LEBANON

The shell of the City Center complex in downtown Beirut, dubbed the ‘Egg’

Real estate center, movie theater and office

building. The developers, Samadi

Beirut in an eggshell and Salha, had ambitious plans for

this development and wanted to
make it the biggest multi-use center
in the Middle East. The egg-shaped
cinema was designed to hold 1,000
seats and is 24 meters wide and 11
meters high. It was to be accompa-
nied by two towers, of which only
one was built and has since been de-
Bulldozers of development loom for one the city’s last iconic buildings stroyed. George Arbid, professor of
architecture at the American Uni-
versity of Beirut (AUB), explained

I
n the heart of Beirut is the dis-
tinctive shell of what was once a
complex called the “City Cen-
ter,” also affectionately known
as the “Egg.”
The Egg, with its nose
chopped off and deep scars on its
once smooth concrete exterior skin,
has passed through dramatic
changes in its 50 years of existence.
Ever since Solidere in 2005 sold the
land to Abu Dhabi Investment
House (ADIH) as part of the Beirut
Gate project, the Egg has been con-
stantly threatened with demolition.
Solidere sold the land without
any legal protection or financial in-
centive to save the Egg, meaning its
destruction is almost inevitable. For
now, the July 2006 war stopped its
imminent demolition and the finan-
cial crisis delayed the bulldozers fur-
ther. However, the end appears to be
near for one of the last iconic, mod-
ernist architectural structures in the
center of Beirut that also carries
with it the physical manifestations
of the civil war years.
The Egg was built between 1965
and 1968 as a multi-use shopping
that the distinctive shape of the Egg
came about through unintended
consequences.
“The building code at this time
was very strict about building movie
theaters for structural safety,” Arbid
said. “So the architect, Joseph-
Philippe Karam, convinced the au-
thorities that the law did not forbid
the use of the space below the movie
theater, so he created a retail space
underneath. Once the movie theater
was raised and visible, he was forced
to give it a distinguished shape,
hence the concrete egg shell.”

48 June 2009
 Bernard Khoury’s proposed design for the Egg
T h e a rc h i t e c t a n d t h e e g g
Joseph-Philippe Karam was one
of Lebanon’s most distinguished
modernist architects who trained in
Lebanon and designed buildings
throughout the region.
“The Beirut City Center was one
of several examples of his innovative
contributions to architecture,” said
Joseph-Philippe Karam’s son, Sami
Karam. “The surviving cinema [or
Egg] has become an icon of avant-
garde Lebanese modernism.”
Many of Karam’s buildings were
destroyed in the civil war and the
few that remain are being demol-
ished to make way for high-rise de-
velopments, most notably the Build-
ing Gondole, in Rouche, that was
demolished in 2004.
The architectural importance of
the Egg is contested despite many
top-notch international architects
admiring the structure.
“Architecturally speaking the
Egg does not have architectural val-
ue,” said architect Bernard Khoury.
“There are many more important
buildings in Beirut that are, architec-
turally speaking, more important.
The attraction [to the Egg] is the cu-
riosity of the building in terms of its
role with the war and the fascina-
tion that it creates.”
Residents of Lebanon confirm
this enchantment with the Egg and
the history it represents in its current
appearance.
Marie-Louise Ramy, who grew
up during Lebanon’s civil war, ex-
plained the fascination.
“When we came down from the
mountains to Beirut, the whole of
Beirut used to look like the Egg does
now,” she said. “So the structure
“ W E A R E STA RTI N G TO LO O K S O M U C H LI KE D U B A I AN D
W E A R E N OT, W E A R E LI KE TH E E G G. TH E E G G I S V E RY
I M P O RTA NT I N LE B A N E S E H I STO RY”
acts as a reminder.”
Arbid disagreed with the idea put
forth by Khoury that the Egg does
not have any architectural value.
“It is one of the rare free-form
structures in the city [and] it was a
difficult task to execute such a form.
It is also important because it is one
of the rare cinema halls raised above
a freed ground floor,” he said.
While the architectural impor-
tance of the building is contested,
the debate over whether to demolish
the structure or not has certainly
stirred public interest. Dania Bdier, a
student at AUB, started a Facebook
group to ‘Save the Egg’ at the begin-
ning of 2009.
“Within four days 3,000 people
had joined up to the group,” she said.
The group now has more than
5,000 members and had to move to
‘Save the Egg Cause’ due to having
so many members in the group.
Much of the debate of the group
does not center on the architectural
intricacies of the building, but in-
stead on the role the Egg plays in
Lebanese identity.
The battle for identity
For many the Egg is becoming a
centerpiece in the battle for the iden-
tity, not just of the downtown area,
but the whole of Lebanon. Bdier
was very clear about her reason for
starting up the Facebook group.
“We are starting to look so much
like Dubai and we are not, we are
like the Egg. The Egg is very impor-
tant in Lebanese history,” she said.
June 2009 49
 LEBANON

