RESEARCH PROJECTS
Modeling change in urban boundaries—a case study of Beirut Cities and their rapid urbanization expansion trends have
witnessed a shift in the model of perception of problems from a city center
and its suburbs to that of a single metropolitan agglomeration. This difficulty
is further magnified in Beirut by post-war urban condition of the capital
that is in constant state of flux and by the varied and steep topography
surrounding the municipal region. The research proposes a new approach
in defining this Urban Boundary (UB) by engaging two parameters. The first
deals with travel-related measures whereby the UB is directly associated
to the commuting patterns and acceptable commuting distances. The second
addresses a new definition of urbanization trends by introducing the concept
of a fuzzy UB that comprises urbanized aggregates carrying different membership
levels with respect to size, density, level of intensity of economic activity
and variety of land use. J. Abed. (Supported by URB.)
Modeling change of urbanized agriculture in Greater Beirut through the application of multi-criteria evaluation The post-war urban development is encroaching upon agricultural
land use in the main urbanized corridors of Metropolitan Beirut. Using
Remote Sensing and GIS to monitor and explain change, three challenges
are addressed in the research: 1) Creation of an accurate image-to-image
registration; 2) application of a suitable and efficient image interpretation
technique; and 3) discovery of the interdependent factors that are affecting
change. The research work investigates the development of a descriptive-analytical
urban model that is framed within the Multi-Objective/Multi-Criteria Decision-Making
approach. This project is part of a larger inter-university collaborative
research program between The Urban Agriculture Network and CERMOC that
investigates issues related to the agriculture-urbanization interface in
Coastal Lebanon. J. Abed.
Using GIS to establish physical, locational, and institutional indices that explain urban development The research aims to develop a descriptive-analytical urban
model, where the main interest is to understand how the physical and spatial
urban systems in a determined spatial boundary behave. The scope of the
research is limited to the understanding of the spatial interactive forces
that may have increased or detracted the desirability of predominantly
residential development and that led to the transformation of land use-
more particularly from agriculture and vacant land to buildings. The spatial
interaction is considered operational on three levels: physical
(Topography, View, Soil, etc.), locational (distance to the center
and sub-centers, major streets, neighborhood quality, etc.), and institutional
site characteristics (zoning, land tenure, etc.). The work focuses on establishing
the level of correlation between these components and urban development.
The research allocates itself fully within the established albeit dynamic
field of urban modeling. It attempts to contribute to that field by tying
the modeling conception to the relatively new provinces of information
technologies: Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
These technologies are capable to reveal in a global and exhaustive manner
the geographically tied problem. J. Abed. (Supported by URB.)
The patronage of Al-Nasir Muhammad Ibn Qalawun, 1310-1341 Mamluk architectural patronage has been interpreted by scholars
as a means of political legitimization. This thesis does not account for
the change in the social structure of the ruling elite over time. It does
not apply to individuals who ceased to fit the profile constructed for
Mamluk rulers such as Al-Nasir Muhammad Ibn Qalawun. Al-Nasir was not a
slave soldier and did not rise to poser through the army. His reign stands
in sharp contrast to those of his predecessors. Unlike the short unstable
regimes of Mamluk military generals, Al-Nasir's third reign placed on the
throne a freeborn ruler who succeeded his father and brother and ruled
for over thirty years in peace and prosperity. His patronage of architecture
also stands in contrast to that of his predecessors; it shifts from the
founding of madrasas, to the building of congregational mosques. The paper
investigates both the practical and the symbolic significance of this shift.
Paper has been accepted for publication in Mamluk Studies Review,
4 (2000). H. Al-Harithy.
The concept of space in Mamluk architecture The paper is a reading of urban space in Mamluk Cairo derived
not from formal analysis of systems of geometric planning, scale and proportions,
but extracted from the way the city space was produced. Henri Lefebvre’s
theoretical prescription is applied toward a reading of Mamluk urban space
as a product developed over time and not a work created in
a single moment. Since the Mamluks inherited the space of their predecessors,
the Fatimids and the Ayyubids, the paper traces the appropriation of space
and the transformation of structure that the city experienced in the process
of Mamluk space production. It outlines the socio-political factors at
work in this process. The Mamluk urban space is presented as a social
space that stands not as an independent formal entity but a dynamic
fluid product that is constantly reproduced through the actions of both
the individual and the collective and one that acts as means of self-presentation.
