{"id":19478,"date":"2018-10-22T22:24:45","date_gmt":"2018-10-22T22:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=19478"},"modified":"2018-10-22T22:24:45","modified_gmt":"2018-10-22T22:24:45","slug":"lebanese-seek-to-save-landmark-concrete-park-from-crumbling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=19478","title":{"rendered":"Lebanese seek to save landmark concrete park from crumbling"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nTRIPOLI, Lebanon: Close to the seafront in Lebanon\u2019s Tripoli, giant curves of concrete stand testimony to dreams before the civil war, etchings of an exhibition park never finished but already cracking.
This month, a rare exhibition is being held at the site designed by legendary Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in a desperate call to save it from ruin.
Inside the vast grey grounds of the Tripoli International Fair in northern Lebanon, a palm tree throws its dark silhouette onto a giant concrete dome.
A thin arch sweeps high over a narrow footbridge, and a steep staircase spirals up vertically, onto a circular cement platform perched on a curvaceous pillar.
\u201cIt\u2019s a futurist paradigm that is unique in Lebanon and the region,\u201d said Lebanese architect Wassim Naghi.
\u201cIn its modernity, in its reliance on curves, it sums up the progress of architecture over a hundred years,\u201d he said.
And with buildings dotted over an area the size of 70 rugby pitches, it\u2019s among \u201cNiemeyer\u2019s largest works outside Brazil,\u201d he said.
The Brazilian architect designed landmarks around the globe during a decades-long career that started in the 1930s and ended in the 21st century.
When he died six years ago aged 104, he left behind hundreds of buildings, in Brazil as well as in the United States, France, Malaysia, Algeria and Cuba.
But today his work in Lebanon is in urgent need of restoration.
\u201cThese buildings of reinforced concrete need to be restored rapidly. There are buildings being eaten away at, blocks falling down, and many cracks,\u201d Naghi warned.
\u201cWe fear there will be unpleasant surprises, especially during the rainy season,\u201d he said.
Until October 23, a show titled \u201cCycles of Collapsing Progress\u201d seeks to celebrate the era that gave rise to the fairground, but also sound the alarm.
In the halls under the perched platform, visitors can admire a seabed of snaking rebar, or even an elongated white space rocket hanging from the cieling.
The show \u201cdocuments a golden age in Lebanon\u2019s modern history \u2014 the architectural, scientific and cultural dreams of the time,\u201d said curator Karina Al-Helu.
During the 1960s, the tiny Mediterranean country had its own space program, successfully launching a small unmanned rocket into space.
When Niemeyer was first asked to design the outdoor space in 1962, there were plans for the rooms under the circular platform to house a space museum.
But dreams of outer-space exploration, and any museum to commemorate it, were indefinitely put on hold with the outbreak of the 1975-1990 civil war.
The exhibition aims to remind Lebanese visitors of this chapter of the country\u2019s recent past, Helu said, but also shine a light on a landmark about to collapse.
In a country whose history goes back millennia to the Phoenician period, she urged the authorities to give equal attention to modern architecture.
\u201cIt\u2019s great to restore buildings that show Lebanon\u2019s ancient history, but we should also care about the landmarks of this country\u2019s modern history,\u201d she said.
Architect Naghi said he was not optimistic about any immediate intervention by the government.
\u201cThe current atmosphere of crisis in the country doesn\u2019t bode well,\u201d he said, referring to a months-long deadlock over forming a cabinet.
Any renovation should involve in-depth studies and specialized companies, he said, \u201cand that would require a lot of money, as well as a government decision.\u201d
Instead, Naghi and others hope that the site can be added to UNESCO\u2019s World Heritage List.
Brazil\u2019s capital Brasilia and an outdoor center in the south of the country, both of which were designed by Niemeyer, are already featured on it.
Sahar Baassiri, Lebanon\u2019s delegate to UNESCO, said efforts were now being made toward adding the concrete park to the list\u2019s contemporary architecture section.
Akram Oueida, president of the fairground, said Lebanese officials have made promises of assistance, but none have yet materialized.
Getting the concrete park listed by UNESCO may help, Oueida said: \u201cThat could open the door to funding from donors.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Close to the seafront in Lebanon\u2019s Tripoli, giant curves of concrete stand testimony to dreams before the civil war, etchings of an exhibition park never finished but already cracking.This month, a rare exhibition is being held at the site designed by legendary Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in a desperate call to save it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":19479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}