(1923-1976)

Lebanese architect Joseph Karam graduated in 1946 from the Ecole Superieure des Ingenieurs de Beyrouth. He worked in Lebanon the 50s and 60s, during a time of great optimism and development in the country.

In 1965 he designed a modernist egg-shaped dome in central Beirut as part of a complex of towers and shopping spaces, which was to be the largest shopping complex in the Middle East. The outbreak of the civil war in Lebanon in 1975 left the structure severely damaged. Other architects are looking to renew the structure which sits adjacent to the new Beirut downtown.


Reference: http://www.worldviewcities.org/beirut/legacy.html