frames propped up against cement blocks, or in the words "opening soon" thrown-up with spray paint on the glass of Epreuve d'Artiste, Amal Traboulsi's once-famous gallery that closed in Beirut two summers ago.
"Most of the tenants are in place," says Armanzai, "but the shops are not fitted yet."
In those spaces that are still empty, Solidere invited a trio of international artists - Egyptian painter Omar al-Nagdi, Jordanian sculptor Mona Saudi, and Iraqi artist Halim Mahdi al-Karim - to mount month-long exhibitions and installations. From now through Aug. 15, visitors to Saifi, along with the neighborhood's residents, have a chance to see what's to come in about three months' time.
"It's a good idea to bring some culture to this place," says Mona Saudi, "because (Solidere) started so suddenly with restaurants and cafes. Just giving a cultural dimension to the heart of Beirut is important."
"I think this is what Solidere should have started with," says Mona Hallak, an architect and conservationist who has been fighting for years to open a museum devoted to the city's collective memory. Hallak is the organizational force behind al-Karim's stunning installation of paintings, which has taken up residence in the space that will eventually house the Vivace antiques shop.
"Art should be a part of everyday life here, like in every other city center," she says.
Armanazi agrees. "Solidere is responsible," she says. "As important as physical construction is developing culture and bringing back life to the city."
Skeptics may contend that Saifi's sudden transformation feels artificial, and as Hallak admits, "It's still a bit bourgeois. But I like the fact that it's a residential center so it's alive day and night. People are coming by and then coming back with friends and their kids. I like that kind of interaction. They should think of doing artists-in-residence here too. That would be another kind of attraction, and a little bit more reminiscent of what it was, at least, to honor what this place was and what we lost."
In the years before the war, Saifi was known as Souq al-Najjarin, an area for carpenters' workshops and a place where passersby could catch a glimpse of craftsmen at work. Under the auspices of Solidere, Saifi Village has been erected as a quiet residential neighborhood with cobblestone streets and quaint architecture.
Armanazi says that her goal has always been to bring in businesses with an artistic edge. "These are the kind of businesses that are suited to a residential quarter, that don't interfere with (residents') lives." As opposed to bars and clubs that open and close late and spill crowds of people into the streets during sleeping hours, art galleries and design boutiques open during the day and close early. They also sell objects that are destined for people's homes.
While a high percentage of the housing units in Saifi are already occupied, businesses have been slower in coming. To get tenants into the neighborhood's many storefront spaces Solidere approached young designers and local talents and offered them a deal. They could get a six-year lease on a sliding scale, so they will have reduced rents that will increase incrementally over the first four years. Only by the fifth year will they actually pay full price.
In addition, Solidere has agreed to handle advertising for the entire district, which substantially reduces the overhead costs that can be prohibitive for young businesses. The idea is that come November, all of the shops and galleries in Saifi will be mounting themed exhibitions on a monthly basis, and Solidere will promote them all as a single unit.
Already the area is generating interest. At Cai Light & Annaka, Annabel Kassar reports that other local artists have been dropping in and inquiring about the neighborhood's temporary exhibition spaces. "This is really new for us, to realize that a shop could be an opening and a place for other artists and designers I like. I don't want to just sit around and wait for the clients to come. I don't want to have a space that's too settled."
Kassar is circumspect about the neighborhood. "People said to me, 'It's Solidere, it's too expensive.' But more and more I think people are finding that this is a place they can invest in. Solidere has to keep encouraging this idea of temporariness, of always changing."
Across the street, Nada el-Khoury is one of the neighborhood's few long-term tenants, having bought her shop, named Souq al-Najjarin after the area's history, a year ago (Khoury has also run a much-loved artisanat in Ain el-Mreisse, facing the Palm Beach Hotel, for 30 years). "We are permanent; the rest of this is transient," she says with a mischievous flap of her hand. All the new businesses in Saifi are holding their previews in the evening, from 4-10pm. Khoury usually closes for the day at 6pm. "We didn't even know about this," she says. Has it convinced her to stay open longer? "Do you think it's worth it?" she asks. Before she can answer, four customers saunter in through her front door.
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By Kaelen Wilson-Goldie
Daily Star staff
Thursday, July 29, 2004
BEIRUT: The story of Beirut's urban regeneration over the fifteen years since the civil war ended has overlapped substantially with the narrative of Solidere, the private real estate company founded by Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and charged with rebuilding the city center. With its emphasis on real estate speculation and physical construction, on up-market restaurants, luxury retail outlets, and high-rise commercial complexes, Solidere has garnered no shortage of criticism from those who argue that the new downtown is economically self-selecting (meaning the city's middle and lower classes are effectively priced out of the area) and culturally lacking (meaning there's not much to do other than eat, drink, shop, and smoke narghileh).
Last week, however, Solidere made a hard and sudden push to counter those claims. A score of new shops - including contemporary art galleries, spaces for artisans and antiques, and boutiques devoted to furniture, lighting, and object design - just opened in Saifi Village, a residential neighborhood squeezed in between Gemmayzeh on one side and the upper end of Martyrs' Square on the other. The move has transformed Saifi into a veritable arts district almost overnight, one replete with public spaces and pedestrian traffic.
