In Lebanon, War’s Legacy Is a Green Building for American U. of Beirut

A new green complex at American U. of Beirut houses recreational and social facilities. (Paul Crosby Studio photograph)

The American University of Beirut’s new Charles Hostler Student Center was the only college building on the American Institute of Architects’ Top 10 Green Projects list for 2009, but the university has more reason than most to build sustainably. Lebanon’s civil war and the subsequent lack of infrastructure improvements have left the country with an unreliable electrical grid and rolling blackouts, so it’s a good idea to design buildings that use energy sparingly and generate much of what they do use.

“It was imperative to plan for a future with highly variable energy, water, and sewer capacity, and for the Hostler Center to be able to act autonomously and provide chilled water for cooling for the lower campus,” an AIA overview of the project notes. The 204,000-square-foot facility has solar panels for generating electricity, advanced chillers for air cooling, and other sustainable features. It also captures rainwater for recycling and relies on indigenous landscaping.

The seaside facility, which combines both recreational and social spaces, was also honored for merging contemporary technologies with a traditional Mediterranean approach to city design that is closely calibrated with the environment. “Daily human migration throughout the urban environment allows social activities to ‘condense’ at various locations as spaces are exploited for their microclimates—sun or shade, thermal mass with radiant surfaces, and natural ventilation,” the overview of the project says.

The student center has an indoor swimming pool; basketball, handball, volleyball, and squash courts; and exercise and weight-training rooms. The complex also includes an outdoor amphitheater, an auditorium, meeting rooms, a cafeteria, and underground parking for 200 cars. The architects were VJAA, of Minneapolis.