beirut’s grain silos: the monolith that shielded the city

on august 4th 2020, lebanon‘s coastal capital was devastated by a massive explosion at the city’s port. in the following news coverage that shook countries around the world, the lasting image was the crumbling grain silos that absorbed the blast. beirut-based architect gioia sawaya shares her report on the civil engineering details that explain the robust typology behind the monolithic structure, how it protected the western part of the city from further damage, and the reason the building is still partially standing today. her short essay, which follows below, is illustrated by polish artist jerzy goliszewski and his photographs that were taken before the tragic blast of 2020.

images © jerzy goliszewski

‘six months have passed since beirut’s august 4th port explosion. ever since then, no accountability has been taken by the responsible parties. the blast, a milestone in beirut’s history, has completely altered the cityscape, and this is when beirutis realize that the grain silos have done more for them than any of the ruling oligarchy ever have. indeed, the asymmetry of the blast was due to the presence of beirut’s grain silos. standing west of the blast’s epicenter, the silos worked extremely well as a massive concrete wall shielding the western area of the city, and saving so many lives the moment of the explosion.

built to withstand high pressures stemming from the weight of the grain and from possible dust explosions, the grain silos at the port of beirut are considered to be a notable civil engineering work that was created under demanding conditions and that has achieved high recognition for its excellent quality.

successfully completed and put into operation at the end of 1970, beirut’s grain silos were originally constructed to bear a storing capacity of 105,000 tons of grain. the original capacity of the silos consisted of 42 cylindrical silos with a capacity of 2,500 tons of grain per cylinder, an inner diameter of 8.50 m, a wall thickness of 17 cm and a height of almost 48 m. grouped in 3 rows that are axially offset by 2.16 m, the walls of the cylinders intersect. after restoration work took place in 1997, 6 cylinders of the same storage capacity per cylinder were added, thus the silos total capacity was increased to 120,000 tons of grain.

the construction was provided by czech company průmstav, and the technological equipment was supplied by swiss company bühler. the construction was the result of an international competition in which nine companies took part: from bulgaria, france, italy, the federal republic of germany, and greece. the czechoslovak proposal won first place. however, within the framework of the conception of industrial facilities, and based on the competition conditions, the czech company průmstav cooperated with strojexport, led by lebanese civil engineer rodolph elias. the construction project was prepared by danish company kampsax and swedish agri-consult malmö, which also performed strict construction supervision. additionally, engineer jacques nasr worked on the development of the structural design of the silos.

the largest share of construction work consisted of reinforced concrete, where almost 25,000 m3 of concrete was processed. over half of this amount was processed into sliding formwork, the other half was 4,500 m3 for the production of reinforced concrete piles, 4,700 m3 for foundation structures, and 3,200 m3 for the solid formwork that was placed above-ground. the total consumption of reinforcing steel was 2,740 tons.

today, with its sturdy concrete columns, the silos still partially stand, monumentally and monolithically robust at ground zero. the east-facing cylinders could not withstand the magnitude of the shockwave and have completely collapsed. the west-facing ones, however, survived the blast against massive odds. it is therefore arguable that what remains at the site of the blast is more or less reminiscent of a monolith – in the sense of paul virilio’s ‘monolith’ – a massive structure that survived an explosion, but still stands and has since become a monument.

there will come a day when the lebanese authorities will sentence this monument for demolition, with the excuse of the need for a space to build a new grain silo for lebanon. however, the monolith must remain. it must be preserved, not destroyed or replaced. the community’s collective memory must not be crushed or erased. this monolith that contained the grain reserves of the nation saved lives. while the damage could have been much worse, the monolith took head-on the blast’s shockwave to stand today as a physical witness of the greed, ineptitude, negligence, and mismanagement of the people in power.’ – gioia sawaya

project info:

project name: beirut grain silos

text: gioia sawaya

photography and digital artwork: jerzy goliszewski

technical information on the civil engineering of the silos provided by eng. karel kerhart, spšp pardubice, ‘construction of a grain silo in beirut’, czech civil engineering journal 3, 1971.

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lynne myers | designboom