BEIRUT or BUST

This post is my excerpt from the CityAsLab book.

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NAME: HIRUMI NANAYAKKARA Blog/website: itsmehirumi.com & beirumi.tumblr.com Parsons the New School for Design MFA Design + Technology Concentration: Mobile Media + Sustainable Design

Educational Background: B.S. Biological Sciences, Neurobiology from the University of California, Irvine Professional Background: Higher Education, Student Affairs at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco Favorite Food in NYC: Salmon, chive cream cheese, tomato, and red onions on a toasted cheese bagel... with a mimosa. Favorite Food in BEIRUT: Chicken tawouk and polo zereshk

SELF SUSTAINING CITY: small scale statement for a large scale problem. This t-shirt is hand embroidered with a map of Beirut that is backlit by LEDs. During times the neighborhoods are scheduled for a blackout, the solar powered LEDs turn on-- showing an alternative approach to using privatized generators.

WINDFALL FARMS TREASURE MAP A flash-based interactive map containing information about the organic producers from Windfall Farms.

Deep Beirumi Thoughts There once lived a girl named Hirumi. Who wanted to live as a Beiruiti. Joining City As Lab, Made everything so fab! With design + transdisciplinary unity. As the first Parson’s Design + Technology student to participate in GPIA’s International Field Program, I have been afforded a once in a lifetime opportunity that will hopefully foster more cross-overs between graduate programs within The New School in the coming years. Adriana Young’s transdisciplinary approach to instruction, in conjunction with collaborating with students from Urban Policy, International Affairs, and architecture students from the American University of Beirut has revealed my fascination and interest in urban food systems and utilizing mobile media in sustainable development. This class has not only heavily influenced the direction of my thesis project, but has also linked me with many like-minded individuals that I hope to continue to collaborate with in the future.

SECRET URBAN OASIS A glimpse into one of the few green spaces in Beirut.

INTERNSHIP DESCRIPTIONS

Design + Technology Intern, KARAJ Project development through interdisciplinary, collaborative, DIY approaches to create urban design solutions for Lebanon’s broken infrastructure. Project Solar Powered Fan (SPF): Collaborative research project exploring the electricity problem in Lebanon. Completing previously undocumented field research, interviews, video and picture documentation.  Compiling a kick-starter package that includes a series of documentary webisodes, plexiglass light installation, solar-powered LED T-shirt, a research compendium exploring the history of the broken electrical grid and current research to promote social awareness and invite members of the community to take action. Aditionally, assisting with the research and development of Ayah Bdeir’s neon light installation that showcases  Lebanon’s inability to have sustaining power and promoting the game-changing and outside-of-the-box mentality of KARAJ through website maintenance, newsletters, blog posts, video trailer, networking and event planning.   Design + Technology Intern, Souk el Tayeb In collaboration with Milano Urban Policy students, assisting in designing a fully sustainable model for Souk el Tayeb’s permanent location. This project entails researching existing sustainable communities, preservation architecture, site visits, and collaborative meetings with local architects and waste management in Beirut. The final proposal will be used for investors, promotion of the space, and an educational tool for the community on the possibilities of renewable energy and sustainable development. Additionally, redesigning and implementation of Souk el Tayeb’s online newsletter.

OLD BEIRUT + NEW BEIRUT The old photograph shows a tram crossing the Bourj Hammoud bridge over the river in 1942. Now, public transportation is non-existant, as is the river. The farmlands have been replaced by highways and industrial buildings. Researching and documenting practices of the past is essential to successfully design for the future.

THE FABULOUS LIFE OF BASSAM JALGHA

A recent MS Electrical Engineering graduate from AUB, Bassam Jalgha is currently an Inventor in Residence at Karaj.  After meeting Bassam, you would never guess that he is a gifted Oud musician (he’s all over YouTube!) and a reality TV star (he won the first season of the hit reality television show Stars of Science).  His accomplishments are only rivaled by his generosity and kindness, which has helped make Karaj a truly collaborative, memorable and enjoyable working environment.

