Lebanese Architect Proposes Memorial Park For Beirut One Year After Devastating Port Blast

A Lebanese architect has designed a memorial park for the city of Beirut one year one from the devastating port blast.

On August 4th 2020, the city was left shattered when improperly stored ammonium nitrate exploded at Beirut‘s port.

Carlos Moubarak envisions a memorial park dedicated to both the victims and the survivors and seeks to restore Beirut's historical connection to the shore with this conceptual design.

The proposed masterplan occupies the port site around the blast scene.

The layout is organized on two connected outdoor levels, each of which provides contrasting visitor experiences.

While the upper plateau offers an outlook on the port activities and panoramic views of the sea and the city skyline the lower plateau integrates the park’s more serene and introspective spaces.

The destroyed eastern part of the dock, once the epicentre of the explosion, hosts the centrepiece of the memorial park: the remembrance ring.

Radiating out from the blast’s epicentre, the remembrance ring is a circular object that symbolises unity.

With an outer diameter of 120 meters, the black concrete monument hovers above the exact location of the massive crater left by the explosion.

Contrasting spatial sequences lead to the ring’s central space dedicated to the victims.