The new Campus in Tripoli, meant to regroup the eight faculties of the Lebanese University in the North into one site, is probably an example
of extreme requirements and constraints having to be catered for, including the following:
• To design a campus of 18,200 students (which will allow it to absorb six to twelve years’ growth from the present levels, assuming a yearly
growth rate of between 4% and 10%) in a site only 13 ha in size, of which 3 ha are un-developable.
• To provide an environment which is compatible with the level of service of a modern university (number of seats, labs, ratio of circulation,
external works, libraries...).
• To build in an inherent flexibility of construction in matters of phasing of faculties construction and location of faculties within the master plan.
The systematic and rational approach adopted for concept development was found to be the only functional approach to mitigate between
the various constraints. The master plan is built around a unified module unit, used to define all spaces of the Campus.
In addition to the eight existing faculties (Public Health, Sciences, Fine Arts & Architecture, Engineering, Law & Political Sciences, Economics
& Business, Sociology and Literature), two new specializations were introduced (Institute of Technology, Agriculture) reflecting the growing
demand for specialized formation. The master plan includes all necessary supporting functions (library, administrative building, cafeteria, car
park and sports center).
Total land surface area: 130,000 m2
Total built-up area: 200,000 m2
Total project cost: Up to USD 140 million
Services provided: Master plan - programming of student capacity - conceptual and preliminary design - tender documents -
supervision
Completion date: December 2008 - Supervision: ongoing