Tripoli Media and Culture City

The need to provide shelter from the heat was paramount in shaping the concept for the masterplan. The city is dominated by the car; our counterpoint was to provide an articulated roof that provides shade and cooling from the local sea water poured from one umbrella to another.  Using the wind, this natural evaporative cooling provides a lower temperature at street level.

The orientation and location of the site provided the clues for the rest of the masterplan layout.  The city has grown over a number of generations and under different leadership and this has left a historic layering to the grain of the city.  We used this grain to provide, cultural uses in a larger grain, residential uses in a smaller grain and vast scale media buildings as a heat buffer to the south. At the centre of the masterplan sits the Opera House, whose form grows out of the umbrella grid of the masterplan.