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Architects: Karim Bekdache Studio
- Area: 400 m²
- Year: 2024
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Photographs:Ieva Saudargaitė Douaihi
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Lead Architects: Karim Bekdache, Leticia Lopez
Text description provided by the architects. Located in Ras-El-Matn, Lebanon, the Saloua Raouda Choucair Foundation, named after the pioneering artist in the 20th-century Middle Eastern abstract art scene, serves as a hybrid storage and exhibition space for Choucair’s world-renowned works.
Driving down towards the foundation, a 200-meter-long concrete fence marks the approach to the gates. An homage to the artist’s stacking sculptures, the fence is composed of a series of cast concrete modules assembled to form a perimeter that guides visitors toward the entrance.
Walking through the gate down a slabbed concrete staircase, we reach the foundation’s entrance, guarded by a monumental black steel door. Signage etched into the building’s plaster leads the visitor into the main hall. The visitor is greeted upon arrival by a scenography, set under a five-meter-high concrete ceiling, presenting more than five hundred artworks including paintings, sculptures, tapestries, and pieces of furniture, showcasing all facets of Choucair’s work. Custom-designed storage elements participate in the scenography, holding, and showcasing the works.
A set of arms articulate outward from the main room, weaving between the plot’s centenarian pine trees. At the end of each arm, a floor-to-ceiling glass facade frames views of the surrounding natural landscape, further connecting the foundation to its environment. Two narrow windows akin to arrow slits are placed to respectively highlight a large sculpture within the pine grove at the back of the building, and another sculpture on a cantilevered balcony at the main facade, looking towards the lower parts of the plot and the surrounding valley.
The building’s facade is coated in a bush-hammered white cement-based plaster, applied by hand, while the window frames retain a raw concrete finish.
The project melds into the landscape and minimizes the impact on existing geological and natural features. The building sits atop concrete columns to avoid heavy excavation works, allowing preserved rocks and oak shrubs to remain visible under the structure. Raising the building also helps to protect it from humidity.
As the roof is the first visible part of the foundation while driving down the road, it was decided to cover it in greenery to integrate it into the landscape.
While Choucair’s smaller works are stored and exhibited inside the building, the more monumental pieces are on display throughout the surrounding landscape, connected together via a purpose-built path originating from the main building.
