Restoration of Immeuble de l'Union , Beirut/ Libanon

Press release by The Architecture Curator

 

 

 

The renovation of Immeuble de l’Union, the 1952 masterpiece by architects Antoine Tabet and Lucien Cavro, which had been abandoned for many years, is now underway in Beirut, thanks to the vision of Lebanese architect Karim Nader. Nader sees the opportunity to breathe new life into modernist landmarks as a form of continuity and redemption for the city.

 

Built during the height of modern Beirut’s glory, Immeuble de l'Union was renowned for its cutting-edge innovations of the time. It featured an underground car park with a car wash, an American water boiler, German lifts, and telephone booths on the ground floor and in the roof club. In Karim Nader Studio’s project, the building, heavily affected by revolution, financial crises, and neglect, will rekindle a sense of optimism and well-being that the Lebanese capital desperately needs. The structure has been reinforced to meet seismic requirements and safety criteria demanded by a recent major earthquake in Turkey.

 

The building, planned to host both offices and residences, is embracing a renewed modernity, introducing more transparency and reducing the use of color to emphasize white as a symbol of newfound purity. This transformation aims to restore order to an increasingly dense and chaotic city, where colors are absorbed by the apartments. Nader envisions a new life for the building through mixed-use reprogramming, blending commercial aspirations with a cultural and historical mission.

Karim Nader, who has dedicated a significant portion of his recent work to the city of Beirut, defines the concept of “reprise” as an expression of an undeniable necessity. It's not nostalgia for the past but a hopeful act of recovery—renovating and redesigning the building to bring it into the present and allow it to continue to thrive, breathing new life into a part of the city. Nader's interpretation of “reprise,” extensively discussed in his recent book “For a Novel Architecture” (2020), is well encapsulated in his words: “We are in the middle of surgery, and the building is a testimony to the present moment. We see the wound, we feel the pain, but we also sense the hope symbolically represented by the photos of an old and wounded artifact begging for new life.”

 

To further explore his thoughts on Beirut, Karim Nader recently started a collaboration with Belgian photographer Julien Lanoo. Lanoo's “humanistic” approach, where people and the broader architectural context take center stage, has long been dedicated to portraying urban environments. Together, the architect and the photographer embarked on a journey through the city's streets, stopping at architectural landmarks that offer glimpses of Beirut’s potential future. This collaboration has resulted in a joint project —a work in progress— poised to become an exhibition and a book for presentation in Europe and the Arab world.

 

As a sneak peek into Julien Lanoo’s photographic project, we present a glimpse of moments captured at the Immeuble de l’Union construction site. This preview reflects the essence of Karim Nader's restoration work on this and other historic buildings in Beirut.