Part 3
The 3 Arches
Larger houses may have a central hall. This kind of architecture has been known since the Phoenicians as many houses found in Byblos were constituted of a long hall giving access to many rooms on both sides. The entrance consisted of a porch with 3 arcades.
Lebanese architecture kept the same type of entrance. Three arches, symbol of Lebanese architecture, keep the hall widely opened to nature.
In the last century, glass was introduced to those arches and the hall was now a large living room in the middle of the house surrounded by the rooms. The 3 Arcades remained the principal object around which is organized the symmetry of the façade.
The house plans with a central hall is wide spread in Lebanon and thus it is called the "Lebanese" house design.
The Aarzal
The aarzal is a summer room made of tree branches lying above the ground on trees. It can be used as a living room, a sleeping room, a room for the guard of the cultivated fields, a private summer room ... The aarzal is as old as the Lebanese village.
A typical Mount Lebanon house in the past centuries is shown in the picture below
