veilent state
LEBANON omani performing art center
Design and Development Studio
Partner: Georgeanna Foley
Instructor: Mark Mistur | Lonn Combs | Michael Stein
[Veil]ent State seeks to engage the relationship between the physical enclosure and the urban realm through the slice and lift of the veil, immortalizing the history of Beirut within the walls of a cultural and performing arts center. The project hosts two distinct yet related event spaces for both performing art and practicing arts. The symbolic state figure is gently shrouded within the sophisticated Veil while it marks the new generation of the city after severe deconstruction damage from wars.
The design development phase of the project was modified based on a submission by POLY.M.UR Architecture. A series of studies on site, programming, lighting, structure, facade system, environment and landscape were conducted thoroughly with the final outcome as a complete technical drawing set and a 1:50 scale physical model.
The marriage of a veiled façade and a formal ramping gesture as a means of circulation begins to call to forefront the contextual relationship of the project to the city of Beirut itself. Historically and geographically relevant is that of the veil, a “curtain-like” material which shields the body from the world. The veil exists not only between the literal boundary of the interior building and the urban realm; the veil demarcates the performance hall’s margin as well. Particular to its site, [VEIL]ent State is nested in a series of vacant lots which are bordered on one side by a public, local domain and the other by a diplomatic urgency.
In the act of veiling something/ oneself, the delineation of what is exterior and interior is sometimes lost. What is a wall if it isn’t to divide? What is a door if it doesn’t allow passage? Somewhere within the gradient of opacity and transparency, though, exists the veil. The veil acts not only as a sheath, but as a visually permeable surface. The veil is not just the wall; it is the threshold as well. For the Lebanese-Omani Centre, the veil could begin to express programmatic and interstitial spatial relationships. A gradient of perforations on the façade suggests the differences in light allowance based not only on these programmatic needs but on inclusive and exclusive zones.
