Despite being the majority of the rural North of Lebanon Akkar has been suffering from serious lack of services; basic services of health and education has illustrated serious deficiencies as people had to travel south for decent medical service and hospitalization; only major cities has proper schooling. Both are certainly crucial for any development as they form the priority in human needs.
As part of its social responsibility the Islamic Awqaf has offered a large piece of land (approx. 37000m2) in a highly dense populated area (Bebnine) for a civil center that comprises a general hospital and a comprehensive (all-grade) school to be designed through a student design competition (prices will be offered for wining projects as follows ( 1st prize 1000$ & 2nd, 3rd prices 500$ each)
On the other hand Beirut Arab University through its commitment towards local community service has pledged to administer an internal competition among its 4th year Architectural students whereby the winning project will be offered to the Awqaf for development
In this project, teams of two students for each designed a preliminary master plan for the plot, each student started his own detailed design project (either school or hospital); a continuous collaboration between the team members is expected to continue throughout the project to produce a comprehensive master plan in that integrates both functions spatially and architecturally in complementary manner .
The Proposals by students addressed the following issues:
• The Project Philosophy and main Concept:
The philosophy that leads to the design concept will be highly considered in this project failure of fulfilling this primitive requirement will put the project into jeopardy of rejection or failure.
• Urban and Space Context:
The urban and space arrangement, site sensitivity and style for the project is one of the most important factors to be considered in the design. Novelty and significance are main requirements as well as good interaction with context and surrounding areas.
• Environmental Responsiveness:
Sustainable solutions regarding materials, energy conservation, natural lighting, user comfort and efficient natural ventilation if possible are highly recommended.
• Form and Structural Expression:
Social, cultural and economic significance are main issues to be addressed in this project. Structural expression and material experiment, in addition to function relationship, specific needs and environmental adaptation are also to be considered in the project formation.
• Functional Requirements:
Functional requirements such as accessibility, circulation and quality of indoor and outdoor environments should be maintained. Functional needs would include: setting appropriate relationship among spaces, exhibited items and services, also flexibility, adaptability and variety in space divisions, in addition to integration of the various levels within the entire space and the ease of way finding.
Akkar Awqafs’ Directorate has commissioned the faculty of Architecture, BAU Tripoli campus to design a civic complex of hospital (120 Bed) & School at Bebnin area in Akkar; the project was offered as a competition for 4th year students and a total of 23 project has been finally submitted under the supervision of: Prof. Mohamed Assem, Dr.Khaled ElDaghar, Arch Mohamed Negro and Arch Sima Elshiekh. After short-listing five project were presented at the Directorate and 3 winners were chosen by the committee as follows:
First Prize: Ryad ElHalaby / Ghada Maasarani (1000$)
Second Prize: AbdAllah ElMir / Hoda Kabbara (500$)
Third Prize: Shahinaz GahGah / Hazar Heider (500$)
And all five projects were awarded a special mention trophy.
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