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Architecture & Design Addict

@architecture_design_addict

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Exploring International Architecture, from any Style.
A cooperating works of @lancearamouny @camilleammoun @jadg.arch & @omars.harb

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Sur la façade abandonnée de l’hôtel Excelsior...

#excelsior #urbex #abandonedplace #goldenage #logodesign Close-up vertical view of the abandoned façade of the former Hotel Excelsior in Ain el-Mreisseh, Beirut, a surviving landmark of Lebanon’s golden age. Against a pale concrete wall marked by cracks, stains and impact holes, a monumental fragment of the hotel’s oxidized metal signage remains: a flowing, calligraphic character resembling the letter “S” above a sharp geometric arrow pointing downward. Empty light-bulb holes and a weathered blue-grey patina preserve the bold visual language of mid-century hotel typography. Torn black netting sweeps diagonally across the façade like a veil, framed by dark balconies, rusted railings and decaying shutters. Beneath Beirut’s deep blue sky and harsh Mediterranean sunlight, the former luxury hotel—home to the legendary Les Caves du Roy nightclub—appears as an urban ruin suspended between modernist architecture, Lebanese heritage, war memory and nostalgia for cosmopolitan Beirut in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. taken in Excelsior by @architecture_design_addict

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20 days ago

Régie Libanaise des Tabacs et Tombacs — Bikfaya Foundation.

#watertower #chateaudeau #concretelove #béton #brutalism Vue verticale rapprochée d’un ensemble d’architecture brutaliste en béton clair, partiellement enfoui dans une végétation dense. Au premier plan se dresse un imposant réservoir d’eau cylindrique, haut et légèrement évasé, dont la surface brute, blanchie et tachée par le temps, porte les traces du coffrage et des intempéries. La cuve repose sur une structure ajourée composée de piliers massifs, de plateformes circulaires, de jambes de force courbes et d’une échelle métallique verticale. Derrière elle s’étend un bâtiment bas aux façades minérales, percées de longues fenêtres horizontales sombres et de baies vitrées rectangulaires. Sa toiture alterne une dalle plate sombre et une succession de voûtes blanches en forme de vagues ou de coques. Un arbre mort aux branches noires et tortueuses se détache au centre de la composition, parmi les pins, les arbustes et les feuillages verts qui envahissent le pied des constructions. Des câbles électriques traversent obliquement l’arrière-plan boisé. La lumière solaire dure accentue les volumes géométriques, les ombres profondes et le contraste entre la monumentalité austère du béton brutaliste et la végétation méditerranéenne foisonnante. taken in Bikfaya by @architecture_design_addict

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a month ago

Oscar Neimeyer's fantastic planet in Tripoli.

Thank you @brutalist.london for including my photo of Triploli's @rkif.rachidkaramifair in your Worldwide Brutalist Icons series. Here's a full carousel.

#oscarniemeyer #tripolilebanon #brutalistarchitecture #concretelove #fantasticplanet A photographic exploration of Oscar Niemeyer’s Rachid Karami International Fair in Tripoli, documenting empty plazas, weathered concrete structures, geometric pavilions and the surrounding Lebanese cityscape with the detached precision of New Topographics photography. Brutalist monuments coexist with trees, mosques, apartment blocks and vacant public space, revealing a landscape shaped by modernist ambition, political history and abandonment. Neither conventional ruins nor functioning city, the fairground appears as a cinematic territory suspended between architecture, archaeology and science fiction. taken in Rachid Karami International Fair by @architecture_design_addict

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2 months ago

Soon available in Beirut >> Brutalist Architecture in Beirut, a Uhm! publication.

Part of @uhm.publishing's International Brutalism series, this special edition features my black-and-white photographs of seven Brutalist, modernist and raw concrete sites across the city.

The publication is also a fundraising project in support of the Lebanese Red Cross.

Limited edition: 20 copies.

Beirut Waterfront
Contractor: Bouygues Travaux Publics
2000, Beirut Central District, Beirut, Lebanon

#rawconcrete #minimalmovement #betonbrut #brutalistbeirut #waterfront Concrete staircases and geometric sea defenses line Beirut's waterfront under a deep blue Mediterranean Sea. Strong perspective, clean architectural lines, minimalist composition, exposed concrete, modernist design, coastal infrastructure, urban landscape, Beirut, Lebanon, Mediterranean architecture, brutalist aesthetics, symmetry, light and shadow, contemporary city photography. taken in Beirut Waterfront by @architecture_design_addict

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3 months ago

Calder à la Fondation Louis Vuitton.

