Lina Noueiri is a British-Lebanese Architecture student who's interests focus on socio-environmental justice and sensorial materiality within the spatial environment. Before attending the MA(Arch) Course at the RCA she undertook an Art & Design Foundation Course at Oxford Brookes and a BA(Hons) Architecture course at the University of Westminster. During the BA(Hons) Lina won the CLAWSA Award of Best Portfolio of her year. Between higher education, Lina has gained experience from multiple firms such as HK Architects and Darling Associates.
Lina Noueiri
PORO(US) is a project focusing on the substance of limestone and its over-extraction in the country of Lebanon. Its porosity allows it to create fertile environments with the right conditions. However, the exploitation of the substance for the purposes of cement production pollutes the air with particulate matter and enters the bodies of residents in the country, relating to the post-colonial, post-industrial, capitalist climate of Lebanon.
Limestone in Lebanon - mountainous, porous sponge, and extracted via illegal quarries –
Lebanon is split down the middle by Mount Lebanon, and is mostly made up of limestone. This limestone absorbs and mingles with rainwater, acting like a sponge and creating fertile grounds. This abundance has also resulted in the substance's illegal extraction and processing in a post-industrial era to create cement at the expense of humans and non-humans nearby.
Limestone dissolution via rainwater –
The relationship between limestone and rainwater, with limestone acting like a sponge absorbing the liquid, is what breaks down the rock to release fertile soils above.
Limestone classifications –
Limestone classifications understand the rock by the amount it has been dissolutioned and broken down through water filtration over time. The more elements that are not broken down, the less cemented and rock-like the limestone is. The broken down organic matter is called micrite, and acts like cement.
Limestone under the microscope –
Under the microscope we can see how limestone is ever within the process of enhancing its porous characteristics. Clasts are pearls of limestone and micrite is the dissolved external layers of clasts that have cemented the pearls together to make one large rock. Over time, clasts break down further and further with water to create greater quantities of micrite, allowing more and more water to permeate the sedimentary rock.
The formation of limestone into a mountain in Lebanon has enhanced the relationship between the sedimentary rock and water from rain or snowfall. As rain filters over and through the rock, it is absorbed like a sponge and held underground in caverns. As water filters through the rock, calcium carbonate dissolves, releasing soil from witihin as insoluble particles such as clay are left on the surface. Therefore, limestone's porous characteristics is what yields fertile surfaces for nonhuman growth to occur.
Medium:
Mixed
Chekka - satellite view showing two large quarries –
Chekka has been the seat of the cement industry in Lebanon since 1920, and neighbouring quarries sit dangerously close to the shore-side city to allow the cement factory cheaper transportation costs.
Chekka quarries - located illegally in residential and/or protected zones –
The location of these two large quarries lies in illegal zones, however corrupt politicians hold stakes in the real-estate industry that connects with the cement industry. Therefore, little is enforced in relation to these quarries and their dangerous locations.
Badbhoun Quarry - section & plan of geological presence of marlstone –
Badbhoun quarry, in particular, sits on the Chekka formation, a deposition zone that is rich in marlstone. Marlstone is a type of limestone that is rich in clay, which is why clay soil farmland used to be prominent in this location before the quarry expanded.
Marlstone: a clay-rich limestone –
The higher presence of clay within marlstone in Chekka means that the type of limestone present can more likely yield red terra rossa soil once more in the future, if the surface is softened once again to allow dissolution via rainwater.
Badbhoun quarry - satellite view –
From above the extent of the limestone extraction for cement processing is made clear, extending across 7 km east to west. The satellite view gives away the violence of the huge extractive practices as the pale underlayer of limestone rock is exposed to the sunlight, brightly giving away its exploited areas.
Badbhoun quarry's expansion over time –
The huge expansion of the quarry has occurred over the last 70 years, covering about 21 square kilometers or more in area, displacing and harming residents in the process.
Indidivual farmland plots bought up by cement industry for quarry expansion –
Before Badbhoun quarry existed, the land used to host rich farmland that grew figs, olives, and more. These were grown on rich clay soil called Terra Rossa that comes forth from the type of limestone in Lebanon, specifically Chekka.
Photograph of Badbhoun quarry - 2019 –
The extraction of limestone for cement quarrying smooths out the surface of the exposed underground rock, making it less permeable for rainwater. Therefore, the quarry is almost impenetrable to softening and has little chance of restoring its own soil easily without intervention.
Chekka is a town in Lebanon named after the arabic word for rubble or rock, the very resource exploited for industrial processing. Badbhoun Quarry, owned by Cimenterie Nationale within Chekka, is a quarry that has expanded 7 km to the east over the course of 70 years and is the site of focus for this project. Its expansion occurred through the buying up and stripping of farmland topsoil, in order to be located illegally close to cement factories for cheaper transport costs in the heart of the industrial town.
Medium:
Mixed
Chekka's particulate matter pollution –
Chekka is the prime location for particulate matter to reach harmful levels due to cement industry. In 2011 it was named the worlds most polluted city, and citizens of the town have petitioned and acted against the high levels of industrial pollution throughout the last decade.
