THE EPILOBIUM
carol el farraji
The Epilobium is a type of widely distributed flowering plant that blooms in neglected areas, and Beit Chabeb, just like many other Lebanese villages that were prosperous for what they have, was a victim of time. With most of its old buildings – two of which present on site – handcrafts, and productions left for neglect, Beit Chabeb was left as a prey for change. Thus, from these two dilapidating structures, a prototype blossoms, one that is open for change, just like an Epilobium, allowing growth and prosperity in the graveyard of time. It is based on a trilateral relation between Intellect, Production, and Exchange such that, as these two buildings transform into the main centers of production, the living spaces become integrated as spaces in between, inhabiting the floating truss system that is totally dependent on the wellbeing of the production spaces, structurally and theoretically; thus, reaching a common ground between a Marxist system of living and a capitalist result in production, growth, and development that aims for the wellbeing of its inhabitants who are part of the production, exchange and intellectual processes taking place in this new prototype; The Epilobium.