The Egg, post-war

Many of those on the Facebook

group who support preserving the
Egg do so because they want to stop
what they call the ‘Dubai-ification’
of Lebanon. This allegation is par-
ticularly sensitive given that the land
where the Egg is located is now
owned by the ADIH and the deci-
sion as to whether the Egg stays or
goes rests not in Lebanon but in Abu
Dhabi. This point has not been lost
on those who argue for preserving
the Egg. As Jack Samaha, on the
Facebook group proclaimed, “Our
identity and culture as Lebanese is
not for sale [to] Gulf millionaires.”
Not all agree with this notion
that the destruction of the Egg will
make Lebanon more like the Gulf,
and many posts support the demoli-
tion of the Egg.
“I saw the Beirut Gate project
and I have to say it's very nice,”
wrote Patrick Saab on the Facebook
group. “The Egg is a mess, and it
can be replaced or rebuilt anywhere
The original architectural plans for the City Center
else. Put culture aside, think modern

50 June 2009
 LEBANON
The Egg in the 1990s
look for Lebanon… How do we ex-
pect to get more exposure if we keep
our old, almost destroyed buildings
standing?”
The ADIH would not speak to
EXECUTIVE but in an interview with
Bdier, in January, an unnamed repre-
sentative stated: “Solidere wishes us
to keep the soul of this dome by ei-
ther reshaping it or doing something
similar. We took it into considera-
tion and we are considering it, be-
cause it also has to financially make
sense for us to do it. For this plot,
we bought and paid [for] 39,000
meters squared of built up area, and
the dome is only taking up 6,000 or
7,000 meters squared. The developer
who is going to buy it is looking at it.”
French architect Christian de
Portzamparc was commissioned to
produce a study for the site, and ac-
cording to the local architectural
52 June 2009
consultant ERGA Group, produced
two designs for the site.
“One of the proposals keeps the
shell of the Egg and the other de-
molishes it and no decision by the
developers has been made as to
which one will be built,” said Eli
Abu Ghazaly, chief operating officer
of ERGA.
With no legal obligation to keep
the Egg it is highly unlikely that the
developer will wish to keep the
structure, as it reduces the built up
area of the site and thus significant-
ly reduces its profitability. Abu
Ghazaly said that because no deci-
sion has been made as to which pro-
posal would be accepted, no images
of the proposals could be released.
T h e p ro j e c t t h a t n e v e r w a s
One project proposal for the ren-
ovation of the Egg was Khoury’s
2004 commission by Solidere. In
previous statements, Solidere Chair-
man and CEO Nasser Chamma, in
The Wall Street Journal in 2004, ad-
mitted that Solidere wanted to de-
molish the structure straight away.
But many of the star architects
brought to Lebanon by Solidere,
such as Philippe Stark and Jean
Nouvelle, were struck by the Egg
and Solidere decided to think again.
It was then that they approached
Khoury to propose a scheme to re-
develop the Egg.
“There was deadlock over this
site for a while and Solidere did not
know what to do with it,” Khoury
said. “Then in 2004, they called me
to develop a temporary structure that
would last five or six years while they
figured out what to do with the land.
But then with the assassination of
[former Prime Minister] Rafiq Hariri
 LEBANON
everything changed. There was a
huge change in Solidere with big in-
terest in the real estate and many big
transactions were made,” he said.
“It all occurred much faster than
Solidere ever thought it would happen…
The land where the Egg is was sold in
one of the biggest deals and so my
project was stopped,” Khoury
added.
The role of Solidere in the Egg’s
sale has also been highly controver-
sial, primarily because of the way
the company parceled up the land
and sold it. When Solidere sold the
land they expressed a “wish” for the
dome to be kept, but they made no
legal stipulations enforcing it. Abu
Ghazaly defended Solidere by stat-
ing that “to make it illegal, there