This paper has been submitted for publication and is currently being reviewed
for Muqarnas, 18 (2001). H. Al-Harithy.
The traditional in contemporary buildings: the case of Lebanon Architectural studies of historical buildings have been extensively
consumed in offices to reproduce the Traditional in contemporary building
activity. The new products/buildings came to replace history as they testify
to it and in that sense replace the ‘authentic’ reference/building. In
many ways, buildings erase the memory of others, especially in a context
like Lebanon where traditional urban and architectural environments exist
primarily through their representations: memory, text, photograph, and
the traditional contemporary building. This research investigates the way
social and political agendas intercept architectural practices within a
postcolonial condition. M. Ghandour. (Supported by URB.)
Developing an integrated land information system for improving real estate regulations and performance dynamics in municipal Beirut A GIS based land information system, featuring multi-layered
land information database, indexed to two sets of procedures: The first
is descriptive, and the second is analytical. T. Kazzaz. (Supported
by the Lebanese General Directorate of Urbanism.)
A Proposal for the Restoration of the Imam Ouzai Mosque A historical study of this 380-year-old mosque south of the
city of Beirut, and an architectural proposal for a renovation plan of
the mosque. T. Kazzaz. (Supported by Dar Al Iftaa and Mohammed Khaled
Philanthropic Organization.)
Beirut: metropolis of the east A project in the areas of urban planning and urban management
concerned with developing a new vision of urban management for Beirut.
The project is published in video form in collaboration with Future Television.
T.
Kazzaz, S. Khaled*, R. Fayyad and A. Fares. (Supported by the Lebanese
General Directorate of Urbanism.)
Language and Design Strategy in Islamic Geometric Patterns The research project is expected to lead to the publication
of a book in three parts with extensive graphic illustrations. Part 1 is
a critical overview of different Orientalist and contemporary approaches
to the study of Islamic ornament highlighting in particular the search
for perceptual and design theories. Part 2 is a systematic reconstruction
of the language of geometric patterns. The construct of language is approached
through different vocabulary systems including means of perception, symmetry
groups, modular set-ups and hierarchies, and geometric proportioning and
polygonal families. Part 3 introduces a practical approach
for design transformaand generation based on the application of systems
of geometry, modulation and symmetry in the formation of design-generating
rules and strategies. M. Nasri.
Abed, J., The art historian. Azero, 79-81, January 1998. Al-Harithy, H., Turbat Al-Sitt: an identification. In The Cairo Heritage, Papers in honor of Layala Ibrahim, ed. Doris Behrens Abouseif. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 1999. ———, The image of the West in contemporary Arab architecture. Bahithat, 5, 1999. Ghandour, M., A note on the relationship of professional practice and Education. Azero, 8-10, 1998. ———, "That secret is your phantasm": the traditional in architectural offices. Tradition Dwellings and Settlements Working Papers Series, 110, 1998. ———, “… The sorry tale is repeated again and again”: reflections
on AR conference in Abu Dhabi. Urban Design International, 3, 3,
1998.
ABSTRACTS,
PRESENTATIONS AND PROCEEDINGS
Abed, J., Modeling change in urban boundaries: a case study of Beirut. The Urban and Regional Information Systems Association (URISA), Annual Conference Proceeding, August 1999. ———, Mapping the post-war agriculture-urbanization interface in Greater Beirut using change detection of HRV SPOT images and GIS. American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Annual Conference Proceedings, May 1999. ———, Notes on the art of selling cities: urban design strategy of downtown Beirut. ACSA Annual Conference Proceedings, May 1999. Ghandour, M., The traditional: producing the book of standards for architectural offices. Traditional Dwelling and Settlements Review, X, 51, 1998. Kazzaz, T. and Khaled, S.*, An argument for GIS towards informed
planning and management at DGU: potential, limitations and misconceptions.
Proceedings of the 5th Annual Middle East GIS ESRI User Conference,
14:1-14:10, Beirut, Lebanon, 1999.
Ghandour, M., "That secret is your phantasm”: the traditional in architectural offices. 6th IASTE Conference: Manufacturing Heritage and Consuming Tradition: Development, Preservation and Tourism in the Age of Globalization, Cairo, Egypt, December 1998. Kazzaz, T. and Seraj, N.*, The use of linguistic functionalist
theory for the articulation of architectural typology: Arabic terms and
the architecture of dwelling as a case study. The XXXIII International
Functionalist Linguistic Colloquium, Lugano, Switzerland, 1999.
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