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I
magine if you will, state of the art
classrooms. Imagine new athlet-
ics courts and a large auditorium.
Imagine an underground parking
and smooth flowing traffic. Imagine a
swimming pool and playgrounds which
promise to thrill the most active of
youngsters.
Now imagine these facilities at IC (Ras
Beirut) – a distant dream? No.
Over the next ten years the campus
will be undergoing major changes.
It’s a natural extension of “a vision” said
IC’s president John Johnson. “We’ve actu-
ally lived off the vision of the people who
built Rockefeller, Sage, Thomson and the
elementary school. And now it’s time for
us to have a new vision for the future.”
The vision was started by Alexander
MacLachlan 116 years ago and later
became the vision of Stuart Dodge (first
English professor and later Board Chair-
man 1903-1927) and William H. Hall
(Prep principal 1903-1927), who con-
ceived and designed a Beirut campus for
500 students with donations from John
D. Rockefeller and Russell Sage and land
from an anonymous donor.
“In those days they were the state of
the art facilities,” said Johnson. “The peo-
ple back then had a real vision of what
the school should look like.”
But a growing student body and mod-
ern teaching methods called for a new
vision of the campus - a vision which
would produce much needed support for
the schools’ reputable and strong educa-
tion program.
New and old meet
IC will remain IC. There’s no doubt
about that as international and local
architects hired for the job are going out
their way to preserve the heart of the
school: Rockefeller, Thomson, Sage and
Reynolds Halls areas, the green areas and
the landscaping.
Two US architecture firms specializ-
ing in planning and design of academic
institutions were hired to come out with
a master plan for the campus. The US
firms will be teaming with local archi-
tects. The first task, naturally, was to
assess the current needs of the various
departments. Several weeks of meetings
and evaluations with directors and de-
partment heads in the past few months
concluded that IC is definitely in need of
more space, whether be it for lessons, art,
dance, theater or athletics.
A master plan began to take shape. “It’s
not a detailed design yet,” said Mahmoud
Barazi, the Engineer Project Manager at
IC. “It’s more or less where the buildings
are located and what mass they are going
to occupy.”
One thing for certain, however, is that
the campus will see a new elementary
school and renovations of all the older
buildings. In the pipeline are also a new
auditorium, athletics courts, art facilities
and underground bus and parking sys-
tem, a new administration building, two
extensions to Sage Hall, a new preschool
extension and food court, libraries,
gymnasium, theatrical black box, and a
swimming pool.
The construction of the entire project
will span over 10 years and, to accom-
modate an uninterrupted schooling
schedule, is divided into phases. By the
end of 2017, the IC usable space would
have almost doubled from 26,000 square
meters to 41,000sq meters. All buildings
will be able to accommodate people with
physical disabilities.
Various student drop zones have been
incorporated into the design – thanks
to a specialist hired to study the flow of
traffic and ways of decongesting it in and
around the campus.
Trees and greenery of the campus will
remain untouched but there will be a
new landscaping design. New state-of
the art playgrounds and just “hang out
areas” will be incorporated throughout
the campus.
“Think of a park,” said Barazi. “We’re
not just out to preserve our trees and
greenery but also to create space for chil-
dren which is very important.”
Construction will begin towards the
end of 2008. The entire project is fore-
casted to be completed by 2017.
“IC already has a very high academic
level,” said Barazi. “What was missing was
the infrastructure to support this. With a
new master plan we can have both.”
IC launches a Capital
Campaign
Plainly put, a Capital Campaign is a
huge fundraising drive. It usually spans
over several years and the money is
eventually spent on a major development
project.The goal over the next five years
is for IC to raise $50 million. The amount
may sound astronomical but it is actually
a calculated forecast based on feasibility
studies and past contributions.
“Sometimes you even surpass your own
goals,” said Moufid Beydoun, the Vice
President for Alumni and Development.
This is by no means IC’s first Capital
Campaign. The first was launched in
the 1990’s with the aim of creating and
building up endowment funds – where
the invested principal remains intact
and the proceeds are used towards a
specific mission.
Some of the capital raised during this
A
VISION
OF
TOMORROW
Capital Campaign