On the outskirts of the Lebanese city of Tripoli lies a sprawling site that speaks of the country's promise and tragedy.
At 10 hectares, the Rashid Karameh International Exhibition Centre is one of the largest sites of its kind in the world.
Under the eye of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, a state-of-the-art complex was planned, with 15 structures including an exhibition hall, a national pavilion and an outdoor concert stage.
Construction, by local companies, began in 1964, only for it to be abandoned 10 years later with the outbreak of civil war in Lebanon.
The grounds, with the half-finished amphitheatre and hall, went on to become a destination for field trips for students as a celebrated example of Modernist architecture in the Middle East.
Nicolas Fayad and Charles Kettaneh were regular visitors as American University of Beirut architecture students.
Those early expeditions eventually laid the seeds for their celebrated rehabilitation of the Niemeyer Guest House, which won the 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
"A good word to describe the site is dystopian. It was this space that has been left empty and untouched since the war," Kettaneh tells The National from the Aga Khan's award ceremony in Muscat, Oman.
"We would visit the grounds from as far back as 20 years ago and we found it beautiful and inspiring because it was a place for exploration."
While activity on the site was sporadic — although between 1995 and 1998 it did host several regional exhibitions — its stature as one of Niemeyer's greatest unrealised designs grew and in 2018 was included on Unesco’s World Heritage Tentative List.
By this time Kettaneh and Fayad had founded Beirut's East Architecture Studio, a practice renowned for their innovative and contemporary designs, including urban homes and office spaces.
In 2017, a request for proposal to renovate the guest house went out from Expertise France — a development agency run under the auspices of the French government — and the Association of Lebanese Industrialists. The pair jumped at the chance to contribute to a site that had inspired them since childhood.
"The client wanted to repurpose the guest house and make it a place to bring in artisans from the region to work on prototypes and network with other designers from Tripoli, Beirut and beyond so they can exchange ideas and techniques," Kettaneh says.
Fayad says the project was immediately beset with challenges.
"The first priority was to save the building because it was structurally starting to decay due to weathering," he says.
"The second aspect we had to reconcile was how to actually intervene on a structure that was never completed. We had to understand how Niemeyer would have wanted it and that's where all the six months of research came into play.”
Informed by Niemeyer's established techniques, the pair set to work by adding flexible, transparent steel-and-glass partitions to complement the ceiling structure and conceal certain structural elements behind locally sourced plywood panelling.
Electro-mechanical features were included to increase ventilation and the amount of natural light.
Funded for an undisclosed sum by the European Union, the six-month project was completed by the end of 2018 and currently acts as the base of the Tripoli carpentry association, Minjara.
"That has been really beautiful to see," Kettaneh says.
"It is a platform where designers create products that [are exhibited] around the world such as in Paris and Belgium and sell online."
The Aga Khan Architecture Award jury also hailed the project's restorative powers.
The judges described the refurbished guesthouse as “an inspiring tale of architecture's capacity for repair, at a time of dizzying, entangled crisis around the world, and in Lebanon in particular".
Although it is fully functioning, Kettaneh describes the guest house as unfinished business.
"The place was initially designed by Niemeyer to have 14 rooms for accommodation, but unfortunately that was not part of our renovation scope because of the budget," he says.
"We do hope that it will be part of the next phase for the development because it’s not only important for us, as architects, to see the building fully completed, but it also benefits the space in terms of how it can be used.”
Fayad hopes the project and the award’s profile encourage other architects and benefactors to invest in rebuilding the fairgrounds.
"Times are very difficult now in Lebanon with economic meltdown and the Beirut port explosion, but we do hope this project can inspire others," he says.
"We do hope it is the beginning of other similar interventions at the fair because it remains historically untouched and it is so massive. There are so many opportunities and things to discover."
Scroll through the gallery below to see the winners of the 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
WHAT IS A BLACK HOLE?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
The specs
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Transmission: 10-speed auto
Power: 300hp
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Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Arsenal's pre-season fixtures
Thursday Beat Sydney 2-0 in Sydney
Saturday v Western Sydney Wanderers in Sydney
Wednesday v Bayern Munich in Shanghai
July 22 v Chelsea in Beijing
July 29 v Benfica in London
July 30 v Sevilla in London
Huddersfield Town permanent signings:
- Steve Mounie (striker): signed from Montpellier for £11 million
- Tom Ince (winger): signed from Derby County for £7.7m
- Aaron Mooy (midfielder): signed from Manchester City for £7.7m
- Laurent Depoitre (striker): signed from Porto for £3.4m
- Scott Malone (defender): signed from Fulham for £3.3m
- Zanka (defender): signed from Copenhagen for £2.3m
- Elias Kachunga (winger): signed for Ingolstadt for £1.1m
- Danny WIlliams (midfielder): signed from Reading on a free transfer
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Indoor Cricket World Cup
Venue Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE squad Saqib Nazir (captain), Aaqib Malik, Fahad Al Hashmi, Isuru Umesh, Nadir Hussain, Sachin Talwar, Nashwan Nasir, Prashath Kumara, Ramveer Rai, Sameer Nayyak, Umar Shah, Vikrant Shetty
Day 1 results:
Open Men (bonus points in brackets)
New Zealand 125 (1) beat UAE 111 (3)
India 111 (4) beat Singapore 75 (0)
South Africa 66 (2) beat Sri Lanka 57 (2)
Australia 126 (4) beat Malaysia -16 (0)
Open Women
New Zealand 64 (2) beat South Africa 57 (2)
England 69 (3) beat UAE 63 (1)
Australia 124 (4) beat UAE 23 (0)
New Zealand 74 (2) beat England 55 (2)
PRIMERA LIGA FIXTURES
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Saturday
Atletico Madrid v Sevilla (3pm)
Alaves v Real Madrid (6.15pm)
Malaga v Athletic Bilbao (8.30pm)
Girona v Barcelona (10.45pm)
Sunday
Espanyol v Deportivo la Coruna (2pm)
Getafe v Villarreal (6.15pm)
Eibar v Celta Vigo (8.30pm)
Las Palmas v Leganes (8.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Valencia (10.45pm)
Monday
Real Betis v Levante (11.pm)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Australia (15-1): Israel Folau; Dane Haylett-Petty, Reece Hodge, Kurtley Beale, Marika Koroibete; Bernard Foley, Will Genia; David Pocock, Michael Hooper (capt), Lukhan Tui; Adam Coleman, Izack Rodda; Sekope Kepu, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Tom Robertson.
Replacements: Tolu Latu, Allan Alaalatoa, Taniela Tupou, Rob Simmons, Pete Samu, Nick Phipps, Matt Toomua, Jack Maddocks.
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MORE ON TURKEY'S SYRIA OFFENCE
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Engine: 3.5-litre V6
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Price: Dh149,000
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
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Pots for the Asian Qualifiers
Pot 1: Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China
Pot 2: Iraq, Uzbekistan, Syria, Oman, Lebanon, Kyrgyz Republic, Vietnam, Jordan
Pot 3: Palestine, India, Bahrain, Thailand, Tajikistan, North Korea, Chinese Taipei, Philippines
Pot 4: Turkmenistan, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Yemen, Afghanistan, Maldives, Kuwait, Malaysia
Pot 5: Indonesia, Singapore, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Guam, Macau/Sri Lanka