HN: How did you find yourself in product development? BJ: I didn’t know what to do at first. I liked music, but it’s not a traditional Lebanese career. Bit by bit I was able to find my own path. I studied mechatronics and really liked it. From there, I had the opportunity to do “Stars of Science” (a reality show competition to showcase young Arab innovators). The product I invented there is Tork, but the name will change, and was a vision that I had from childhood. (Tork is a hands free device that automatically tunes the Oud) It won the competition and now I am at Karaj. HN: If you were to come back as an electronic gadget in another life, what would you be and why? BJ: I would be a transistor (transistors amplify and switch electronic signals) because it initiated the digital era we are currently living in. HN: Which traditional Lebanese dish best describes your work ethic? BJ: I would say Moghrabiyeh. It’s not really a Lebanese dish, but its a very old, traditional Arabic dish. It has chick peas, spices, chicken... basically a huge mix that is a festival in your mouth. It is so diverse, and so nice. It is like me. I’m an electrician and a musician. It’s a mix and I like it. It is like my life. Bassam is currently working on patenting Tork and co-developing Butterfleye, swimming goggles that measure heart rate.

INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH City As Lab revealed to me the frailty of cities based on fractured food systems and my fascination with sustainable design in an urban environment. Last semester I cultivated this newfound interest into Gardenista: an Iphone application that addresses community engagement, women’s empowerment, and sustainable living through urban agriculture. It won the 2011 Urban App Incubator and is currently in development as a portion of my thesis project.

My work experience at Souk el Tayeb & KARAJ was a unique opportunity to merge the two areas of the ad hoc interdisciplinary study that I’ve explored during my graduate study: Design + Technolgy and International Affairs. Observing the innovative green movement from Kamal Mouzawak and his team at Souk el Tayeb and the game-changing research approach from Ayah Bdeir at KARAJ, has reaffirmed my research interests.

KARAJ has helped me to complete pioneering research Lebanon’s electricity crisis in previously undocumented areas. I have been able to take part in perpetuating and branding Lebanon’s first media lab and collaborate with others based in Beirut that aspire to design for change. At Souk el Tayeb, I have been able to document traditional practices in urban agriculture, witness an innovative movement in Beirut to maintain and sustain slow food, and be a part of a start-up that is steadily defining the organic movement in Lebanon.

Here is the CityAsLab class trailer I edited for Adriana.

CITY AS LAB is an interdisciplinary graduate course and field program that hybridizes social science and design research methods to read, map, and shake up the urban fabrics of Beirut and New York City.

Here's the trailer for the CityAsLab book I helped Adriana with.

CITY AS LAB is an interdisciplinary graduate course and field program that hybridizes social science and design research methods to read, map, and shake up the urban fabrics of Beirut and New York City.

Solar Powered Fan is the main project I was working on at Karaj. The electricity grid in Lebanon is broken. Many people have very intermittent (to no) electricity and too much summer sun. Some people are lucky enough to have backup generators to provide power to their homes and business, while others go without electricity for as much as 20 hours out of the day. The goal of SPF is to circumvent and find distributed solutions to systemic electricity infrastructure problems in Lebanon.

Check out the process on Karaj's website here.

We ended our summer project by putting together items for a social awareness campaign. The governmental supplied power through EDL (Electricite Du Liban) decided to open a customer complaint line in mid-July. From there, we decided our final deliverables wouldn't be a singular object, but many ways to activate civic engagement for the community and perhaps gain more interest from the public for possible funding for a systemic design solution.

Webisodes: We have many interviews that will be compiled into a few webisodes that are still in progress. PDF: a PDF of our research and process Plexiglass sign: it plugs into the outlet and charges its batteries from electricity when the power is on. The circuit is built so that the sign only turns on when the power is off and directs people to call EDL to complain. LED shirt: LED lights that mimic the rolling blackouts of Beirut. The lights are powered through solar panels, which advocates an alternate way to power the city instead of using private generators.

