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Real life Pac-Man in Hamra

By on May 24, 2012 in Lebanon

Pretty cool!

The classic 80’s arcade game Pac-Man found its way to the streets of Hamra. The project was the senior graphic design project of AUST arts and design department student Ahmad Makary as he took an innovative approach to better understanding urban navigation and enhancing the cognitive mapping and urban knowledge of individual travelers.

The project consisted of 10 players, 5 dressed as Pac-Man and Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde – the 4 ghosts. The 5 other players, known as path-markers, are there to mark the trail of their Player as he or she runs through the streets. As Pac-Man moves from intersection to intersection, his position is being tracked, his points calculated and updated.

According to Mac, the creator of the project: “The goal is to give people the opportunity to make the city theirs by transforming it into a huge playground and harnessing the knowledge of its spatial elements. The choice was to focus on the social aspect of the game rather than the technological aspect: there is no use of any technological aid (GPS, Chats, Cell phones) each player has a partner running along his side, this allows more team play and an enhanced experience.” Source

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Patching Beirut’s walls with Lego bricks

By on May 2, 2012 in Lebanon

I just came across this cool project “Dispatch Beirut” aiming to patch the old walls around the city using Lego bricks which we all grew up on.

As mentioned on the website, the idea has originally been started a few years ago by a German artist who started patching old walls with Lego bricks during a contemporary art festival in Italy, and the project then started to spread worldwide.

It looks pretty cool to me, but I wonder if curious people will leave these patches intact!

 

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Underground parking space at Martyrs Square

By on February 22, 2012 in Lebanon

According to this article in The Daily Star today,the municipality of Beirut is planning to start constructing an underground parking (with a capacity of 2,000  cars) at the Martyrs square by the end of 2012, to “improve” the appearance of the downtown area. And a garden will later be created in the square once the project is done.

“Work will start before the end of this year. Once finished, the parking space will accommodate between 1,500 and 2,000 cars,” Hamad said, adding that a Build, Operate and Transfer contract would be signed by the company selected to carry out the project. Under the BOT contract, a company will build and operate the facility – earning revenue – before the municipality assumes ownership. Source

There’s no reference however to what’s going to happen to the current parking spaces around the Martyrs square, Solidere might be planning to build some new towers there?

The article also mentions a similar project in Ain El-Mrayseh where a parking space with a capacity of 680 cars is set to be built, in addition to a 7,000 square meters produce market between Tayyouneh and Shatila.

Photo via Stefania Facco

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Waterfront City Dbayeh

By on February 12, 2012 in Lebanon

Here’s how Dbayeh’s Waterfront City should look like in a few years from now.

According to this article in The Daily Star, the project will be complete in 4 phases over a period of 15 years (too much??), with the first phase set to be complete with 7 buildings in 2 years from now.

I just wish this project and the alike outside Beirut would consider creating more office spaces to take some load off the suffocating areas in Beirut such as Hamra, Achrafiyeh, and downtown.

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Bringing Central Park to the roofs of Beirut

By on January 4, 2012 in Lebanon

I was complaining to a friend of mine a while ago that wherever you plan to buy an apartment in Beirut, and no matter how good your view over the sea or the mountains might be, it will always be ruined with the ugly rooftops all around you! They’re all crowded with rusty water tanks, satellite dishes, and even pigeon houses sometimes!

And today I came across this cool idea by Wassim Melki who is proposing to start growing trees on the rooftops of Beirut’s building to compensate for the lack of green spaces in the city.

It definitely needs lot of work to be implemented, and most importantly needs commitment and support from the municipality of Beirut which is as efficient as any governmental institution in Lebanon. That unfortunately leads us to the ugly conclusion that this project will never be destined to become a reality.

You can stay up to date with the project’s news via their Facebook page.

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The man in the cube – IndyACT

By on October 17, 2009 in Lebanon

Via IndyACT’s blog:

“The man in the Cube” is a project organized by The League of Independent Activists – IndyACT aiming to raise global urgency on the critical dangers of global warming and to urge world leaders to take fast and effective action against climate change in Copenhagen this year.

‘The man in the cube’ (Rami Eid) represents “the last man on earth” enduring a fierce struggle for survival against climate change effects. He will be living in the a transparent cube on Ein El-Mreyseh for 3 days starting 16 October 2009.

The “last man” simulates the possibility of a dim future for mankind where we failed to act against climate change when we had the chance.

So I went last night to see that man, who’s called Rami Eid by the way, and watch how is he managing to live inside a cube (in addition to taking photos of course!).

The area in which he lives doesn’t exceed 4 square meters, with a chair, a small laptop and a connection to the internet via a MOBI device. Needless to say there was a LOT of annoying people around him, especially kids tapping on the glass and trying to make fun of him. He even reported via twitter that one guy threw a cigarette butt inside the cube!

As you will see in the photos, the water level was at around 20 centimeters, and I assume it will increase as time goes by. (simulating one of the climate change effects)

indyACT the man in the cube

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You can follow the man in the cube via his blog and twitter.

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