AD经典：Interdesign Building/哈利勒·库里

AD经典：Interdesign Building/哈利勒·库里
AD Classics: Interdesign Building / Khalil Khouri

独特的建筑理念与历程：Interdesign 大楼是黎巴嫩建筑师哈利勒·库里的杰作。它诞生于经济增长时期，却历经 23 年才建成，期间还因内战中断。这座建筑本应成为其家具业务进步的代表，却因种种原因长期闲置。然而，它的设计独特，融合了现代主义原则，体现了库里在设计与制造方面的创新理念。其外观呈现出粗野主义风格，内部则充满自然光线，营造出柔软而空灵的氛围。

深刻的社会政治经济反映：Interdesign 大楼不仅是一座建筑，更是黎巴嫩社会政治和经济故事的深刻反映。尽管当地许多建筑师放弃现代主义，但库里坚信现代主义是哲学运动，这种信仰融入了建筑的混凝土墙中。它见证了黎巴嫩的变迁，从充满希望的现代性遗迹到如今被重新审视，承载着历史的厚重与奋斗的痕迹。

跨设计大楼/哈利勒·库里。图片©瓦利德·拉希德
Interdesign Building / Khalil Khouri . Image © Walid Rashid

在以转型为标志的贝鲁特，Interdesign大楼呼应了一位坚定信念的建筑师的愿景。该建筑由黎巴嫩建筑师哈利勒·库里于1973年在经济增长时期设计，耗时23年才建成，这一过程因黎巴嫩内战的爆发而中断。到1996年完工时，它周围的城市景观已经发生了变化。自那以后，这座建筑基本上一直处于闲置状态，是充满希望的现代性的遗迹。虽然它的设计在叙事和表达上是独一无二的，但这种结构说明了在其复杂的历史中，愿望和斗争之间的紧张关系。
In Beirut, a city marked by transformation, the Interdesign Building echoes the vision of an architect steadfast in his conviction. Designed by Lebanese architect Khalil Khouri in 1973 during a period of economic growth, the building took 23 years to build, a process halted by the onset of the Lebanese Civil War. By the time it was completed in 1996, the urban landscape that surrounded it had changed. The structure has stood largely unused since, as a relic of hopeful modernity. While its design is singular in its narrative and expression, this structure illustrates the tension between aspiration and struggle throughout its complex history.

跨设计大楼/哈利勒·库里。图片©瓦利德·拉希德
Interdesign Building / Khalil Khouri . Image © Walid Rashid

Interdesign展厅大楼是在Khalil Khouri家具商业模式扩张期间构思的，旨在成为指导其方法的现代主义原则的体现。在黎巴嫩共和国的“黄金时代”，Khalil Khouri继续其作为建筑师的成功早期职业生涯，将重点转向家具设计，继续经营家族企业。Interdesign家具制造业务始于20-30年前，由他的父亲、木匠和乌木师Elias El Khouri的早期定制作品开始。儿子Khalil和Georges Khouri继续经营，并在20世纪60年代初推出了第一条现代家具生产线。
The Interdesign showroom building was conceived during a time of expansion of Khalil Khouri’s furniture business model, with the intention of becoming the embodiment of the Modernist principles guiding his approach. Continuing a successful early career as an architect during the "golden years" of the Lebanese Republic, Khalil Khouri turned his focus to furniture design, continuing a family business. The Interdesign furniture manufacturing business began 20-30 years prior with the early custom works of his father, carpenter, and ebonist Elias El-Khouri. The sons Khalil and Georges Khouri continued the venture and launched the first modern furniture line in the early 1960s.

Interdesign Building . Image © Camille Ammoun

通过在当地设计和生产这种新型家具，Interdesign业务使中东和北非地区的现代家具设计民主化，使其成为广大公众负担得起的选择。Khalil Khouri的商业模式以设计和制造的独特融合为特征。他不仅设计家具，还拥有和经营生产家具的制造设施，这种协同作用使他能够创新和开发家具生产的特定技术。到20世纪60年代中期，该公司成为该地区领先的现代家具生产商，并成功地开始向包括欧洲和美国在内的具有挑战性的市场出口产品。Interdesign展厅大楼本应成为这一进步的代表。
By designing and producing this new model of furniture locally, the Interdesign business democratized modern furniture design in the MENA region, making it an affordable option for the larger public. Khalil Khouri’s business model was characterized by a unique integration of design and manufacturing. He not only designed furniture but also owned and operated the manufacturing facilities where it was produced, a synergy that allowed him to innovate and develop specific technologies for furniture production. By the mid-1960s, the company became the region's leading producer of modern furniture and successfully began exporting products to challenging markets, including Europe and the United States. The Interdesign showroom building was supposed to become the face of this advancement.

