BAREFOOTs'PARK ________________________________________

     Hay Al Gharbeh, Lebanon's poorest slum area, is part of a bigger informal settlement area. Being a chaotic mosaic of different groups and communities of different ethnic and political affiliations, the Dom community is the most under-serviced, underprivileged, "marginalized", piece consisting mostly  of children. Children from the ages of 4-16 can be seen running around on the rugged ground surface BAREFOOT. 

      Since the establishment of the only NGO found in the area, improvements have started to be seen as the children and the community began running back and forth the inner road starting from the NGO's Tahaddi clinic leading towards its Tahaddi school. As their feet define this trail more and more, with short stops in the small residual spaces branching out from it, they have made it come to life.

         The neutral trail connecting the school to the clinic is to become the community backbone trail that foster's this kind of life using the existing landscape for inspiration. 

        The open spaces branching out from the trail are to be sculpted and equipped with reusable materials in a way where they can be used freely and creatively by children, while introducing a barefoot-friendly grid on the ground to bring back a bit of order midst the chaos.

         If their feet can't be protected by shoes, why not cushion the land?