BEB DIWAN (BEB BHAR)

Located at the historic heart of Sfax, Beb Diwan Square, also known as Beb Bhar (the Sea Gate), stands as a symbolic threshold between the medina, the city walls and the contemporary city. Atelier dada’s involvement forms part of a broader urban rehabilitation and lighting prefiguration process, conceived at the scale of the square, its uses and its heritage.

Before any nocturnal intervention, an in-depth study focused on the site’s daytime perception. The existing condition revealed a fragmented space, where the richness of its historical and symbolic layers was difficult to read through the organization of ground surfaces, movements and voids. The primary objective was therefore to help the project team rediscover the essential archetypes of Sfax embodied in this place: the relationship to the ramparts, the memory of the gate, the subtle presence of the sea, and the square as a space of gathering and transition.

Building on this reading, Atelier dada contributed to a reconfiguration of the square in daylight. Proportions, lines and spatial breathing were reworked to restore clarity and dignity to the site, while preparing the ground for future layers of intervention. Certain structural elements were introduced as hybrid supports, both urban and symbolic, capable of accommodating multiple uses. Among them, vertical structures inspired by the local landscape were conceived as discreet yet powerful markers, intended to play a key role in the square’s future identity.

This daylight “before / after” approach forms a fundamental foundation of the project. It demonstrates how Atelier dada’s intervention goes beyond lighting design alone, engaging instead in a sensitive and contextual rereading of public space, in close dialogue with history and contemporary uses.

Further developments related to the lighting concept, multifunctional elements and the nocturnal enhancement of the square, roadways and ramparts will be revealed at a later stage. The project is currently under study and development.
Readers are invited to stay connected to follow the next chapters of this transformation.