Sign-In
Cart
Shifting Grounds: The Ground Between Form and Practice in Beirut
Paperback
General ArchitectureRegional Architecture
Publisher Price: $34.95
ISBN13: 9781638401247
Publisher: Actar
Published: Jan 13 2026
Pages: 224
Weight: 1.20
Height: 0.80 Width: 5.80 Depth: 8.40
Language: English
Unique in its context, Beirut has been an ideal laboratory for social practices that characterize its urban culture and shape the experience of the city at ground level.
These spontaneous practices fill the gap between the city's capital-driven development and the aspirations/ needs of its inhabitants, transforming Beirut's ground into a symbiotic environment of cohabitation, as a confrontation to alienating trends that shaped Beirut in its recent history, and as a response to the financial/health/ humanitarian crises that have been enchaining the city since 2019.
This book examines specifically four spatial practices - Appropriation, Commoning, Production, and Activism - in how they inform and transform the diverse urban morphologies of the city from built matter to cultural organization. Through expansive visual and written narrations, the book constructs a graphical analysis of each practice, its materialization on the ground, its shaping of experience, and its impact on Beirut's urban transformation through the shifts that the city continues to endure.
Central to the research is an extensive exploration of urban and architectural taxonomies that characterize the ground level of the city at multiple scales and through different time frames. Organized in four topical chapters, the work reflects on and analyzes each practice through specific methods, such as comparative urban sampling, typological cataloging, time-based mapping, and analytical drawings.Furthermore, the book includes a collection of essays by various authors, introducing a diverse set of views that reflect on the political project of the ground as the backbone for collective life, and the need to revisit operative and projective tools for intervention to reclaim it as a public realm. The work thus presents the tension between ground form In Beirut and its appropriation through the different spatial practices. It offers lessons of adaptation and planning for an uncertain future and helps rethink the ground of the city as the common denominator for collectivity and co-producing the city.
Also in
General Architecture
Architectural Classics Notecards: 20 Prints and Envelopes (20 Different Cards on Luxe Paper, 9 X 6, Gold Foil Stamped Box, Great for All Occasions) [W
Princeton Architectural Press
Other
The Universe of Design: Horst Rittel's Theories of Design and Planning
Protzen, Jean-Pierre
Harris, David
Paperback
Great Houses of Summit Avenue and the Hill District
Larson, Paul Clifford
Hammel, Bette
Melvin, Karen
Hardcover
Post Domesticity: Re-Thinking Urban Obsolescence
Garcia-Setien, Diego
de Abajo, Begona
Espinosa, Enrique
Paperback
Rural Utopia and Water Urbanism: The Modern Village in Franco's Spain
LeJeune, Jean-François
Paperback
Progressive Design in the Midwest: The Purcell-Cutts House and the Prairie School Collection at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Olivarez, Jennifer Komar
Paperback
The End of Automobile Dependence: How Cities Are Moving Beyond Car-Based Planning
Newman, Peter
Kenworthy, Jeffrey
Paperback
Paint by Sticker (Official): Architecture: Re-Create 12 Historic Structures One Sticker at a Time!
Workman Publishing
Paperback
Our World in Ten Buildings: How Architecture Defines Who We Are and How We Live
Murphy, Michael
Hardcover
Generation Regeneration: Codesigning the Future of Cities Through Regenerative Placemaking
Cho, Tony
Hardcover
The Big Book of Tiny Painting: An Artist's Guide to Tiny Painting Outside in Ink and Watercolour
Stroz, Leslie
Paperback
A Field Guide to American Houses (Revised): The Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America's Domestic Architecture
McAlester, Virginia Savage
Paperback
100 Iconic Buildings to See Before You Die: Explore the World's Most Amazing Architecture
Dk Travel
Hardcover
Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time (Tenth Anniversary Edition)
Speck, Jeff
Paperback
Drawing Lessons with Da Vinci: An Artist's Guide to Geometry, Anatomy and Proportion
Roig, Gabriel Martín
Paperback
In a Good Place: How the Spaces Where We Live, Work, and Play Can Help Us Thrive
Klotz, Leidy
Hardcover
Rendering in Pen and Ink: The Classic Book on Pen and Ink Techniques for Artists, Illustrators, Architects, and Designers
Guptill, Arthur L.