Les deux dernières photos : Alexander Calder travaillant à #Escutcheon, Beyrouth, janvier 1954.

Journal de Beyrouth:

Janvier 1954 - Après une escale à Limassol, à Chypre, Alexander Calder et sa famille arrivent à Beyrouth. Ils séjournent pendant un mois chez les Seyrig et parcourent en voiture la Syrie et la Jordanie.

À Beyrouth, Calder dispose d’une pièce transformée en atelier dans les bureaux encore en construction de la Middle East Airlines. C’est là qu’il travaille notamment à Escutcheon.

Février 1954 - L’Université américaine de Beyrouth expose les œuvres réalisées par Calder au cours de son séjour.

Du 4 au 6 février 1954 - La famille Calder visite Jérusalem et Bethléem.

11 février 1954 - Les Calder quittent Beyrouth en avion et retournent à Aix-en-Provence.

#alexandercalder #frankghery #gustaveeiffel
#louisvuitton Groupe de danseurs et musiciens en costumes traditionnels rouges et blancs avançant devant la Fondation Louis Vuitton à Paris. Les silhouettes se reflètent dans la façade vitrée spectaculaire dessinée par Frank Gehry, tandis que les voiles de verre et la structure métallique du musée se détachent sur un ciel nuageux. Une scène urbaine dynamique où l’architecture contemporaine, la performance collective, les reflets et la végétation du Bois de Boulogne se rencontrent. taken in Fondation Louis Vuitton by @architecture_design_addict

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4 months ago

Banque de Beyrouth pour le Commerce
Sakr Fakhri, architect
Hamra, Beirut

The headquarters of the Banque de Beyrouth pour le Commerce is a complex of offices and shops located on Sidani Street in Hamra. One of its basement levels houses the vaults, while the other two are used as parking areas. Its ten floors of exposed concrete feature a façade decorated with Eurocolor aluminium and blue mirrored glass. The contemporary lines of the building culminate on the roof in a series of arcades that soften its geometry, conceal the machinery and tanks, and emphasize the architecture’s Oriental identity.

Thank you @omars.harb and @modernarchitecturefromlebanon for the information. taken in Sidani Street by @architecture_design_addict

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4 months ago

concrete love in lisboa 🩶 ⬜

#lisboa #edpnovasede #brutalist_architecture #concretelove #brutgroup taken in EDP - Nova Sede by @architecture_design_addict

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5 months ago

The Intra Bank building on Bank Street in Downtown Beirut remains one of the strongest expressions of Lebanese modernism.

Originally designed in 1958 by architect Assem Salam, the headquarters reflected a period when Beirut was emerging as a major financial capital in the Middle East. Clean lines, geometric repetition and strong vertical proportions gave the building a disciplined modernist identity while responding to Beirut’s climate and light.

Its façade is defined by a grid of deep concrete frames creating rhythm, shadow and depth across the elevation. Recessed windows reduce direct sunlight while giving the structure a sculptural quality that shifts throughout the day. The side elevation features a lattice-like brise-soleil filtering heat and light, while the vertical glazed façade reflects the surrounding city almost like an urban mirror.

At street level, the dark base anchors the lighter upper volume, giving the structure monumentality without excess ornamentation. The entire composition reflects the international modernist language of the late 1950s interpreted through Beirut’s own architectural vocabulary.

Behind the architecture lies one of Lebanon’s most dramatic financial stories.

Founded by Palestinian-born financier Yousef Beidas, Intra Bank grew from a money exchange and trading business into Lebanon’s largest financial institution, expanding across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

But in October 1966, the bank collapsed in an event that shook Lebanon and the wider region, triggering major banking reforms that reshaped the sector for decades. The controversy surrounding Intra’s fall and the limited intervention of the Central Bank remains debated to this day.

The original Intra headquarters had first been located in Hamra in 1951 before the institution moved into this Downtown Beirut landmark.

Today, the building no longer operates as Intra Bank and now serves as the headquarters of Banque de l’Habitat, while still carrying the memory of an era when Beirut projected financial ambition and modernity onto the world stage.

