Developed by Benchmark and designed by Swiss architects Herzog and de Meuron, Beirut Terraces provides the platform for a vertical village where community living and sustainability are key features.
The proposed building concept, structure, and appearance are conceived by both awareness and respect for the city, as well as self-confident optimism that it shares with contemporary Beirut. The project is founded on five principles: layers and terraces, inside and outside, vegetation, views and privacy, light and identity. The result is a vertically layered building expressed by diverse sizes of slabs which create both openness and privacy and enable flexible living between in- and outside. Fine detailing and a focus on the concerted orchestration of decent materials make for an efficient and luxurious building. Conscious of energy use, the environmental engineering coupled with the integration of vegetation into the architecture, enhance the quality of living while lending to the building's sustainability.
Standing tall at 116 meter, Beirut terraces is a multilayered high rise with a stratified structure, differentiated by the individual residences set back or forward to allow for terraces and overhangs, light and shadow, and places of shelter and exposure. In this way unique places are created to be enjoyed by residents and guests alike. The individual apartments are grouped on the different levels in different formations and come together to carefully shape a new neighborhood.
Being almost on the shoreline of Beirut, the sea-views are precious qualities of the project. Throughout the building's terraces plantings create vegetated screens, which simultaneously provide shade, but, more importantly, guarantee the necessary level of privacy between the individual apartment's terraces. Additionally, the building's vegetation frames views and generates pleasant microclimates by tempering their immediate environment and providing an active breathing part of the architecture.
The moderate climate of Beirut being most certainly one of the city's biggest assets makes outdoor living an integral part of Beirut's urban life. Capitalizing on this asset and cultivating apartments that foster such specificities is one of the key design principles, allowing each apartment to be a LIMITED EDITION by its own right.
In short, Beirut Terraces marks a milestone in the history of Beirut, a city rich through its layers, of cultures and legacies.