Paperback
A Natural History of Empty Lots: Field Notes from Urban Edgelands, Back Alleys, and Other Wild Places
Brown, Christopher
Paperback
Los Angeles Central Library Pops: Celebrating a Century of the Light of Learning
Rice, Christina
Hardcover
Engineering in Plain Sight: An Illustrated Field Guide to the Constructed Environment
Hillhouse, Grady
Hardcover
Pretty Good House: A Guide to Creating Better Homes
Mottram, Emily
Maines, Michael
Kolbert, Daniel
Hardcover
The Spaces That Make Us: Why Design Is Broken and How We Can Create a Happier, Healthier World
Kurani, Danish
Hardcover
Massimo Listri. the World's Most Beautiful Libraries. 45th Ed.
Ruppelt, Georg
Sladek, Elisabeth
Hardcover
The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation's Largest Home
Kiernan, Denise
Paperback
Mini-Forest Revolution: Using the Miyawaki Method to Rapidly Rewild the World
Lewis, Hannah
Paperback
Casa Kahlo: Frida Kahlo's Family Home and Sanctuary
Romeo, Mara de Anda
Romeo, Frida Hentschel
Romeo Kahlo, Mara
Hardcover
Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life
Klinenberg, Eric
Paperback
Barkitecture: Explore the World of Innovative and Sustainable Pet Architecture
Thomasson, Joshua
Hardcover
London, Block by Block: An Illustrated Guide to the Best of England's Capital
Block, Cierra
Hardcover
Men at Work: The Empire State Building and the Untold Story of the Craftsmen Who Built It
Kurtz, Glenn
Hardcover
The Hotel on Place Vendome: Life, Death, and Betrayal at the Hotel Ritz in Paris
Mazzeo, Tilar J.
Paperback
Live Your Dreams Coloring Book: 20 Live Your Dreams Mandala Coloring Pages
Crystal Coloring Books
Paperback
New York's Secret Subway: The Underground Genius of Alfred Beach and the Origins of Mass Transit
Algeo, Matthew
Hardcover
Lost Raleigh: Exploring the Oak City's Architectural History
Hanbury, Mary Ruffin
Dunn, Ian F. G.
Paperback
California Coastal: Seaside Living from Sea Ranch to San Diego
Hebert, Heather Sandy
Ewald, Chase Reynolds
Hardcover
101 Things I Didn't Learn In Architecture School: And wish I had known before my first job
Lebner, Sarah
Paperback
If You Want to Win, You've Got to Fight: A Guide to Effective Transportation Advocacy
Lavin, Carter
Paperback
The Genius in the Design: Bernini, Borromini, and the Rivalry That Transformed Rome
Morrissey, Jake
Paperback
Life Inside a Cottage: Interior Inspiration from Today's Cottage Dwellers
Vere, Rachel
Card, Nell
Hardcover
Measure and Construction of the Japanese House: 250 Plans and Sketches Plus Illustrations of Joinery
Engel, Heino
Hardcover
Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use & Avoid
Cusato, Marianne
Pentreath, Ben
Sammons, Richard
Paperback
Code Check Building 5th Edition: An Illustrated Guide to the Building Codes
Hansen, Douglas
Paperback
Code Check Plumbing & Mechanical 6th Edition: An Illustrated Guide to the Plumbing & Mechanical Codes
Hansen, Douglas
Paperback
Watercolor Artist's Index of the Urban Landscape: A Field Trip of Features and How to Paint Them
Taylor, Richard
Paperback
The Design of Childhood: How the Material World Shapes Independent Kids--Featuring the Author's Pulitzer Prize-Winning Essays
Lange, Alexandra
Paperback
A House Needs to Breathe...Or Does It?: An Introduction to Building Science
Bailes, Allison A., III
Paperback
Trauma-informed Design: A Framework for Designers, Architects, and Other Practitioners
Roche, Janet E.
Erdman, Adrienne
Cowart, Christine A.
Paperback
Human Transit (Revised Edition): How Clearer Thinking about Public Transit Can Enrich Our Communities and Our Lives
Walker, Jarrett
Paperback
In the Company of Nature: Regenerating Business, Community and the Living World
Gormley, Frieda
Hardcover
Housesketching: Learn to Create Energetic and Expressive Architectural Drawings
Kiefer, Albert
Paperback
Find the Lost Dollars: 6 Steps to Increase Profits in Architecture, Engineering and Environmental Firms - Abridged Version
Jewell, June R.
Paperback