"This is a preview," explains Randa Armanazi, a public relations manager at Solidere who has long been urging for arts and cultural initiatives to take priority on the company's agenda. Nearly all the shops in the area have been rented, though most of them won't open properly to the public until November. So to activate the area during the summer, when tourism hits its peak in Lebanon, Solidere encouraged the new tenants to move into their raw spaces early.
Walk through Saifi's L-shaped streets now and you'll find a showcase for local talent, such as furniture designer Nada Debs, architect and interior designer Annabel Kassar, and leather smith Johnny Farah. Shopkeepers have arranged their wares along concrete floors and unfinished walls, giving the district a spontaneous, almost accidental feel. But there is a certain charm in seeing a series of canvases in gilded-gold frames propped up against cement blocks, or in the words "opening soon" thrown-up with spray paint on the glass of Epreuve d'Artiste, Amal Traboulsi's once-famous gallery that closed in Beirut two summers ago.
"Most of the tenants are in place," says Armanzai, "but the shops are not fitted yet."
In those spaces that are still empty, Solidere invited a trio of international artists - Egyptian painter Omar al-Nagdi, Jordanian sculptor Mona Saudi, and Iraqi artist Halim Mahdi al-Karim - to mount month-long exhibitions and installations. From now through Aug. 15, visitors to Saifi, along with the neighborhood's residents, have a chance to see what's to come in about three months' time.
"It's a good idea to bring some culture to this place," says Mona Saudi, "because (Solidere) started so suddenly with restaurants and cafes. Just giving a cultural dimension to the heart of Beirut is important."
"I think this is what Solidere should have started with," says Mona Hallak, an architect and conservationist who has been fighting for years to open a museum devoted to the city's collective memory. Hallak is the organizational force behind al-Karim's stunning installation of paintings, which has taken up residence in the space that will eventually house the Vivace antiques shop.
"Art should be a part of everyday life here, like in every other city center," she says.
Armanazi agrees. "Solidere is responsible," she says. "As important as physical construction is developing culture and bringing back life to the city."
Skeptics may contend that Saifi's sudden transformation feels artificial, and as Hallak admits, "It's still a bit bourgeois. But I like the fact that it's a residential center so it's alive day and night. People are coming by and then coming back with friends and their kids. I like that kind of interaction. They should think of doing artists-in-residence here too. That would be another kind of attraction, and a little bit more reminiscent of what it was, at least, to honor what this place was and what we lost."
In the years before the war, Saifi was known as Souq al-Najjarin, an area for carpenters' workshops and a place where passersby could catch a glimpse of craftsmen at work. Under the auspices of Solidere, Saifi Village has been erected as a quiet residential neighborhood with cobblestone streets and quaint architecture.
Armanazi says that her goal has always been to bring in businesses with an artistic edge. "These are the kind of businesses that are suited to a residential quarter, that don't interfere with (residents') lives." As opposed to bars and clubs that open and close late and spill crowds of people into the streets during sleeping hours, art galleries and design boutiques open during the day and close early. They also sell objects that are destined for people's homes.
While a high percentage of the housing units in Saifi are already occupied, businesses have been slower in coming. To get tenants into the neighborhood's many storefront spaces Solidere approached young designers and local talents and offered them a deal. They could get a six-year lease on a sliding scale, so they will have reduced rents that will increase incrementally over the first four years. Only by the fifth year will they actually pay full price.
In addition, Solidere has agreed to handle advertising for the entire district, which substantially reduces the overhead costs that can be prohibitive for young businesses. The idea is that come November, all of the shops and galleries in Saifi will be mounting themed exhibitions on a monthly basis, and Solidere will promote them all as a single unit.
Already the area is generating interest. At Cai Light & Annaka, Annabel Kassar reports that other local artists have been dropping in and inquiring about the neighborhood's temporary exhibition spaces. "This is really new for us, to realize that a shop could be an opening and a place for other artists and designers I like. I don't want to just sit around and wait for the clients to come. I don't want to have a space that's too settled."
Kassar is circumspect about the neighborhood. "People said to me, 'It's Solidere, it's too expensive.' But more and more I think people are finding that this is a place they can invest in. Solidere has to keep encouraging this idea of temporariness, of always changing."
Across the street, Nada el-Khoury is one of the neighborhood's few long-term tenants, having bought her shop, named Souq al-Najjarin after the area's history, a year ago (Khoury has also run a much-loved artisanat in Ain el-Mreisse, facing the Palm Beach Hotel, for 30 years). "We are permanent; the rest of this is transient," she says with a mischievous flap of her hand. All the new businesses in Saifi are holding their previews in the evening, from 4-10pm. Khoury usually closes for the day at 6pm. "We didn't even know about this," she says. Has it convinced her to stay open longer? "Do you think it's worth it?" she asks. Before she can answer, four customers saunter in through her front door.
--
The Design-L list for art and architecture, since 1992...
To subscribe, send mailto:design-l-subscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
To signoff, send mailto:design-l-unsubscribe-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx.
Visit archives: http://lists.psu.edu/archives/design-l.html
