Modernist Beirut

Since the 50s, Beirut and Lebanon have been a veritable laboratory for architectural modernity in the Middle East, calling on the greatest national and international architects. Lebanese institutions and major companies turned to concrete and so-called brutalist forms, playing a full part in the revival of architecture worldwide.

From among the wealth of exemplary buildings Lebanon produced in this period, Guillaume Excoffier and Matthieu Salvaing want to extend an invitation to discover over thirty of them, often little-known.

Through their selection, the authors invite the reader to follow in their footsteps to the heart of the various modernist experiments that traversed Lebanon, like so many testaments to an international and generous vision.

From public commissions such as Oscar Niemeyer's emblematic Tripoli International Fair or André Wogenscky's Ministry of Defense, to private projects such as the villas by Henri Eddé or Khalil Khoury's Interdesign building, this book is a celebration of Lebanon's happier times, rooted in modernity and open to the world.