The Cedar’s Mountain Foundation students’ housing, benefits from a strategic location in Dbayeh, midway between the city of Beirut and the costal northern part of Lebanon.
Conceived for middle class students, the project consists of 180 rooms divided into two stretched wings linked by a main public area on the ground floor with two separate cores leading to the rooms.
The horizontally elongated dormitory, follows the linear site shape, offering maximized openings towards the east and west sides, and dividing the plot into two parts. The first one, on its lower level, defining the public entrance, and the second on the upper level devoted for the hidden private outdoor functions.
The ground floor serves as a public space connecting the main entrance from the lower level of the plot to its upper level, and is composed of a reception counter with the administrative offices, the waiting area, the main restaurant, the chapel, the gym, the multipurpose room and the two main vertical circulations leading to the upper suites and other functions. It also includes an external parking behind the building, outdoor recreation areas such as a leisure garden and a multi-use court. Each floor is divided into two wings connected by a central studying zone, and each section has a double loaded corridor with a seating/daily use eating area at the extremity of the walkway.
The building is a combination of natural white stone covering the main body of the building, and a plugged painted grey volume. The plugged volume containing the rooms, is conceived as a glazed fragmented skin defining shifted openings on the two floors and acting as a panoramic view towards its surroundings. Perforated aluminum sheets are used as balustrades and fences. Each zone is defined by a specific combination of gradient colors, creating focal points and a colorful, playful mood.
