Glass House , Baakline, Chouf District/ Libanon

 

 

Architect Karim Nader is about to complete the Glass House in Baakline, a town located in Mount Lebanon, Chouf District, 45 kilometers southeast of Beirut. This tribute in stone, steel and glass to the eponymous project by Philip Johnson takes a rural and ecological twist, stemming from a personal reinterpretation of traditional elements found in the modernist icon.

 

In a country assailed by a severe financial and political crisis, Karim Nader remains optimistic and committed to his work as an architect. He approaches his practice with passion, dedication, and a sense of responsibility, seeking to truly understand the humbling act of building both through private commissions as well as through other initiatives of significant cultural and social impact. Among these, the Repair of 10 Public Schools project, undertaken after the devastating explosion of August 2020, made a significant contribution to the relief efforts meant to rebuild and bring back to use educational spaces that were affected.

 

According to Karim Nader, his project for the Glass House hybridizes Philip Johnson’s approach, resulting in a less dogmatic and more adaptable design that takes into account the specific environmental context in which it is set. The house is fragmented into independent, interconnected volumes that the floor plan highlights as an aggregate of small units. In elevation, the Glass House built in Baakline doubles up, resulting in two floors, stacked one on top of the other and separated by a very thin plate. The detailing is also comparable: the H columns, as in Philip Johnson's house, are positioned with their flanges facing the facade, so only the edges are visible and not the flat side; the lines are recognized, not the individual elements. This house never becomes an object, or a volume. The compositional strategy is based on the idea of the relationship between the inside and outside of the house and develops the theme of framing and integrating into the horizon that the Philip Johnson-designed house in New Canaan had defined.

 

With its project, Karim Nader sought to blend the desired classical icon with contemporary technologies and the local architectural heritage. This design process resulted in a unique and interesting hybrid of an exposed minimal steel structure and natural stone masonry originated from the local quarry. The floors are in basalt, also a local material. All is built without the use of concrete.

 

The house offers panoramic views towards Beirut, Deir el Qamar, and Beiteddine and opens up to a large garden with olive trees, pines, play areas, a pool, and a guest area below.

 

“Nature builds us and we build upon Nature,” as Karim Nader points out. “I seek to always listen. To the site of course, and the voices of nature, but also to the human context.”

 

In his recent book For a Novel Architecture: Ciné-roman 2000-2020, published by LetteraVentidue, Karim Nader dedicates an entire chapter to "Homes upon Nature." Karim’s compelling narrative showcases his unwavering passion for architecture. It is a testament to his dedication to every site, to every client, in every situation.

 

 

 

“Confronted with the unusual request of a glass house in the Chouf, we seek to engage the desired classical icon - its exposed black steel structure, oversized glass and otherwise warm earthy materials, with the technologies of the age and the heritage of our village architecture.

 

In this process, a combination of an exposed minimal steel structure and natural stone masonry composes a strange hybrid that stacks three little pavilions atop a glass floor with a cantilevered ceiling while avoiding the use of concrete.

 

On the ground floor, the plan articulates itself around a 'high-tech' openable central living room and bar bordered by two reflective pools, a fireplace living on the side, open kitchen and dining on the other. A system of minimal aluminum mullions makes the boundary of the house disappear to a maximal extent while the ceiling canopy, in wood, provides the needed warmth and shading.

 

Panoramic views towards Beirut, Deir el Qamar and Beiteddine open up on a right angle at the intersection of the north and west terraces extending to a wide garden of olive trees, pines, play areas and pool with guest area below.

 

Above the glass house, the pitched volumes contain three bedrooms for the children and a master suite towards the Chouf view. The stone construction is carried all the way to the interior of the hybrid, its texture always read all the way to the interiors of the bedrooms, bathrooms and changing areas. In between the three pavilions, two glazed passageways reassert the immersion towards the outside while the roofs are almost completely covered in photovoltaic panels, rain water collection as well as other innovative energy systems.

 

In black and stone, the steel of Johnson and stones recycled from ruins of nearby houses, our vernacular tradition moves forward with the advent of new technologies and a globalized exposure to modernist international style for the pleasure of being, today, in rural Lebanon.”

 

 

Project name: Glass House

 

Location: Baakline, Chouf District, Lebanon

 

Client: Private

 

Project status: Nearing completion (Spring 2023)

 

Architect: Karim Nader Studio 

 

Project Team: Karim Nader with Karina el Hage, Christy Layous, Elie Christian Naameh, Elias el Hage.

 

Structural engineering: Elie Turk

 

MEP engineering: Bureau Elias Abou Khaled

 

Landscape design: IGA, Imad Gemayel

 

Project size: 500 square meters total (250 square meters per floor) + 250 square meters basement

 

Photography of built house: Dia Mrad, Karim Nader

 

Model photography: Marwan Harmouche

 

Press office: Cultivar