Power lines seen from the village of Hsain.

Sherif conducting an interview.

Sketches for solar fan

From personal computer fan to personal solar fan.

Behind the LED shirt.

Front of shirt.

"Is this one? Then your government is off. Call EDL at 1707"

7.18

I absolutely adore the maps that Adriana has embroidered. Transforming “urban fabric” into a tangible object, she has hand stitched maps of Union Square and Beirut onto large pieces of fabric.

While working on the SPF project, I was inspired to incorporate these maps into our social awareness campaign. Mustafa Baalbeki and his iphone app 961 are also a precedent for this project. His app allows Beiruitis to easily determine when their scheduled outage occurs.  My concept is to embroider the neighborhoods of Beirut onto a tshirt and display the electrical grid of the neighborhoods through LEDs powered by solar panels. The LEDs will run on a timer and show (in real time) which neighborhoods are receiving power from EDL. I’ve also been dying to get into soft circuits and wearable technology, so this is my first baby project in playing with it. Yeah!

7.20

I forgot how much fun hand crafts are. I should really sew more often. The stitching has commenced! Adriana is helping me embroider the shirts. While she stitched one, I worked on the circuit for the LEDs. This is my first time using the LilyPad! It’s actually my first time using arduino for one of my own projects besides the 2 times I used it in CC lab. I went through a few tutorials online and badabing badaboom, we are in business.

Unfortunately I didn’t bring a rechargeable battery pack with me that talks to the mini solar cells I brought. Parts are so hard to find here, so I may just suck it up and buy a pre-made solar powered battery pack. I have a confession. When I realized I couldn’t easily use my solar cells, I thought, “Okay fine, I’ll just use a regular battery and explain to people that ideally this shirt would run on solar power.”  This is the exact problem we’ve been trying to resolve in Beirut! Instead of resolving the issue with my shirt, I resorted to privatizing power to Duracell. Shame on me.

7.22

Concept redirection! Adriana finished one shirt for me and I played with the LED set up. I originally thought I would just have a few lights clustered in each neighborhood that would light up when the power is on.  The clusters of lights look so sloppy, so I think I will just line the lights up as grids so that the silhouettes of the neighborhoods will be visible from far away. Also, instead of the grids lighting up when there IS power, I’m going to light it up when there isn’t power, showing that when EDL can’t fulfill your needs, solar energy can.

Okay, I just noticed the EDL = LED. Coincidence? I think not.

Welcome to Beirut, where remnants of civil conflict can be seen from just about every corner. Construction and reconstruction are occurring ALWAYS. We've literally seen construction sites go from a pit the size of Texas to the foundations of a building overnight. One thing that is missing from every part of this sequence is the value in what Edward Whyte would call the "social life of small urban spaces."

The buildings don't do justice to the people. Even Beirut Souks, made to house high end fashion, does little with the enormous amount of space they have. Few benches between shops, no green space, and minimal areas for congregation.

Fact: Less than 2% of all space in Beirut is green Fact:  The World Health Organization recommends that each person have 12 square meters of green space in urban areas Fact: Currently, there is 0.8 square meters of green space/ person

The locals want foreigners to love Beirut. They want us to tell our friends. They constantly tell us that Lebanon is "nothing like the news shows it right?" Sure, the government is more of a myth than a reality, electricity is a privilege not a right, and public transportation exists only in dreams, but a vital piece in constructing Beirut into a flourishing city for its own citizens is creating a city that embraces social interaction. A movement begins with one person and a platform conducive to gatherings. This is why Dima Boulad and the Beirut Green Project's "Green the Grey" are changing the game.

Green the Grey's concept: dropping squares of grass that turns Beirut's grey space into pop-up green space.