Khalil Khouri, Modernism, and the Arab World: In Conversation with Bernard Khoury

展厅大楼的项目于1973年概述，Khalil Khouri担任建筑师、客户和开发商。工程很快就开始了，但由于黎巴嫩内战的爆发，工程于1975年停止。在冲突期间，几次继续施工的尝试都失败了，1975年4月，施工已经到达地面，但没有取得重大进展。
The project for the showroom building was outlined in 1973, and Khalil Khouri acted as the architect, client, and developer. Construction began soon after, but it came to a stop in 1975 due to the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War. During the conflict, there were several failed attempts to continue the construction, which had reached ground level in April 1975, but no significant progress was made.

Interdesign Building / Khalil Khouri . Image Courtesy of Bernard Khoury

After the war ended in the early 1990s, the socio-economic landscape of Beirut had changed significantly. Despite this, Khalil Khouri was determined to finish the construction, despite the accumulating debt and the dwindling business prospects. The structure was finally completed in 1996, 23 years after it broke ground.

The architect designs and builds furniture in a factory that he has designed and built, with machines that he has designed and built. And now he designs and builds the showroom in which he's going to showcase his furniture. - Bernard Khoury

Interdesign Building . Image © Camille Ammoun

However, in the early 1990s, the socio-economic landscape of Beirut had changed significantly. Despite an ambitious vision and significant investments in the project, by the mid-1990s, the company faced bankruptcy due to changing economic conditions. The location of the showroom also changes its character, becoming less attractive for prospective visitors. For all of these conditions, the building was never used for its intended purpose. After being seized by the banks, several used were tested, including briefly as a training center, but the building was not well adapted to support these activities. It soon fell into disrepair and abandonment.

In May 2024, The building was revived for a four-day exhibition related to Khalil Khouri's life and work organized by his son and grandson, Bernard and Teymour Khoury, allowing the public to enter the enigmatic structure for the first time since its conception, 51 years ago.

Interdesign Building / Khalil Khouri . Image Courtesy of Bernard Khoury

The angular exterior volume of the building creates a recognizable Brutalist image. The shape is defined by the two towers rendered in exposed concrete separated by a narrow strip of glazing. The concave structure of the towers conceals the windows on their sides, contributing to the opaque and striking image of the building. At the top, a boulder-shaped roof separated from the main volume contributes to the visual impact of the edifice. Envisioned as the “head” of the building, it accommodates its administrative functions, including a small meeting room and the manager's office. At street level, two window displays, now sealed, were originally intended to offer a glimpse into the Interdesign showroom.

In stark contrast to its exterior, the interior of the Interdesign Building embodies a soft and airy atmosphere. Comprising 24 floors, the space is enveloped in an all-white palette that amplifies the influx of natural light. The disposition of stairs, voids, and interconnected levels has been designed to alternate positions between the viewer and the objects observed. As the architecture guides visitors through its spaces, the displays can be observed at times from above, below, or at eye level. In this way, Khalil Khouri practices a reversal of the typical interplay of architecture and object, not using furniture to highlight the space, but instead making the architecture serve and highlight the object.

Interdesign大楼不仅因其创新的设计和雄心勃勃的愿景而成为建筑的重要组成部分，而且也是黎巴嫩社会政治和经济故事的深刻反映。尽管许多当地建筑师从1970年开始改变风格并逐渐放弃现代主义，但Khoury仍然相信现代主义是一场哲学运动，而不仅仅是一种风格选择，这种信仰现在嵌入了贝鲁特Interdesign建筑的混凝土墙中。
The Interdesign building stands as a significant piece of architecture not only for its innovative design and ambitious vision but also as a poignant reflection of the socio-political and economic story of Lebanon. While many local architects shifted styles and progressively abandoned Modernism from 1970 onwards, Khoury continued to believe in Modernism as a philosophical movement, rather than merely a stylistic choice, a belief which is now embedded in the concrete walls of Beirut’s Interdesign building.

设计间建筑草图。图片由Bernard Khoury友情提供
Interdesign Building sketch. Image Courtesy of Bernard Khoury

AD经典：Interdesign Building/哈利勒·库里

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