Urban views of Beirut - stairs and balcony curtains

Beit Waraq Artist Community

Waraq is a group of artists and creative people from different disciplines working together making  

interesting and beautiful things for the community around them.
While I had stumbled upon some of their work online, it is only lately, at an Iftar diner they had organized that I finally made it to their "Beit" (Home), a hidden old lebanese house with a garden, tucked in Ras El Nabaa.

They organize workshops, events, film screenings and much more always setting the bar higher and wanting to provide the best possible. 

I especially loved multi-disciplinary approach to things, though I first thought they were interested mainly in animation and illustration.

Make sure to check their Facebook page here as they are an active lovely bunch with new events and more workshops coming soon.

at Beit Waraq - The Hully Gully trope poster 

Worshop Poster

Iftar Poster

Films in the beautiful garden

Ever walked the Lebanese streets during daytime and noticed street lights were on? Waffir A new App. to save Energy

I had already mentioned the daytime lit street lights a while back in an older post, when I used to drive though Geitawi area, and see... the lights on during the day, day after day.
Now, someone is trying to do something about it and proactively, they created a new app., to exactly do this action: "Report street lights on during the day with a click". I got in contact with the Muhanna foundation behind the application and they soon explained it to me : Waffir  helps lebanon save up energy one click at a time, yet, it depends on the crowd (YOU) reporting the wrongly lit light, on the spot, where the lights are on during the day, day after day.

How WAFFIR works:
1-Downlaod the Waffir app. (available for iphone and androids)
2- You see a street light on.
3- Turn on your GPS for the app. to locate where you are, thus where the light is on. (no need to turn on your map option if you are running low on your 3G plan)
4- Open Waffir app.
5- Click the Report Button, Done! (you can turn back off your GPS)

Yet, for "Waffir" to get in contact with the municipalities and ask them to solve the problem, they mentioned that they need to receive Multiple Reports of the same light being on during the day, day after day, since occationnaly lights might be on for maintenance reasons....meaning "Waffir" is counting on Crowd Sourced Reports from all the Lebanese, all over lebanon, roaming the streets and willing to do good, not just for their communities but for all the cities and villages in their country, and for the public space and our planet in general.

Because it really feels good to do good :), Waffir Energy (meaning save energy in Arabic) and do report the lights on during the day, day after day... and, watch how much time it takes for the municipalities to respond and fix the light's timers. Is it an efficient municipality or not? ... that will be revealed with time and repeated usage of the app.

Having tangible proof for holding municipalities accountable also does feel good :)
mmm, so what other apps then an app reporting lights on during the day should we have to better keep an eye on public property and services and their usage?

Unintentional branding of the city : Beirut, is this what you want to communicate?

One Huge Name appears alone on a panoramic view of Beirut taken from a high-rise in Sin-el-fil.
With the lack of regulations on acceptable ad sizes, this "Kaliry" (gallery- writen in Arabic) eats up the panorama.

Blue skies and Blue Signs above the city

In a clutter of big billboards and huge ads something like this might be accepted, it might even become part of the identity of a place (Times square in New York city, Dbayeh highway in Lebanon,...though we always hope things get done with better taste) ...but there, standing like that alone and mighty, it is just too flagrantly ugly.

This obligation to see the message / read the name is just frustrating.
Makes you want to photoshop it out, only in reality too, not just on the photo.

Makes me think of the Old beautiful Beiruty homes that get flushed out easily daily, as easy as photoshopping a sign off from a panoramic view, yet this stands strong. How ironic, ya Beirut.