Beirutis love yoga, and Beirutis love their Horsh Beirut.
After the second yoga event in the park in partnership with Shiva Lila yoga space, we can safely say that Beirutis love to meet for their sun salutations on the grass!
See for yourself.
http://on.fb.me/1NmXwUk and http://on.fb.me/1LKqYEB
We would like to thank Balkis for hydrating all participants and Future TV for documenting this wonderful afternoon!
Located at Moritzplatz in the district of Kreuzberg, Prinzessinnengärten is as Berlin as Berlin can be. This mobile garden provides the perfect “green” escape from the concrete city in which it dwells. Once inside, you immediately feel you have stepped back in time – as nothing immediately makes sense. But once you look closely, you realize everything is simply built to sustain – the aesthetics seem to be an afterthought, if a thought at all.
Much like Berlin.
Entrance
Walkway from entrance
Play Area/Library
As a former brownfield site between Prinzenstrasse and Oranienstrasse, the area of today’s garden lay fallow for over 60 years. But in 2009, the non-profit organization Nomadic Green – which was made up of local residents – transformed the space into a mobile urban vegetable garden.
Recycled water tanks
Plants grown in rice sacks
The area consists of recycled containers, bakery boxes, Tetra Packs and rice sacks – so the garden is always mobile.
Plants watered and grown in recycled Tetra Packs
People sit among the plants
The aim of all this is to convert unused city land into productive green spaces, where people can come together to create, learn and relax – all within a sustainable environment. The Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development also views the garden as a successful example of gender mainstreaming in urban development.
Enjoying a beer in the garden
Perennial Sector
Beehive
But the best part of the garden is that it welcomes everyone and provides the perfect atmosphere to relax, work, play, drink, eat and create.
Main seating area in the center of the garden
During my trip to Prinzessinnengärten, I stumbled upon a “Tiny House” being built by a collective of around 6 people. When asked what they were doing, I was told they wanted to show that – with a simple design – anyone can build The Nest, which is a small house from wood. You do not have to be a carpenter, you do not have to be an architect – all you need are some work clothes.
The Nest – in progress
The Project Manager, Hendrik Rauf Man, made it clear that everyone was welcome to help – even me. As of now, there are around 20 different people working on the house, who come and go as they please. They have been working on the house for about 2.5 weeks now and will most likely be finished in another two.
The project, which has been named Wieder Wild, is pushing for fully self-sufficient products, such as this house, with low cost and do-it-yourself technology – making it an independent and nature friendly home.
Hendrik Rauf Man, Project Manager, taking a break on the roof
Until next time…visit prinzessinnengarten.net and wiederwild.org to learn more!
Nadia
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#1month1park is Beirut Green Project’s latest blog section, where we will be featuring one park a month from across the globe. These blog posts are written by residents of cities around the world who enjoy using their parks and are eager to share their experiences with us.
The purpose of this activity is to showcase some of beautiful parks from around the globe, to get inspired by some of their unique features and solutions, and to highlight the significance and vital need for these spaces for a healthy city life.
Peaceful pocket park to cool off in the urban jungle
Set in Midtown Manhattan, Paley park is one of the most known and most celebrated urban spaces in New York and the world. This small quiet space is the perfect place to cool off on a lunch break in the concrete jungle of New York City.
One of the first commissioned vest pocket parks, Paley park proves that good things can come in small packages.
It was designed by Robert Zion and opened in 1967. It was conceived as the prototype for a new kind of public space, privately owned, described in a proposal by Zion & Breen Associates in a 1963 exhibition at the Architectural League of New York.
Paley Park has an intimate relation with the street. Low and inviting steps and trees that canopy the sidewalk often influence passer-by to stroll through the park on impulse.
“It is located directly on the street so that people are attracted to look in and enter. It has good, reasonably priced food, as well as moveable chairs and tables that let people be comfortable and have some control over where they sit. A waterfall provides a dramatic focal point and a reason to enter the park; its noise blocks out the sounds of the city and creates a sense of quiet and privacy. There’s adequate shade in the summer from the trees, though they allow a beautiful dappled light to pass through their leaves.”
Project for Public Spaces
The key to its success is a 6.1 meter high waterfall spanning the entire back of the park. The waterfall creates a backdrop of noise to mask the sounds of the city, providing an oasis of calm.
Social interaction in the park was analyzed in the film “The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces” by William H. Whyte.
