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    Summer 2002,
vol. 44, No. 1/2
 
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The FPDU and the Steering Committee meeting with the competition finalists.
  Design Competition forthe Hostler Student Center andCorniche Frontage     Objectives of the Design Competition Program
  -     The recent initiation of a competition for the design of the Charles W. Hostler Center and the renovation of the Corniche frontage was the first step toward implementation of the Master Plan (See AUB Bulletin Today, Vol.. 3., No. 5, May/June 2002). In April 2002 the University received 20 replies to a Request for Qualifications for the competition posted on the home page. From this group, six architectural firms, two local and four international, were short listed for the Design Competition for the Charles W. Hostler Center and Corniche Frontage.
      The newly created Facilities Planning and Design Unit (FPDU), headed by Physical Plant Associate Director Samer Maamari as interim director with Souheir Mabsout as assistant director, has been charged with administering and implementing the campus Master Plan and organizing the current competition.
      The FPDU and the Steering Committee for the design project hosted the six competition finalists, Ateliers Lion (Yves Lion), France; Marwan Saleh, Bernard Khoury & Laceco (Joint Venture), Lebanon; Martinez Lapena Torres Arq. SL, Spain; Steven Holl Architects, USA; URBI Tabet & Debs, Lebanon; and Vincent James Architects and Associates, USA, at a site visit in early July. This visit aimed at acquainting participants with the site particulars and other competitors and allowed them to meet members of the FPDU and the Master Plan Steering Committee.
      Following a greeting from President John Waterbury and a Master Plan presentation by Souheir Mabsout, the participants toured the campus and engaged in a brain storming and discussion session with the Steering Committee, the FPDU, and a technical advisory group. The FPDU described the new building as a major component of the enhancement of the lower campus and the heart of		 student activities, which will symbolize AUB's renewal, demonstrating the University's commitment to both the academic community and the city of Beirut.
      Minimum requirements for the design of the Hostler Center include a 300-seat auditorium with backstage and lobby; a basketball court with spectator seating; two squash courts; rooms for aerobics, fitness, dance, gymnastics, martial arts, ping pong, chess, and Internet; a swimming pool with spectator seating; showers and changing rooms for men and women; and offices. Other suggestions include rooms for video, TV, movie, music rehearsal, yoga, and study spaces.
      The outdoors design will include rehabilitation of the existing Green Field and track facilities, a soccer pitch, stadium seating, general landscaping, and a café on a plaza with open spaces for gatherings.
      The upgrading of the northern edge of the campus, the Corniche frontage, will play a key role in the accomplishment of one of the main aims of the Master Plan: the transformation of the public edge of the campus into a vital and meaningful link between the AUB community and one of the most important public spaces of the city.
      Competition designs will be evaluated and the winning entry selected by an international jury composed of "planners, architects, architecture critics, landscape architects, and experts in sustainable design, as well as representatives of the University."Competition participants will submit their entries by the end of September 2002 to members of the jury and an advisory group from AUB. The contestants will then give presentations of an hour and a half and answer questions about their designs. Following the final decision of the jury, all entries will be exhibited for public viewing in an effort to maintain the engagement of the community and users in the entire Master Plan design process. The date set for ground breaking is October 2003.

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