Archival photos of Intra Bank courtesy of @omarharbarchitect taken in Downtown Beirut by @architecture_design_addict

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5 months ago

elle est quand même plus élégante la montparnasse, non ? (que la triangle).

#tourmontparnasse #montparnasse #urbanlayers #paris #streetphotography Rue de Rennes, entre Saint-Germain-des-Prés et Montparnasse, à Paris, France. Une perspective urbaine dense et très parisienne, bordée d’immeubles haussmanniens, de façades en pierre claire, de balcons en fer forgé et de toits gris. Au bout de l’axe, la tour Montparnasse domine la scène comme une masse noire, verticale et presque abstraite, contrastant avec l’architecture classique de la rive gauche. Sous un ciel gris chargé, la circulation, les voitures, les vélos, les feux rouges et les passants donnent à l’image une atmosphère de grande ville vivante, mélancolique et cinématographique. Une scène de rue parisienne où se rencontrent Saint-Germain, Montparnasse, le Paris historique, l’urbanisme moderne et la tension entre mémoire, élégance, brutalité architecturale et vie quotidienne. taken in Tour Montparnasse by @architecture_design_addict

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5 months ago

bon, rien à dire, elle est laide.

#tourtriangle #vaugirard #urbanlayers #paris #gratteciel Old Paris compressed into a narrow street, with Haussmann façades, balconies, signs, pedestrians, scooters, and delivery traffic in the foreground. Behind the historic rooftops, a massive glass tower under construction dominates the skyline, creating a striking clash between nineteenth-century architecture and the new corporate vertical city. A cloudy sky, muted light, and urban density give the scene a cinematic feeling of transformation, pressure, and modern Paris rising over its older stone body. taken in Tour Triangle by @architecture_design_addict

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5 months ago

The view from MOF's windows...

#hollowsquad #abandonedplace #war #uncannyvalley #brutalistbeirut Abandoned concrete building in Beirut, Lebanon, with a stark grid-like facade, empty window openings, exposed floors, raw unfinished architecture, weathered cement, dark interior voids, and urban decay. The image captures a brutalist structure stripped to its skeleton, standing between residential buildings under daylight. A haunting cityscape of ruins, vacancy, reconstruction, and memory, evoking themes of postwar architecture, abandoned places, urban exploration, concrete geometry, derelict buildings, Lebanese urban landscape, and the fragile beauty of unfinished modernism. taken in Ministry of Finance (Lebanon) by @architecture_design_addict

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5 months ago

Long before hotels like the Printania Palace, the Belvedere, Mont Vert, or Grand Hills became part of Brummana’s summer identity, another landmark had already risen along the street now known for its pubs, cafés, and nightlife.

You simply cannot walk through that part of Brummana without noticing it.

With its imposing stone façade, white shutters, arched windows, and suspended balconies, the old Cedar Hotel still dominates the street like a reminder from another era, back when Brummana was becoming one of Lebanon’s most sought after mountain retreats.

The story of the property goes back to the late 19th century, when it first opened as Hotel Libanon, founded by Mary and Karl Saalmüller, relatives of the Waldmeier family who settled in Brummana after years spent between Ethiopia and Jerusalem. Over time, the hotel became known as Les Cedrés and later Cedarhurst, while continuing to welcome generations escaping Beirut’s summers for Brummana’s cool mountain air.

In the 1950s, the mansion entered a new chapter when it was acquired by Toufic Salameh, before later becoming the family residence of his son Ramzi Salameh, his wife Christianne Matar, and their children Toufic, Jad, and Jihane.

Today, stepping inside feels less like entering a former hotel and more like entering a deeply personal world. Narrow library corridors lined with books from floor to ceiling, rustic wooden ceilings, vintage furniture, paintings, sculptures, photographs, collected objects, and personal art pieces gathered by Ramzi Salameh give the house the feeling of a lived memory rather than a preserved mansion.

Beneath the property once stood the famous Troubadour Club and the beloved Cheers Pub, both remembered as part of Brummana’s vibrant social life and long summer nights.

Today, the property continues to evolve once again. Alongside the historic residence stand The Retro and Moods pubs as well as The Space, which today includes a café, yoga center, and art hub, allowing the old Cedar Hotel to remain part of Brummana’s cultural life instead of fading into memory alone. taken in Brummana by @architecture_design_addict

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5 months ago