Time Machine

The photograph within the photograph is courtesy of oldbeirut.tumblr.com. It is of the Bourj Hammoud (suburb of Beirut) bridge in 1942. In the image, you can see a flowing river, lush farmland, and a public tram running across the bridge. My photograph is taken from the Bourj Hammoud bridge. After the civil war, all public transportation ceased, farmlands have been replaced by freeways, and the river has dwindled into a stream that is more full of trash than water.

Taking this picture was a very interesting experience. I walked up and down the street trying to find a location that would let me take the exact same picture as the one found from oldbeirut.tumblr.com. Unfortunately because the freeway now exists, there was no way I would be able to get that perspective unless I was in a low-flying helicopter. I started snooping around the gas station that was near the freeway. The gas attendants were all curious about what I was doing. With my broken arabic (badee soura -- i want a picture), I explained to them that I was trying to recreate this very old picture. No one would believe that the photograph was of Bourj Hammoud.

I finally resigned to the fact I wouldn't be able to get the same perspective and finally walked onto the bridge and took the photo you see here. While I was taking the picture, many people walking across the bridge stopped to watch what I was doing and look at the old photograph.

Reader, a warning. Here comes an onslaught of entries that should have been posted much earlier, but I was too busy eating shish tawook and plunging into the mediterranean in between finishing 100 projects.

After landing in Beirut, I was a bit apprehensive. Maybe my visa would get denied. Maybe I was too suspicious to be allowed into the country. Maybe I smelled so incredibly foul from sweating for 17 hours straight that I would be declared a national biohazard. When I approached my officer at passport control, he did not return my bright-eyed, bushy-tailed smile.

Officer: what are you doing here?

Me: Uhh I am here through school.

Officer: to study?

Me: Mostly to work, but yes study too.

Dear Beirut,

This post is to serve as my official 2 weeks notice. Thank you for an unforgettable summer. My experience here has been invaluable. I will never be able to express my gratitude for how much I have learned in such a short time. I have cannonballed 100x times into the Mediterranean Sea.  I have eaten my weight in hommos. I have touched Roman ruins. I have had octopus sandwiches boat delivered to me on a private island. I will have completed previously undocumented research in areas of sustainable design and Lebanese infrastructure. I have learned the choreographed dance to the Party Rockers anthem.  I can (partially) read and write Arabic... and so many other million other things that I can't possibly list in one entry.

Most importantly, I have met the most incredibly generous, kind, and warm people. From the wonderful friends I have made, to the game-changing, truly inspirational mentors at Karaj & Souk el Tayeb that I have had the opportunity to work with.

My greatest fear is that I have overused my Lebanon Rewards Card without much to give in return. I hope that the work I have done here is helpful, and that I can come back someday to finish what I've started.

Love,

Everyone keeps asking me how I like Lebanon, and I can't figure out a simple way to answer that question. Yes the people are amazing, the food is delicious, and I'm having one of the best summers ever, but that doesn't really dig deep into the bey-roots of Beirut.

The best way I can explain it is it's like these coils of wire that provide power to the city.

It's complicated.

The more time I spend here and the more research I complete surrounding the infrastructure of Lebanon, I am discovering things are not so easily explained. The flow of people, traffic, information, etc... is going one way, and then its going the other. Just when I think I know how one entity connects to another, I find I haven't untangled anything. It's mysterious and confusing, but I am intrigued. I want to touch it and unravel it. There's a pretty good chance I will get shocked. BUT...

Okay. I am slacking on blogging BIG TIME. I have a zillion drafts that need to be completed, but they will be. Someday?

Anyway, here is how I've been measuring my life in Beirut.

Measuring Time

sure i have my ical, but nothing shows me how quickly time is passing by here than my amount of clean underwear.

Measuring Efficiency

Measuring Identity

Measuring Well-Being

Measuring Navigation

in beirut, people don't use street names. directions/addresses are based around landmarks.

Example: my Beirut address Bliss Street Behind the bank Beirut, Lebanon

hmmmkay.

Measuring World Domination

GLOSSARY

almaza