1920 photograph of Cimenterie Nationale cement factory opening in Chekka –
In 1920 Lebanon came under the control of France due to the French Mandate, as decided by the Sykes-Picot agreement. When this happened, the cement industry boomed as France desired to inject western modern architecture into the landscape. Chekka's limestone availability and distance from the city centre made it a key location for the cement industry to thrive.
Analysis of Badbhoun quarry through the visual language of porosity and particulate matter –
The oldest parts of the quarry have exuded the most volume of limestone as dust into the air than the newer parts. In this analysis drawing, the density of dots denotes the larger volume exuded and therefore the longer-standing areas of the quarry.
High density of particulate matter in Chekka harming humans nearby –
While particulate matter should be difficult to see due their small scales, dense pollution clogs the air in Chekka to create a reddish-beige air humans have no choice but to breathe in.
Humans as unwilling porous sponges of limestone dust –
Instances of asthma, heart disease, and alzheimers are more prominent in Chekka due to the constant inhalation of limestone dust. Humans in this post-industrial climate are unwillingly metabolising limestone. Here, the human is turned into the porous actor, rather than the rock, and the human suffers from it by being inflamed from the inside.
Post-industrial metabolic pathway of limestone particulate matter –
Mapping the limestone as harmful partulate matter dust (ranging from 10 microns to 0.1 microns in size), from the scale of the country to the scale of 0.1 microns as it travels from rock within quarry site to human to organ to single-cells.
Traditional methods of stonemasonry - carving out & texturising of a limestone brick –
While cement extraction requires the rock be exploded, exuding dust and creating rubble for easy transport, old methods of quarrying limestone did not pollute the air like this. Instead a tactile, hands-on, slow method of quarrying meant that there was a greater understanding of the material being moulded for living within and around.
Traditional methods of stonemasonry - tools used –
Tools were smaller and had different roles. While some tools smoothed the rock, others bore holes through it, and others texturised it purposely.
Traditional methods of stonemasonry - markings left behind give texture –
Once the rock was extracted as bricks for constructing small-scale architectural projects, traditional ancient quarries left traces of the human-limestone relationship - a tactile one - and left a texturised marking behind.
Pollution from cement quarrying explodes the rock, exuding the limestone as harmful particulate matter to be absorbed by humans and nonhumans alike, causing greater rates of disease in Chekka, Lebanon. On the other hand, pre-industrial methods of extracting and working with the rock did not yield such harmful environements with so many victims. In understanding post and pre-industrial methods of extracting the rock we can see how the speed and method of extraction is the violent element, and that a positive relationship between human and limestone can be fostered once again based on understanding with the use of traditional methods of working with limestone.
Medium:
Mixed
Design Strategy steps - paths, human crevices, porosification –
Using the lake that has formed at the base of the clifflands in the quarry as the heart of the intervention site, the proposal will first add paths, then add human crevices, and finally porosify the surface of the quarry ground.
Existing intervention site plan –
The existing site has routes suited to vehicles that leave large gaps for rubble piles and dust-covered flattened rock.
Proposed intervention site plan –
The proposed site adds pathways between the vehicle routes that follow the boundary lines of the previous plots of farmland that existed before they were bought up and homogenised into the quarry site. The proposal also carves out small spaces for human engagement with the rock, acting as seating, gathering spaces, presentation areas, and viewing spots throughout. The spaces between these paths and human crevices are the porosified gardens, that will take around 6 years to porosify for soil regeneration.
Proposed circulation diagram –
In this diagram, the existing vehicle routes are kept and the new routes create smaller, intimate spaces that lead all to the lake at the heart of the intervention. External human crevices act as spaces of respite, rest, and engagement along these routes.
Proposed intervention - plan showing heart of site –
The proposed intervention uses the water that has naturally collected in the quarry due to the slopes created from extraction at the heart of the intervention, and spreads out from there.
Proposed intervention - axonometric view showing heart of site –
Shown in this view are the new pathways and human crevices that are sometimes carved out from within the topography of the quarry slopes to create internal spaces.
Proposed intervention - plan showing heart of site cut through topography to show internal human crevices –
Two spaces, human crevices 01 and 02, are internal. These are cool environments for teaching stonemasonry techniques. From these spaces, students will each practice their stonemasonry techniques by implementing pores on the ground outside, slowly porosifying the surface of the rock over around a 6 year period.
Human crevice implementation strategy –
The human crevices will be carved out by stonemasonry experts, giving work to the few who maintain the craft. These will be carved out first around the heart of the intervention, then spreading outwards. Creating the most important internal spaces first.
Human porosifying the surface with traditional stonemasonry to allow regeneration –
Drawing of concept showing a student porosifying the surface of the ground using a chisel & mallet. They practice the skills taught in the classroom on the ground as any student would be asked to repeat newly-learned skills. Each pore creates an environment that would allow small endemic plants to take hold and further porosify the surface, generating soil over a slow time period.