needs to be a government decree.”
But as Arbid explained, “the
W H E N S O LI D E R E S O LD
TH E L A N D TH EY
EX P R E S S E D A “ W I S H ”
F O R T H E D O M E TO B E
KE P T, B UT TH E Y M A D E N O
LE G A L STI P U LATI O N S
E N F O R C I N G IT
way Solidere sold the land makes it
impossible to save the Egg.”
The manner in which the land
was sold, with a total amount of
built up area, including the area
where the Egg is situated, did not
leave any real possibility for saving
the structure. Despite having already
sold the right to make any assertion
as to the future of the Egg, Solidere
still maintains the structure is going
to be preserved.
As another of Lebanon’s histor-
ical sites is destroyed many will be
frustrated by the lack of trans-
parency and debate over these ar-
chitecturally significant sites.
There is a clear lack of will to en-
gage by Solidere or the ADIH in
any sort of debate over whether
these buildings are worth saving or
not. Those who want to preserve
Lebanon’s built environment face
an uphill struggle.
54 June 2009
Darker days at Beirut airport, TWA flight 847 hijacking
Airlines
Delta landing
New office opens in Beirut
merican owned airlines
A
have been prohibited from
flying to Lebanon since
1985, when kidnappings
and hijackings were more
common than tourists at
Beirut International Airport.
But now Delta will become the
latest American owned airline to open
an office in Beirut, joining United Air-
lines and American Airlines. Jimmy
Eichelgruen, Delta’s director of sales
for the Middle East and Africa, ex-
plained the new Beirut office is part of
Delta’s global expansion.
“Delta was predominately a do-
mestic airline and it has only been in
the past four years that it has grown
to [have a 50-50 split between] do-
mestic and international flights,” he
said. “The expansion of Delta has
been phenomenal. Only two years
ago the airline did not fly to the
Middle East at all.”
Delta currently flies direct to
Dubai, Kuwait, Cairo, Amman, Is-
tanbul and Tel Aviv. Delta has 37
weekly flights to the Middle East,
which is more than the other Amer-
ican airlines combined. This has
meant that Delta has been in a prime
position to profit in one of the
fastest growing regions for aviation.
As to whether the new Delta of-
fice might suggest that the ban on
US carriers flying to Lebanon will be
lifted, Eichelgruen would not say.
“At the present time, US carriers
are prohibited by the US government
from flying to Lebanon,” he said.
During the Nahr al-Bared con-
flict, the US government did relax
flight restriction, allowing military
and humanitarian flights to arrive.
But the ban remains for commercial
airlines, and there is no sign that the
restriction on US carriers will be lift-
ed or even eased any time soon.
The new Delta office is set to
open in the Starco building, with an
initial staff of three that will deal
with flight reservations and sales.
Eichelgruen said the demand for
American airlines to set up offices in
Lebanon exists.
“Lebanon has a massive number
of people living in the US, as many
as 750,000, and the open skies poli-
cy is a good incentive to set up an
office here,” he said.
Eichelgruen said it is especially
important to have a presence in the
country during Lebanon’s all impor-
tant summer high season.
Delta has an air-sharing agree-
ment with Air France and KLM en-
abling them to expand their opera-
tions. These agreements help in
places such as Lebanon where Delta
is unable to fly directly.
The company’s 2007 Chapter 11
bankruptcy represented a challeng-
ing period for the airline. But far
from ruining the business it allowed
Delta to restructure and be better
prepared to face the financial tur-
moil that has hurt airlines more than
any other sector.
One year after Delta Airways filed
for Chapter 11 it became the largest
airline in the world following its pur-
chase of Northwest Airlines for $3.6
billion. Yet up until now Delta had no
presence in Beirut, despite the fact
many of its American competitors
have had a presence in the Lebanese
capital for years.