The green of the ivy-covered side walls or “vertical lawns”
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#1month1park is Beirut Green Project’s latest blog section, where we will be featuring one park a month from across the globe. These blog posts are written by residents of cities around the world who enjoy using their parks and are eager to share their experiences with us.
The purpose of this activity is to showcase some of beautiful parks from around the globe, to get inspired by some of their unique features and solutions, and to highlight the significance and vital need for these spaces for a healthy city life.
This year on World Environment Day 2015, we launched a campaign called Green Your Lunch. Seven participating restaurants offered free lunches to seven companies, only to be delivered and enjoyed in a garden nearby.
During two weeks in June, co-workers got the chance to have their lunch offered and delivered to a garden near their workplace so they would enjoy a calm and relaxing green lunch break.
Hats off to our the generous sponsoring restaurants and the amazing participating companies who made this campaign a success.
For more pictures, please check out our Facebook album here.
http://on.fb.me/1GJtxj9
If you want to participate in next editions of Green Your Lunch, please drop us a note on beirutgreenproject@gmail.com
’till next time!
June 5th 2015
Deek Duke & Zoomaal in Gebran Khalil Gebran garden
June 8th 2015
Bar Tartine & Roche in Capucins garden
June 10th 2015
T-marbouta & Polypod in Rene Moawad garden
June 10th 2015
Green Falafel & Wondereight in Horsh Tabet
June 11th 2015
Crepaway & Bestseller in Gebran Khalil Gebran garden
June 12th 2015
Zaatar w Zeit & le Gray in Abdul Rahman el Hout garden
June 15th 2015
Roadster’s diner & Made for Brands in Jesuits garden
For months on end, a narrow strip of gravel filled land made Jounieh residents ponder on the nature of a new project snaking its way between land plots by the Fouad Chehab Stadium. With time, the strip turned bit by bit into a healthy green, astonishing those who began to expect little in a country more concerned with profitable concrete than a harmonious fulfilling city.
Our very own version of New York City’s High Line, Paris’s Promenade Plantée, the Jounieh Public Garden turned a narrow strip of land, what could have been one asphalt road into a pretty scented park accessible to all. Having been inaugurated in 2014, the 750m strip starts near the Fouad Chehab Stadium and ends close to the Deutsche School. Named plates cover a variety of plants / trees in the garden, showing their Latin names. The park became second home for plenty who go for a walk / jog in an elegant escapade from the daily hustle of city life, thru scents of lemon blossom, ageing olive trees.
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#1month1park is Beirut Green Project’s latest blog section, where we will be featuring one park a month from across the globe. These blog posts are written by residents of cities around the world who enjoy using their parks and are eager to share their experiences with us.
The purpose of this activity is to showcase some of beautiful parks from around the globe, to get inspired by some of their unique features and solutions, and to highlight the significance and vital need for these spaces for a healthy city life.
Green Your Lunch is turning the tables on boring desk lunches. From June 4th to the 14th, 7 companies will receive free lunches from 7 participating restaurants to be enjoyed in 7 gardens around Beirut. Stay tuned for more pictures from the campaign!
#greenyourlunch
On World Environment Day, let’s get together and Green our Lunch in Rene Moawad garden, marking the first anniversary of its rehabilitation.
Join Beirut Green Project and Beirut Design Week enthusiasts for a green lunch in Sanayeh Garden on Thursday June 4th during Hamra Day. Program here:
http://beirutdesignweek.org/program-2/
Bring your picnic lunches, friends and good mood and look for us under the coloured umbrellas in the garden to discover new ways in which you can help make Beirut Greener.
RSVP here: on.fb.me/1AHuyMi
See you on the grass!
Singapore: City in a Garden
Before we moved our family to Singapore a few years back, we knew very little about it, but a few quick Google searches consistently came back with a title that would win us over instantly: The Garden City.
A city state spanning over 718 square kilometers (about one tenth the size of Lebanon), this tiny land is home to 5.5 million people. When you do the math, it’s pretty hard to believe how such a densely populated Singapore earned its name.
Having grown up outside Lebanon myself, I can’t help but think of public green space as something a citizen of the modern world should be able to take for granted. I shouldn’t have to worry about my kids not having a place to run and jump and play. Malls should not even be on the list of options. I shouldn’t have to settle for some playground with old, rusty (and most likely unsafe) equipment about an hour’s drive away. Parks and playgrounds, or the lack thereof, should not be another source of stress in an already stress-ridden life.
But when you open up this particular subject with a fellow Lebanese, you’ll be sure to hear the classic excuse for why I should just let it go because my concern is unimportant, pathetic even: We have more important matters to take care of first.
How could you be thinking about grass and trees when we don’t even have electricity? Water? A president?!
And if I were to take this further and tell someone that one of the major reasons we left our home country was because of this ridiculous absence of green space, well they’d just think I’ve lost my mind.
Not long ago, Singapore abruptly gained its independence through a unanimous vote to expel the island from Malaysia. Overnight, the city found itself alone and very uncertain about its future. So fifty years ago, the country’s first president, Lee Kuan Yew, had quite a few pressing matters to take care of: sovereignty, unemployment, housing, civil unrest, education, military protection from much larger neighbouring countries. And the list goes on.
In his memoir, From Third World To First, Mr. Lee writes:
“After independence, I searched for some dramatic way to distinguish ourselves from other Third World countries. I settled for a clean and green Singapore.”
All that other stuff we argue is more important than green space didn’t stop him.
Most people who have come to visit us here in Singapore, no matter where they’re from, will point out how surprisingly green the country is on the drive home from the airport. It’s something they’ll notice from a tiny airplane window before they even land.
You don’t have to go far to be able to enjoy your lunch or a book in the shade of a tree. And around every corner there’s a playground for the little ones to enjoy. But that didn’t keep Singapore from taking it one step further.
Singapore currently has 417 parks spread out over its tiny and very densely populated landscape, all of them accessible to anyone, free of charge. A lot of these beautiful parks will offer some additional attractions at a cost, but no one will charge you a penny for walking in with your family and a picnic basket.
As much as my family and I love the outdoors, we have only been to a handful of these beautiful parks. And yet, in just the few number we have visited, we have had the chance to take walks through rainforests; feed fish, turtles and ducks (using special food available in park dispensers); bike through endless alleys of majestic trees; watch outdoor concerts while having a picnic and tossing a ball around; watch butterflies as they go about their business of laying eggs and drinking nectar; learn about trees and vegetation; take strolls through trees along elevated steel bridges that connect several different parks; play in all sorts of playgrounds and water playgrounds; and so much more, all absolutely free!
One of the more extravagant parks in Singapore is Gardens by the Bay. Built on reclaimed land, this park spans over 101 hectares (about 3 times the size of Horsh Beirut) and is said to have played an essential role in Singapore’s plan to become the City in a Garden.
Gardens by the Bay has so much to offer, it can’t possibly be enjoyed in one day. Or two. Or three for that matter. The first thing you notice upon walking in is a cluster of giant, beautiful tree structures called “Supertrees”. The first time I saw these metallic trees, I had mixed feelings about them. I wasn’t sure if I loved or hated them. Why does Singapore need to build trees when it has so many real trees? I asked myself. But once I’d visited the park and understood just what these Supertrees are capable of, I couldn’t help but be completely fascinated by them.
The Supertree Grove is made up of 18 Supertrees ranging from 25 to 50 meters in height. These trees are essentially made up of concrete and steel, but their ‘skin’ is in fact alive thanks to the planting panels they are covered with. Thanks to these panels, the Supertrees are home to over 162,900 plants made up of about 200 visually appealing and easy to maintain species.
Visitors can enjoy a stroll through the grove on an aerial walkway linking two of the Supertrees. This mystical forest becomes all the more enchanting at night when the trees light up and the music starts to play.
As impressive as the Supertrees may appear, what impresses me more is their functionality. Eleven of these Supertrees are equipped with energy harvesting canopies that make them environmentally sustainable. While some have photovoltaic cells capturing energy from the sun and providing the park the electricity it needs, others serve as air exhaust receptacles which help to keep the two domes of the park cool.
The bio-domes at Gardens by the Bay are beautiful inside and out. While they have become one of the most popular architectural landmarks of Singapore, one can only truly appreciate them after having walked in (here, charges apply, but they are so worth it).
The Cloud Forest, the taller of the two, holds a 35 meter tall “mountain” structure, the world’s biggest indoor waterfall, and vegetation that is naturally found in tropical highlands up to 2,000 meters above sea level.
The Flower Dome is a magical showcase of flowers, plants and trees from different parts of the world.
The Flower Field features a different theme every few months, with flowers and structures so beautiful they will leave you in awe.
Finally, for those looking for something a little more “normal”, the park holds four gardens that guide visitors through the history and culture of Singapore’s main ethnic groups.
And finally, what is a park without something for the kids? Gardens by the Bay offers young visitors a sensor-activated water play area for children of all ages, and two playgrounds featuring sensory playtime elements.
Every time I visit one of Singapore’s parks, or simply walk down its green streets, I can’t help but think about our beautiful Lebanon, a country with so much potential. I can’t help but feel a little sad every time I think of all the excuses we’ve come up with that have stopped us from asking, nay, demanding, more for ourselves and for our children.
When I read statements like this one:
“Beirut, as a city, is characterized by a complete lack of safe greens and public spaces, such as gardens, parks, playgrounds and sports fields which may have direct repercussions on the lifestyle of children and adolescents such as decreased physical activity, increased screen time and television watching and consequently sedentary behavior.” (1)
Or this one:
“Further analyses of data provided by the 1997 and 2009 national surveys showed that sedentary behavior among Lebanese children and adolescents (defined as ≥ 10 h sitting time per day) increased from 19.9% in 1997 to 60.5% in 2009, a finding that may mirror the increased reliance of youth on satellite TV, computers and computer games, as well as telecommunication technology.” (2)
I can’t imagine what might possibly be more important or more pressing than meeting our people’s and children’s basic needs and civil rights by greening up our country.
I’m not asking for Supertrees and bio-domes, just some playgrounds and regular ol’ trees under which I can cozy up with a book and a cup of coffee while my kids do what they were built to do.
(1) Ebbeling C.B., Pawlak D.B., Ludwig D.S. Childhood obesity: Public-health crisis, common sense cure. 2002;360:473–482
(2) Nasreddine et al. Trends in overweight and obesity in Lebanon: evidence from two national cross-sectional surveys (1997 and 2009). BMC Public Health 2012; 12:798
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#1month1park is Beirut Green Project’s latest blog section, where we will be featuring one park a month from across the globe. These blog posts are written by residents of cities around the world who enjoy using their parks and are eager to share their experiences with us.
The purpose of this activity is to showcase some of beautiful parks from around the globe, to get inspired by some of their unique features and solutions, and to highlight the significance and vital need for these spaces for a healthy city life.
NEWSFLASH!!
Green Your Lunch is taking it to the next level. Bored of having lunch at the office? On your desk? In front of the computer? We want to help break the routine!
Starting June 4th and until June 14th, BGP, in collaboration with local restaurants, is proud to offer you meals to be delivered at nearby gardens during your lunch break.
If you want your company to be part of this initiative and enjoy a free lunch in the park, please e-mail us before May the 25th on beirutgreenproject@gmail.com with your company name, location & marketing contact. 10 companies close to the following 10 gardens will be selected to participate with us.
#greenyourlunch
Sanayeh garden (Hamra)
Gebran Khalil Gebran garden (Downtown)
Mufti Hassan Khaled (Verdun)
Sioufi garden (Sioufi)
Jésuites garden (Geitawi)
Capucins garden (Downtown)
Karantina garden (Karantina)
Abdul Rahman el Hout (Downtown- Zkak el Blat)
William Hawi garden (Geitawi)
Horsh Tabet garden (Sin El fil)
Their names are Sarya Nasser , Rhea Kattan and Celine Slim.
They are students at the International College, and chose Green Spaces in Beirut as their topic for the Pypx activity. They were interested to know about their condition , their availability and the awareness of people about the environmental as well as health benefits of green spaces. So they contacted Beirut Green Project to start their research. Other factors that concerned the girls were urban planning , whose responsibility is the development and maintenance of green spaces and what actions can be taken to improve their conditions, availability as well as awareness.
We met with Sarya, Rhea, and Celine to discuss green spaces in Beirut.
After doing their research, the girls learned that there are 4 major problems :
1- lack of awareness of the available green spaces.
2- lack of awareness of the importance of green spaces.
3- green spaces are not well maintained.
4- there aren’t enough green spaces .
That lead them to take three actions :
1- Participate in the demonstration of the Horsh Beirut.
2- Write a letter to the elementary school principal to initiate an after school activity to increase awareness .
3- Organize a picnic on May 16th from 11am to 12pm for LL10,000 per person at the Sioufi garden with three objectives in mind. 1st many people do not know the garden , 2nd people will become more aware of the benefits of green spaces , and 3rd the collected funds will be used to buy items to help maintain the garden. They will also help by planting existing plants in the garden.
Sarya, Rhea, and Celine are a perfect example of people who decide to take matters into their own hands to make things better in Beirut. If you would like to, join the girls on their fundraising picnic for Sioufi garden tomorrow at 11am.
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