Sunday, May 20, 2007
The Conflict of Neighboring
The current urban fabric of Jerusalem is constructed and characterized by enclaved territories, and by urban discontinuity within the Palestinian settlements.
In spite of existing linking systems, physical / Virtual (Roads, Public Transportation, Shared views, National goals, Commerce etc.), each enclave may be considered as an independent entity, mainly constructing itself over time.
The premises of this project argue that a circular process of reinforcing independent entities will lead to socially and economically stronger entities and thus to the reinforcement of the "In Betweens". Also, the urban role of a certain space (used or pre used) is easily modeled once it is adjusted to its surrounding and reality.
Meaning, today's enclaves may assimilate one into the other at some future, through a contributing usage of what is now considered an "In Between", or through any other freestanding spaces in Jerusalem.
The site is positioned on the seam and very close to the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts bone of contention, the Old City.
Thinking of the old city as a perfect core of human values, and taking into consideration several optional future scenarios for national development in Israel
(As well as present needs and absences concerning the site) –
One State for Two Nations would be the chosen socio-political framework.
Those parts that function as "In Betweens" today are mainly open spaces. They exist among relatively functioning entities, they do not attach or separate, but also hardly contribute or strengthen. They remain empty, passive and plane, surrounded by their spatial layout of villages, neighborhoods and landscape.
If we consider, then, the site of Sheikh Jarah as a present "in between" like many others in Jerusalem, it's role within it's urban fabric may change over time, depending on reinforcement / destruction / Assimilation processes.
Planning in the present while thinking of a future situation allows the construction of a non fully complete object. Stratified construction will function as a metaphorical tool for representing the future in the present.
Thus, it's observed parts may be able to annex future expansions while it's pre-observed elements would be, when the time is due, revealed.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Monday, April 30, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
The Metropolis is characterized by the overlapping of many distinct, mutually exclusive and divergent principles. This is what distinguishes it from the village, the town, the city district and from smaller and medium-size cities.... Eliminating poorly functioning and superfluous areas of the city will selectively reduce the urban pressure.... The enclaves thus released from a general urban anonymity will then create, as it were, liberated city islands, an urban archipelago in a natural green lagoon.... The idea of the City within the City accommodates the contemporary structure of society, which has developed more towards an individualized society with different needs, desires and ideas. The concept also incorporates the individualisation of the city and thus a dislike for a typical and for unification.
O.M. Ungers. City within the City 1977
Monday, March 26, 2007
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