Second Prize, Competition - HSB

Harbour Station, at Beirut Port, was awarded Second Prize. The project is a passenger terminal designed to serve cruise ships arriving at the port, conceived as much as a threshold between city and sea as it is a functional building.

The building takes the form of an elongated volume running the length of the harbour edge, anchored at each end by solid, stone clad walls, each cut through with a single large arched opening that frames the arrival, offering passengers their first clear glimpse of the docked ship as they approach. Between the two stone ends stretches a long, triangulated glass roof, its faceted surface catching and reflecting the water below so that the building itself appears to blend with the sea it faces. At ground level, a curved glazed facade shelters a row of bus bays, while a sequence of escalators rises from the arrival level to a raised entrance plaza overlooking the water.

Conceived as a waterfront icon rather than simply a point of transit, the terminal ties its architecture directly to the act of arrival itself, treating movement, the sea, and the sighting of the ship as part of the design language.