Baabdat Residence / L.E.FT
The Baabdat Residence is an inversion design of the traditional agricultural terracing. This results in spectacular 180 degree views out to the mountains beyond, and a camouflaged home from above. More drawings following the break.
Architects: L.E.FT
Location: Baabdat, Lebanon
Team: Daniel Colvard, Makram el Kadi, Ziad Jamaleddine, Mahdi Sabbagh, Karie Titus, Karine Yassine
Client: P.Baadarani
Project Area: 500 sqm
Renderings: Courtesy of L.E.FT
Beirut Exhibition Center / L.E.FT
Beirut Exhibition Center (BEC), is the first structure dedicated to contemporary art in the new waterfront development area. Designed by L.E.FT, the BEC responds to its location, a constantly shifting context, and contributes to a new skyline for the city. Simultaneously the interior is in constant motion with the shifting of exhibitions and as L.E.FT described, “the architecture is trapped in a dynamic state of limbo.”
Follow the break for photographs and design description by the architects.
Architects: L.E.FT
Location: Beirut, Lebanon
Team: Daniel Colvard, Makram el Kadi, Karine Yassine, Ziad Jamaleddine, Cindy Moon, Mahdi Sabbagh, Karie Titus
Landscape Architects: Vladimir Djurovic Landscape Architecture
Contractor: Target Engineering
Client: Solidere
Project Area: 1,200 sqm
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Courtesy of L.E.FT
Vertical Landscape Urbanism / Studio Hp As + L.E.FT
Our friends from L.E.FT (previously featured on AD Futures) just shared with us an interesting vertical landscape project, a joint work with norwegian architects STUDIO hp AS.
The project is located in Holmestrand, Norway, and consists on a public elevator that connects the old lower part of the town across and 85m high cliff to the newer part of it. The infrastructure acts as an articulator of multiple activities/programs that make this intervention a unique urban piece.
It is being presented to the city next month.
AD Futures #2: L.E.FT
Loft Barn, Hamptons, NY – L.E.FT
AD Futures is a weekly section showcasing emerging practices from around the world. We are open for submissions.
I got to meet L.E.FT when we interviewed them at their office in New York back in September, 2008. This practice is lead by three partners, Makram el Kadi, Ziad Jamaleddine and Naji Moujaes. They all graduated in Beirut between 1995 and 1997, and then got their masters at Parsons, Harvard and SCI-Arc, respectively. After that, they worked on big practices such as Massimiliano Fuksas and Steven Holl Architects, and then founded L.E.FT in 2001.
They are still related to the academy (UPenn, Yale, Cornell, RPI), a constant on innovative practices. Also, they got invited to the Young Architects Program at P.S.1 2009, an annual competition that invites emerging architects to design a temporary structure.
You can hear their thoughts on several aspects of the architectural practice on the interview we conducted. Now, onto some of their featured works:
AD Interviews: L.E.FT
We got the chance to sit down with the tree partners at L.E.FT a few months ago, and chatted about their practice, ongoing projects and their thoughts on the state of architectural education, the role of architects in current society and more.
I found their work very interesting, and it was no surprise to see them invited to the P.S.1 competition for 2009 we featured earlier. I also selected them for our section AD Futures, as i think they have a promising future.
You can read more about them on the article AD Futures #2. Some pictures of their office after the break.
UPDATE: I´m currently uploading the video to Blip.tv in better quality
Entries for the Young Architects Program at P.S.1 2009
Since year 2000, the MoMA and the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center present the Young Architects Program, an annual competition that invites emerging architects to design a temporary structure at the P.S.1 ’s facility in Long Island City, Queens. This has been a field for experimentation for digital manufacturing, new materials and new construction techniques -all under a tight budget-, as we saw in 2008 with the P.F.1 installation by WORKac.
A few days ago we featured this years winning proposal by MOS, a lightweight aluminum frame using recyclable parts, and saw how the economical crisis is present on the project´s conception.
But also, the other proposals by BSC Architecture, !ndie architecture, L.E.FT architects and PARA-project explore this and other social/cultural concepts on their proposals, so we decided to contact them and feature this projects so you can get the whole picture.
I´d like to thank Michel (MOS), Martin (BSC Architecture), Paul (!ndie architecture), Ziad (L.E.FT architects), Jon (PARA-project), April (P.S.1) and Meg (MoMA) for helping us out on this article.
And now, onto the proposals:
