Through studies of forms and theories of design and trends of some of European designers
over the centuries, and those who flashed fixed relationship between Architecture and society in
most of their work, in spite of differences in Academic learni
ng for our local Architects, we
found that they didn’t look for relationship of the colonial Architecture and the local Identity in
history and heritage, but through environment surrounding building, perspective, and location.
Thus, they built elegant regular buildings, by using consistent dimensions in typical
Module, then they covered it with elements and items, producing the so-called Arabized model.
It didn’t make us feel the contemporary technologies which were used with simulating or
domination, seeming habitual, without throwing off the identity and the relation with its cultural
heritage roots, of most Architects. We felt that we are in continuity between modernity and
history.
Our Architects, by their cleverness and their skills, succeeded in saving the features of our
personalities in their works. Some of them create building that maintain local characteristics
known as “The Arabized colonial Architecture “which indicated characters of the Arabic
Identity. Hybrid Architecture was born, it was clear in houses which were composed by
reinforced concrete, newly arrived with composite language (ottoman –Arabic and Italian)
which were developed in Beirut in the mid of the 19th century, which was known as Lebanon
House. It was known by three arches in the middle of the façade, repeated in new modeling
forms and these houses were done with multiple floors, in spite of these elements were
transferred from western Architecture forms such as flitted columns, complex crowns, lot of
decoration, but our character seemed clear and the hybrid mixture was successful.
