The Saifi 450 tower was first built as a hotel, but as the foundations and basements were put in, the client asked that it be converted into residential tower. Conversion was done when the main structural layout and the morphology of the building were already determined by the completed construction. Plot # 450, a 1628 m2 situated at the edge of the Beirut Central District beside the port, is therefore moulded according to imposed setbacks, alignments, and height restrictions. However, as a residential tower rooted in a determination to conceive a tower specific to Beirut, Plot # 450 is constructed around criteria not necessarily in keeping with international debate. Instead, it is a product of regional and cultural radicalism. Examples include elements of the port such as a crane - a reminder of government authority - and security phobia that put the control room at the entrance of the site.