Timeline and role of vegetation crevice / pore within intervention –
Studies of abandoned quarries in Lebanon noted how no regeneration occured apart from within cracks and crevices, leaving the large swathes of smoothed-out site as incapable of regeneration. Therefore, the intervention's goal of porosifying the surface creates the ideal conditions for natural and spontaneous regeneration to occur without importing soil, fertiliser or plants to cover the surface.
Terra rossa (red clay soil) emerging between crevices of limestone rock as water drains through –
Over time the limestone's crevices will generate clay soil within its crevices, as the marlstone is rich in clay, and this will yield the fertile environments that were once abundant in Chekka.
Slow timeline of vegetation regrowth within newly generated soil layer of intervention site –
With the soil having regenerated, the slow period of vegetation regeneration can occur. While the proposal aims to regenerate, it aims to show that greenery does not necessarily translate into a healthy landscape, and that the regeneration of the rock to soil is the main goal so that further growth can happen afterwards.
The proposed intervention aims to unlock the potential fertile grounds within the limestone of the quarry surface by re-porosifying the rock. The site also has the potential to be a key site of a cultural shift away from exploitative post-industrial cement processing, and towards a greater use of traditional, slow, small-scale, and tactile stonemasonry techniques. By turning the rock into a sponge once more, using traditional stonemasonry techniques that combat the monopolising and corrupt cement industry, a public space of learning and regeneration can form.
Medium:
MixedExisting & proposed site - wide section –
This section cut through the heart of the intervention site shows how the rock becomes a substance that can be engaged with more at a human scale when small spaces are carved out of the quarry.
Vegetation crevice - section –
The spatiality of the 5mm-wide pore is the root of the intervention. The endemic plants that can take hold within these sorts of crevices and pores will be given more habitation in a land slowly losing space for these plants.
External Human Crevices 10 & 04 - Section –
Small carvings made to manipulate the surface of the rock into either steps, seating, or viewing platforms uses minimal extraction to maximise a site of cultural change, moving towards a greater understanding of the fertile potential of the limestone under our feet.
External Human Crevices 07 & 14 - Section –
Human crevice spaces sometimes raise the human upwards so they can view the site from above, and sometimes create spaces of play shelter, overall encouraging the engagement with the limestone in different ways throughout the site.
Internal Human Crevices 01 - Section –
Human crevice 01 is the main teaching space for the limestone stonemasonry lessons. This crevice is internal and has two skylights. It is also located at the heart of the intervention at the edge of the naturally formed lake.
Sectional Axonometric view through heart of proposed intervention –
Viewing the site in section shows how the proposal creates destination spaces within the rock itself, as well as walking routes around the intervention site, to encourage the movement through and within the space and its limestone.
Sectional Axonometric perspective of Human Crevice 01 in Context –
In axonometric view we can see how the internal space of Human crevice 01 sits beneath a stepper slope underneath the porosified garden spaces.
Sectional Perspective - Human Crevice 01 –
The various spaces within Human crevice 01 provide storage for tools, group teaching bench spaces, one-on-one teaching spaces below, and spaces for relaxing / discussion as well.
Human Crevice 01 in use as a stonemasonry teaching space –
In action, the Human crevice 01 is the heart of the intervention strategy, teaching the skills that implement the porosification of the rock surface for soil regeneration in the future.
Sponge model - Human crevice 01 –
Representing the site as a sponge to denote the porosity and sponge-like quality of limestone, spaces were carved out to create crevices of engagement with the substance of limestone.
Sponge model - Human crevices 10 & 04 –
Representing the site as a sponge to denote the porosity and sponge-like quality of limestone, spaces were carved out to create crevices of engagement with the substance of limestone.
Sponge model - Human crevices 07 & 14 –
Representing the site as a sponge to denote the porosity and sponge-like quality of limestone, spaces were carved out to create crevices of engagement with the substance of limestone.
Sponge model - Vegetation crevice (pore) –
Representing the site as a sponge to denote the porosity and sponge-like quality of limestone, pores for vegetations were carved out to indicate the dissolution of the rock over time after a chiselled hole creates a pore in the surface of the rock, creating conditions for endemic plants to flourish.
As porosity plays a key role in unlocking the fertile clay soils from within limestone in Lebanon, the role of porosification extends beyond the microscopic scale in the proposed intervention. Counter-intuitively, the quarry is proposed to be regenerated by carving into the site even more to create spaces for humans, encouraging a reignition of the human-limestone relationship once more. However, these new crevices will be implemeted using slow, small-scale, and tactile traditional stonemasonry techniques that use knowledge of the substance to create cool and enjoyable environments for humans to dwell within. By enhancing the relationship between human and limestone, creating small spaces to encourage people to visit the site, the quarry can bring in more potential humans to porosify and regenerate its surface while becoming a site that spreads awareness of the over-extraction and mis-use of limestone in a post-industrial climate.