Urbanista — Beirut, Lebanon

Seeking to create a 'place to bring people together, to be human', Houssam and Zeina el-Eid have taken the ground floor of an aging French Mandate apartment block in Gemmayze and turned it into the kind of café that encourages you to linger longer. Purpose-blended coffees from La Colombe and teas from Smith headline, supported by light meals and naughty desserts. Meanwhile, well-stocked magazine racks and hefty sink-in-a-little-deeper club chairs make tearing yourself away a chore. The interior, by London retail designers Caulder Moore in collaboration with the owners, makes the best of exposed brickwork, ducts, industrial lighting and other urban aesthetica. An on-site boutique carries inspiring accessories and limited-edition homewares. And a cosy back-garden terrace floats as if on a rooftop.
ADDRESS
Yanni Building
Rue Goraud
Gemmayze
Beirut
Lebanon
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Middle East Editor
-
Wild sauna, anyone? The ultimate guide to exploring deep heat in the UK outdoors
‘Wild Sauna’, a new book exploring the finest outdoor establishments for the ultimate deep-heat experience in the UK, has hit the shelves; we find out more about the growing trend
-
Highlights from the transporting Cruise 2026 shows
The Cruise 2026 season began yesterday with a Chanel show at Lake Como, heralding the start of a series of jet-setting, destination runway shows from fashion’s biggest houses
-
Behind the design of national pavilions in Venice: three studios to know
Designing the British, Swiss and Mexican national pavilions at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2025 are three outstanding studios to know before you go
-
Villa One at the One & Only Palmilla — Los Cabos, Mexico
-
Martim — Wroclaw, Poland
-
Tattersalls Hotel — Armidale, Australia
-
KLoé Hotel — Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
-
Casa Hoyos — San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
-
Littlenap — Hangzhou, China
-
Casa Santa Teresa — Corsica, France
-
Swedish studio Claesson Koivisto Rune designs K5, a new hotel in Tokyo
Step inside Claesson Koivisto Rune’s design as a 1920s bank turns hotel