“It is truly a gem awaiting to be polished! The photographs don’t do it justice”.
It is with these words that the Senior Program Officer from the Getty Foundation, Antoine Wilmering, described the Rachid Karami International Fair (RKIF), during his visit to the site on the last day of October 2022, and which constituted the first opportunity for him to discover and experience the Fair in person. The site, designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, is currently the subject of a UNESCO project funded by the Getty Foundation through its “Keeping It Modern” initiative, with the objective to develop a Conservation Management Plan focusing on the preservation of its cultural, architectural and historical values in any future development process.
Antoine Wilmering started his tour with a visit of the Grand Cover, where construction techniques and building transformation were discussed, before discovering the Lebanon Pavilion where several activities took place over the years without damaging the identity of the building. Joe Kreidi, UNESCO Program officer for Culture, Maya Hmeidan, UNESCO technical project coordinator, Rym Oueida, project intern, Mousbah Rajab, Urban Planner and member of the RKIF project team, and Mahmoud Hachem, Structural Engineer member of the RKIF project team, accompanied him. Overlooking the Fair during the walk, although currently not operational, the Quality Inn hotel and its 21st century development broke the intended harmony of the site, noted the experts during their tour. Initially a collective housing unit, the building saw its façade altered when transformed into a hotel.
The visit continued to the Experimental Theatre, followed by the Open-Air Theater, where the participants reflected on the structure’s condition and its collapsing elements, based on the structural assessment undertaken recently by UNESCO. It was followed by a tour of the Model Residence and the Water Tower. The participants ended their visit at the Guest House, the 2022 Agha Khan Award winning adaptive reuse project implemented by East Architecture Studio and operated by Minjara platform, an EU initiative that supports Lebanese carpenters from Tripoli.
Antoine Wilmering and the UNESCO Beirut team finally met with the president of the RKIF administration board, Akram Oueida, and the vice president Radwan Mokadem, in the Administration Building, under the Portico. The meeting featured the challenges that the RKIF faces today, and the projects proposed to the Rachid Karami International Fair by potential investors and the importance of adopting sensitive and sustainable approaches to the potential adaptive reuse and future development projects at the RKIF. On this occasion, the UNESCO team handed over the final report on the outcomes of the recent mission undertaken by the RKIF_CMP project team by end June 2022, along with some recommendations to guide the future conservation and development of the Fair until the final conservation management plan is ready. The RKIF President and vice president reiterated their commitment to the preservation of the authenticity of the RKIF complex and its revitalization.