Big building, small city: Redefining the notion of scale

The face of a city landscape is the fruit of many factors, and can be derived not only from the drive of the people in power to showcase their political ‘achievements’, but also a series of unpredictable events, a juxtaposition of spatial distortions, and performances of many social spectacles. In war torn cities like Beirut, many elements of the urban architecture that were once executed as big tools of development, today stand as ghosts of neglect. But when we label them as big tools, it is not only a reference to the size of their impact on the growth of the city, but also their scale in regards to their surroundings. Big architecture, in time, has always shown a mission for resilience, adaptability, engagement, growth; a direct but prolongated impact on cities. But when small cities come into the picture, the advantages of big architecture are overtaken by the disadvantages of its presence in regards to scale and integration. This research will be about experimenting the alternatives to the misbalance caused by an already existing big building, pushing for the implementation of bigness as a solution for ever growing issues in a small city like Beirut.Award-winnin