This project is an architectural journey built around a narrative triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The existing site, the iconic “egg” in downtown Beirut, scarred with its bullet holes as a reminder of the war and the country’s struggles post-war, shelters this journey in an attempt to bring to the people mental healing and social reconciliation.
The journey raises questions on social gathering and isolation, while the architectural path brings people together and separate them again in a lonely quest. Vertically moving downwards through this project, the visitors will descend from openness and light into complete isolation and darkness. However, in a site where only devastation was left, nature is gradually reintroduced, and the reflective body of water, the pocket gardens and the natural light guided through slits between the slabs, act like a healing element along the way.