archdes

The research project focuses on the sensitive monitoring of change in demographic and environmental/land cover conditions by relying on the relatively new fields of information technologies: remote sensing and GIS. The nature of the problem is tied to limitations in the use of satellite images for the study of urban areas due to the heterogeneity of this type of technology and the lack of high spatial and spectral resolution of existing satellites. The project investigated methods for the development of a satisfactory reliable level II land use classification using panchromatic (10m) and multi-spectral (20m) Spot Images. The project resorted to a combination of low, medium, and high-level image interpretation techniques, comprising texture and soft classifiers and resorting to pixel by pixel as well as previous digital land use maps in the supervised classification. J. H. Abed. (Supported by Council for International Exchange of Scholars, Fulbright.)

Defining criteria for residential development in historical centers: downtown Beirut as a case study

The research project attempted to meet the challenges of providing quality housing in a prime location of the downtown area at competitive prices. The research took three avenues in meeting these challenges. First, the development of urban design guidelines appropriate for a residential neighborhood development in the center. Second, the definition of what is “suitable” as housing design options to the BCD with their associated construction cost. Finally, studying the various financing options that may widen the affordability thresholds of potential home-buyers. J. H. Abed. (Supported by URB.)

Using Remote Sensing and GIS to map urban growth and land use patterns in the peri-urban areas of Beirut metropolitan district

Understanding the relationships of the parameters that control the direction(s) and level of spatial expansion has always been a complex undertaking and the first step in planning. Through the use of GIS, the research project has focused on the northern “gate” of Beirut, aiming to establish the level of correlation between physical, locational and institutional site characteristics and urban development. The problem is framed within the Single Objective/Multi-Criteria Decision Making approach. The analysis has defined criteria for development in the area that were divided into two types: constraints and factors. A model is developed through the exploration of the inter-relationships among the established factors and their Eigenvalue set, determining their impact on growth and constructing a model that shows the propensity to change of the different zones in the area under study. Establishing the level of confidence of prediction will be conducted through a time series analysis. This model feeds into projection scenarios in the location and intensity of urban growth necessary for infrastructure planning and growth management and control. J. H. Abed, T. Kazzaz and J. Sawma*. (Supported by LNCSR.)

The research sets out from the assumption that the city is an evolutionary, intelligent system, and that architecture must be understood as a transitional form unfolding between mind and world. Models from Catastrophe Theory;, biology, AI/AL and semiotics, are used. Seventeen years of civil war turned identities into territories in Beirut. Subjects became objects to each other, objects became monsters, and locations became transitions. The city was divided by the Green-Line. The high-speed spatial practices in the demarcation zone has been adopted as a case study of architectural morphodynamics. Iconicity breeds between territory and identity, and is a source of difference between intelligence and meaning — without which both are lost. As a response to the research, I am invited by Rice University to complete and publish the book through their channels. This is now being done. O. Moystad.(Supported by URB.)

Abed, J., Short term strategic options for urban management in Lebanon. Beirut: United Nations Development Program, 1996.

———, “P. El-Khoury,” “K. Khurl,” “S. Kosermelli,” “A. Salam.” In Dizionario Di Architettura Contemporanea, C. Olmo, M. Bandini, and M. L. Scalvini (eds.), Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese S.P.A. (UTET), 1997.

Biln, J., “Sam Mockbee” and “Coleman Coker”. Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Architecture, 1995.

———, The Open Hand: The Making and Re-Making of a Cultural Artifact. Phoenix: Institute for Studies in the Arts, 1995.

———, Multimedia Spaces. Creative Research in the Arts and Technology, 1-2, 1996.

Moystad, O., Green-line morphogenesis, forms of architectural transition in war-damaged Beirut. In Order and Chaos in Urban Context: Architecture and Culture in Transition, H. Lehtonen, T. Oksala, and T. Pakarinen (eds.), Proceedings of ACut ‘95, 54, 1995.

———, Some notes for a history of meaning. Nordic Journal of Architectural Research, 4, 22-37, 1995.

———, Building culture. Nordic Journal of Architectural Research, 1, 35-50, 1996.

Abed, J., Catching the roadrunner. Proceedings of the Conference on Low-Income Housing in Lebanon, Redevelopment within the National Policy, Beirut: Arab University, 1995.

———, Notes on the art of selling cities: a critique of Solidere’s master plan of downtown Beirut. International Symposium on Reconstruction of War-Damaged Cities, Aarhus School of Architecture, Denmark, January 22-24, 1996.

———, Towards an urban design law: a commentary on Dr. Kanbar’s paper. Proceedings of the Conference of Urban Planning and the Environment for the Future, 65-68, AUB, Beirut, Lebanon, 1996.

———, Education and training, a necessity for qualified skillful craftsmen: emphasis on arabesque education within the designated program. Proceedings of the First International Seminar on Arabesque in Traditional Crafts of OIC Countries. Istanbul: Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), 26-27, 1997.

Biln, J., Toward an ethics of distance. Proceedings of the International Conference on Architecture, (Post)modernity and Difference, 323-329, Singapore, 1996.

———, Comic architect: Mister X and the modern object. Architecture and Individualism, Paul Kennon Memorial Symposium, Houston, Texas, 1997.

———, Hvis det finnes en levantinsk å nd, bor den i Beirut, Arkitektnytt, 15, 308, 1995.

———, Memory and demarcation—between construction and re-construction. International Symposium on Reconstruction of War damaged Cities, Aarhus School of Architecture, Jan 22-24, 1996.

———, Green-Line Architecture, or Iconi-City. Abstracts of UIA Barcelona 96, Nineteenth Congress of the International Union of Architects, Barcelona, Spain, 1996.

———, Beirut iconiCITY. International Symposium on Post War Beirut, Copenhagen University, Denmark, 1996.

———, Semiotics of urban morphodynamics—towards an ecology of reason. Aarhus University, Denmark, 1996.

Abed, J., Applying GIS technology to develop an index of urban change: Bourj Hammoud as a case study, poster exhibition, First Alumni Engineering Conference, Amman, Jordan, May 1996.

Moystad, O., Exhibition of student’s works on urban archaeology and marginal sites. Beirut and Ljubljana, 1996.

———, Time Zero, Production Plant for CD Rom, Beirut, (Studio Chronotope), 1996.

Moystad, O. and Karam, N.*, The Looking Glass of a Nation. Catalogue of the Korean Section at the VI Mostra Internazionale Di Architettura, 20-21, 1996.

———, ExhibiLooking Glass of a Nation, competition entry for the New National Museum of Korea, (mention), Korean pavillion at VI Mostra Internazionale Di Architettura, Venice, 1996.

Moystad, O. and Pisters, H., Competition entry for the Nordic Embassy Project in Berlin Tiergarten, (Studio Chronotope ), 1995.

———, Landscape redevelopment plan for the Oscar Niemeyer Exhibition Fair, Tripoli, (Studio Chronotope), 1996/97.