Strange Fruit – Annabel Karim Kassar

₂₂ Strange Fruit, Beirut Lebanon, 2001 Interior Design

Reconversion Music Lounge

900 M2

Complete

Housed in the basement of Downtown Beirut’s Starco Centre, Strange Fruit is as vertical, and horizontal for that matter, as the cinema that previously occupied the space had been.

The massive, moveable expanse of shiny red industrial plastic – a clever pun on the red velvet curtains traditionally found in theatres – not only divides the club in two when necessary but also provides highly effective insulation and enhances the acoustics.

The result is a truly distinctive flexible interior. Inspiration came from many sources, not least of which was the building itself, a beautifully restored example of the kind of Modernist architecture Lebanon was so enamored of in the 1960’s and 1970’s. The design retains elements of the club’s pre-war incarnation, from the sloping floor and cinema seats in the toilet area chill-out space to the original silver screen (still used for weekly screenings) and ticket-booth, complete with a price list put up circa 1975.

The fusion of Retro and Robo results in a 21st Century stage-set which impresses without ever being overwhelming.

INSTAGRAM

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