Centrale Restaurant

Beirut, Lebanon

The construction of this restaurant required the demolition of the first-floor slab and internal walls of a listed 1920s building. The project preserved, internally and externally, the belt structure of steel beams used in the reinforcement process. Furthermore, the sandstone facade was not re-plastered, but was covered with a metallic mesh that allows the old plaster to peel out. The mesh enhances the poetic dimension of the decay and explains the position of the intervention vis-à-vis the 'historical value' of the building.

Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture