Gaza©Jordan_part II

GazaŠJordan Reshaping the border as a central space for encounters and interchange

GazaŠJordan

Reshaping the border as a central space for encounters and interchange.

Jasper Aerts Tom Lanclus

Thesis submitted to obtain the degree of Master of Engineering: Architecture Promotor: Lieven De Cauter Co-promotor: Guido Geenen Local promotor: Ismae’l Sheikh Hassan

Academic Year 2013- 2014

KU Leuven Faculty of Engineering Science

2013-2014

Master’s thesis file

Students:

Jasper Aerts Tom Lanclus

Title:

Gaza©Jordan: Reshaping the border as a central space for encounters and interchange.

Abstract: A lack of vision for Gaza camp can be met through the recognition of four spatial frames that serve as an underlying synthesis of the camp’s operational logics and moreover hold the potential to be deployed as a guidance for the camp’s future development. This thesis seeks to explore the potentialities of this conceptual, though spatial framework by means of a physical translation into an architectural intervention that endeavors to constitute a tool for discussion between several actors and stakeholders involved. Through the embracement of a collection of hiatuses within the growing stain of urban fabric that Gaza camp and its annexes constitute, a new space of centrality is introduced, establishing a counterweight that aims to respond to the camp’s altering needs. An enriched civil technical intervention of retaining walls emanates from the ambition to reshape the landscape at the camp’s border in order to activate the emptiness and to avoid a possible deprivation of this distinct armature of open spaces. Elaborated as an excessive dimensioned (infra)structure, it provides a permanent and durable carrier within which the camp can continue to thrive by means of temporal appropriations, allowing to anticipate the camp’s unknown prospective developments.

Thesis submitted to obtain the degree of Master in Engineering: Architecture

Promotor: Lieven De Cauter Co-promotor: Guido Geenen Local promotor: Ismae’l Sheikh Hassan

© Copyright by KU Leuven Zonder voorafgaande schriftelijke toestemming van zowel de promoter(en) als de auteur(s) is overnemen, kopiëren, gebruiken of realiseren van deze uitgave of gedeelten ervan verboden. Voor aanvragen tot of informatie i.v.m. het overnemen en/of gebruik en/of realisatie van gedeelten uit deze publicatie, wend u tot de KU Leuven, Faculteit Ingenieurswetenschappen - Kasteelpark Arenberg 1, B-3001 Heverlee (België). Telefoon +32-16-32 13 50 & Fax. +3216-32 19 88.

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© Copyright by KU Leuven Without written permission of the supervisor(s) and the authors it is forbidden to reproduce or adapt in any form or by any means any part of this publication. Requests for obtaining the right to reproduce or utilize parts of this publication should be addressed to KU Leuven, Faculty of Engineering Science - Kasteelpark Arenberg 1, B-3001 Heverlee (Belgium). Telephone +32-16-32 13 50 & Fax. +32-16-32 19 88.

A written permission of the supervisor(s) is also required to use the methods, products, schematics and programs described in this work for industrial or commercial use, and for submitting this publication in scientific contests.

All images used in this book are, unless otherwise credited, made or drawn by the authors.

Prologue

10

I. Space for encounters and interchange

12

Plea for a counterweight

14

II. Border as a central space

20

Frames; revised and broadened Border as a sequence of spaces Chambers of emptiness

22 28 30

III. Reshaping the border

40

Retaining walls: quoin versus stitch Overlap of atmospheres A variety of contrasting spaces Permanent temporariness Tangible border

42 60 62 74 78

Epilogue

80

Bibliography

82

10

PROLOGUE

Prologue

This thesis constitutes the conjunction of a profound reading, interpretation and understanding of the logics of the camp with the urge to both tackle a set of issues and exploit some potentialities that are latently present within the current appearance of the camp. During the Gaza©Workshop, the preliminary collective research has been supplemented, refined and subsequently distillated into four strategical spatial frames, which serve as a synopsis of today’s operation of Gaza camp and simultaneously constitute strong preconditions for future growth.

This sequel seeks to explore and exploit the significances and potentialities of these rather conceptual frames by means of an architectural translation, which - besides providing a thoughtful solution to a range of matters – serves as a strategic project with a substantial impact on the camp’s future developments.

Throughout three major chapters, this book attempts to clarify this spatial translation by addressing a set of essential questions.

Starting off with the why, we endeavour to formulate a kind of problem statement; a reasoning why an intervention should be necessary, both programmatically as spatially, based on the experiences we had during our fieldwork and the subsequent readings and analysis that has been made. Next, an attempt is made to specify where an intervention would be at place. Through revising and broadening the essence of the frames, we aim to refine and redefine their significances, especially with regard to the driving forces behind each of them; the who so to speak. Subsequently, an emphasis is put on what we eventually want to do. The proposed intervention serves as a programmatic and spatial solution to the problem statement, which is inextricably related with the how; the physical translation into architecture. Through the application of the existing logics of the camp - and these of the site in particular - into the design, the site’s current conditions can be reinforced into strongly defined preconditions, imposing a set of ground rules that have to be met in order to direct the camp’s future growth. The imposition of these new preconditions are achieved through the introduction of an almost civic technical intervention of a pair dilated retaining walls, elaborated as a merely overdimensioned, infrastructural reshaping of the landscape. Although fitting differently into the topography, they both constitute a sustainable carrier within which the temporal life of the camp can continue to thrive at its own pace.

However, it is important to note that this proposition is not intended to ‘be taken or left’, but rather serves as a mediating plan, a platform for discussion addressed to several stakeholders involved in the management, policy and even inhabitation of the camp.

Proposed intervention within the spatial frames.

SPACE FOR ENCOUNTERS AND INTERCHANGE I

14 Space for Encounters and Interchange

PLEA FOR A COUNTERWEIGHT Due to the camp’s prolonged existence in combination with the state of legal limbo its inhabitants are forced to live in and together with the numerous legal restrictions that come along with their lack of citizenship, an extreme process of densification has occurred within the camp’s official boundaries, leaving not a singular square meter un-appropriated, apart from the street network.

This replacement of the initial openness by a severe extent of fullness has transformed the camp into a homogenous maze of compression within which only little space has been safeguarded for encounters to take place.

Nonetheless, a process of internal migration has been happening throughout the past two decades and is gaining momentum. It is due to the outward movement of those who are financially capable that Gaza camp’s footprint is dilating as we speak, increasingly occupying a greater area than the initial threequarter square kilometre. Hence, dealing with Gaza camp cannot be confined to the refugees and the space they inhabit within the official boundaries, but one has to take into account the bigger Palestinian urbanization. Since they retain their access to UNRWA’s health, education and relief services, residing in the overspill does not imply being independent from the camp and its facilities, but instead generates a problematic relationship with it. The increased walking distance due to the eccentric location of these amenities fosters a car-based relation with the camp, charging the centre with an overload it cannot absorb.

Since a possible adaption of the existing infrastructure of the camp’s centre does not respond to the issue of the centre’s increasing eccentric location, a better option might be to discharge the centre by implementing a complementary subcentre as a counterbalance to the existing one. A counterweight that acts as a place for interchange on a context-scale, an interface between the camp and its surroundings which attempts to keep the redundant traffic out of the centre, reducing the latter to be mainly operational on a camp-scale.

I

This counterweight could also be deployed to serve on a community-scale; providing a place for encounters to take place; new activities that might reinforce the collective feelings, which characterize the Palestinian community in exile. Throughout time, the high density of the camp’s fabric has enhanced the emergence of strong relationships within the camp. The phenomena of the urban overspill however reflects a lifestyle that contrasts with the one from inside the camp’s tissue and represents a shift in thinking from we to me [Campus In Camps, Common2], from thinking collectively as one community to a high extent of individualism, embodied by the enclosed typologies of ‘gated communities’ or walled-in villas.

15

“People don’t think as a community anymore” - Mahmoud Riyad Kromp

Plea for a Counterweight

Men gathering in the camp’s streets.

Gated communities within the urban overspill.

16 I

Book 2

Tekst

Grid unit 100m

Tekst

1968-1978

Informatie bij foto, plan of schema. Mag verplaats worden, bijvoorbeeld onder een foto, maar deze breedte aanhouden.

17

1978-1992 1992-2013 Walking distance: 5min

Subtitle

18

TITEL (ALTIJD UITLIJNEN MET ONDERSTE REGEL)

I

Book 2

Tekst

Tekst 19

Informatie bij foto, plan of schema. Mag verplaats worden, bijvoorbeeld onder een foto, maar deze breedte aanhouden.

Subtitle

zwart wit foto over onderwerp hoofdstuk

BORDER AS A CENTRAL SPACE II

22 Border as a Central Space II

FRAMES; REVISED AND BROADENED The set of strategic spatial frames that constituted the outcome of the Gaza©Workshop revealed their potentials through a multiplicity of conceptual projects. Although most of them were feasible projects within UNRWA’s possibilities, it has been proved that the capacity of the frames transcends these limits. They constitute strong preconditions for the camp’s further evolution and can develop each in their own way, according to their driving forces and location within the camp’s tissue. It is within the aim of this thesis to reveal these particular driving forces, to investigate how they can be deployed and to exploit their possibilities through an explorative design proposal.

Three of the four spatial frames - ridge, main road and edge conditions - are characterized by a certain otherness - both in grain size as in function - and constitute figures along or within which other things can happen in contrast to the uniform sameness of the imposed grid structure of the camp’s tissue; the fourth frame.

Therefore, they play an important role in complementing the saturated residential grid and accommodating both formal and informal activities which are unimaginable inside the camp’s grid. By refining the meanings of these three frames, they serve as both a spatial and conceptual framework for the proposed intervention.

Spatial frames indicated on a scale model.

23

Spatial Frames: Revised and Broadened

-acropolisA citadel or fortified part of an ancient Greek city, typically one built on a hill.

[Oxford Dictionary]

Along the ridge of the wadi, a linear figure of spaces within institutional control defines the western border of the camp. Implemented on the camp’s highest axis, this armature of both authorities (UNRWA, DPA, Jordanian police) and amenities (education, health care, food distribution, etc.) constitute a citadel of relief and control, initially overlooking the camp’s fabric.

As a result of the camp’s increased densification, this concentration of predominantly enclosed spaces with a defined humanitarian either facilitating program, present the last open spaces within the official camp borders.

It is the combination of the topographic conditions, the attractiveness due to the presence of the camp’s authorities, their power and finances, and the slow north-south connector that makes the ridge a sustainable figure, which constitutes a strong precondition for the camp’s future development whose existence will not easily be endangered and therefore is capable to develop itself.

II

Border as a Central Space

24

RIDGE

Spaces within institutional control.

MAIN ROAD

The vibrant main road is a vigorous armature which strings numerous private enterprises together. The fact that the artery attracts many private stakeholders makes it the dominant economic and income generating body of the camp. Thereby, it defines an exceptionally strong precondition for the camp’s development.

Its central position in the camp and strong economic driving force assures the further development of this spatial frame.

Spaces produced by private enterprises.

Spatial Frames: Revised and Broadened

The low-lying main road is embedded in the central wadi, which deeply carves through the middle of the camp. Flanked by an abundance of shops, workshops and concrete buildings, it operates as the vital artery of the camp. The road as a natural line of gravity literally functions as the main collector and divider, both for the supply of goods and the drain of waste products. It constitutes the interface between the camp and its surroundings, a distinct world of exchange, traffic, commerce and labour.

25

-artery The circulatory system that is vital for sustaining life. Its normal functioning is responsible for the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to all cells, as well as the removal of carbon dioxide and waste products.

[Wikipedia]

II

Border as a Central Space

26

EDGE CONDITIONS -archipelagoSomething resembling an archipelago; especially: a group or scattering of similar things <an archipelago of small parks within the city> [Merriam-Webster]

Unlike the acropolis and artery, the camp’s edge conditions constitute a third frame that hasn’t been present right from the outset, but came into existence as the camp developed over time according to an ensemble of the two logics of growth. As a result, the fabric at the edges has loosened from the rigid grid structure and evolved into a morphology that constitutes a distinctive frame of otherness in contrast to the sameness of the grid.

An assemblage of hiatuses, interstices of a different grain size, trapped in-between the bulk of the developing fabric compose an armature of deviant bodies that create a belt of openness and form a precious and generous chain of decompression zones along the camp’s official border. Due to their location, they act as disturbing chunks of open land that collect but simultaneously impede the movement perpendicular to the border. It are these distortions that define the border as a sequence of spaces, which collect the radial movements from in- to outside the camp and the other way around.

Nonetheless, this archipelago of deviations lacks a financial, economical or institutional driving force that assures the permanency of this frame, as is the case for the artery and acropolis. As being everybody’s and nobody’s at the same time, neither interest nor responsibility is being borne towards these spaces, which results in their neglect. Although they contain a high extent of contamination, albeit through solid

waste or sewage, their openness constitutes a latent asset for the camp that is likely to be jeopardized by means of urbanization, since most of these lacunas are private property of Jordanian owners. In order to prevent the saturation - and further contamination - of these spaces, and thus the loss of its openness and otherness, these chambers need to be protected, safeguarded and therefore activated.

Due to their location, these enclosures – by means of a wall either built fabric – define the border as a collection of spaces that hold the potential to adjust the physical appearance of the camp to the shifting attitude of its dwellers with regard to the landscape that is at stake at the moment. For many years an aversive stance has been adopted by the refugees towards the spaces outside the border and the surrounding landscape in general. However, the emergence of the overspill represents an alteration of the environment, which reflects a sort of affiliation with the land by means of private appropriation and emphasizes the voids as exterior chambers in-between the camp and its overspill.

Therefore, their central location within the bigger Palestinian urbanization makes these ‘spaces of otherness’ – in terms of morphology - suitable as ‘spaces for otherness’; giving room for activities and programs that are impossible and unimaginable inside the camp. At the same time, they can be used to establish a relationship between the camp and its surroundings.

Tekst 27

Neglected void in the east.

Spatial Frames: Revised and Broadened

Highly contaminated wadi in the north-east.

28 Border as a Central Space II

BORDER AS A SEQUENCE OF SPACES It is within this frame of the varying though similar edge conditions that we feel the urge for an intervention, since these spaces allow mediation between the intra and extra muros, between the official camp and both its overspill and the surroundings landscape. However, due to the lack of interest in and awareness of these spaces, a catalyst is needed in order to activate these neglected backsides by means of a collective interest and avoid the threat of future private appropriation.

The sequence of open spaces at the camp’s eastern border constitute an anomaly in the continuation of both its fabric as well as the linearity of the main road; a deviation that gives room for the implementation of a new space of centrality, a counterweight to the existing eccentric centre of the camp. Two empty plots covering both sides of the main road hold the potential to become a counter figure capable to discharge the camp both programmatically and with regard to its infrastructure. Moreover, it is exactly the presence of this economical artery of the camp that can potentially be deployed as the necessary catalyst through which a bigger belt of emptiness along the border can be activated.

Dissected by this line of gravity, the voids at the camp’s entrance together with the main road could constitute a new hub at the intersection of the two frames, a versatile interface between many things: the camp’s part A and B, the camp and its overspill and even between the camp and its host country. Due to its location, the site embodies a place of ambiguities and contrasts.

Characterized by multiple faces and a variety of boundary conditions, this sequence of spaces constitutes an overlap of different spheres. It serves as a morphological interface between the low-rise high-density fabric of the camp and the thinly spread tissue that determines the overspill. Besides, the site bridges the contrast between the fast, commercial and masculine characteristics of the downcamp along the main road and the soft, residential and rather feminine sphere on the hilltops.

It is the coexistence of these kinds of contrasts that contribute to the assets of the site and constitute a certain tension field we would like to exploit.

Sequence of open spaces at the camp’s eastern border.

Grid unit 100m

30

CHAMBERS OF EMPTINESS

II

Border as a Central Space

While these vulnerable deviant bodies on the eastern edge of the camp have a similar neglect in common, they significantly differ in grain size and boundary conditions; plot demarcations, vegetation, built fabric and retaining walls. Yet, topography still remains the main determinant in the emergence, evolution and current appearance of these voids. They are located at the confluence of the two wadis, each of which have strongly influenced the urban morphology and the empty spaces they surround.

This in mind, we can clearly distinguish the two chambers of emptiness which are located on either side of the main road. The northern void is trapped inbetween the bifurcation of the two wadis and the campâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fabric. It bridges the height difference between the residential fabric of the inner camp and the edges of the lower wadis, resulting in a plane inclined in two directions. Situated at the margin of the official camp, this chamber morpholigically constitutes the corner of the northern residential hilltop.

The southern void on the other hand, constitutes a flank of the wadi in which the main road is embedded. Trapped in-between the residential fabric of the southern hilltop, which consists of the campâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s part B and its natural continuation towards the east, this void bridges a height difference of approximately 30 meters.

Despite its firm inclination, the openness is frequently used by youngsters as a shortcut to move from the main road to the residences on the hilltops or the other way around.

Site of intervention; current situation.

Grid unit 100m

II

Border as a Central Space

34

Normale tekst 1 kolom Buiten uitgelijnd

35

Informatie bij foto, plan of schema. Mag verplaats worden, bijvoorbeeld onder een foto, maar deze breedte aanhouden.

View over southern void.

Chambers of Emptiness

View from southern to northern void.

36 Border as a Central Space II

Side entrance southern void.

Informal path southern void.

37

Normale tekst 1 kolom Buiten uitgelijnd

View from top of southern void.

Chambers of Emptiness

Road along southern void.

38 Border as a Central Space II

View on northern void from top of southern void.

Northern void along the campâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s border.

39

Normale tekst 1 kolom Buiten uitgelijnd

Northern void from main road.

Chambers of Emptiness

Elevated road along the campâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s border, view on northern void.

40 Border as a Central Space II

Approaching the camp through the main road.

Empty voids on both sides of the road main at the campâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s entrance.

Normale tekst 1 kolom Buiten uitgelijnd

41

Informatie bij foto, plan of schema. Mag verplaats worden, bijvoorbeeld onder een foto, maar deze breedte aanhouden.

Subtitle

zwart wit foto over onderwerp hoofdstuk

RESHAPING THE BORDER III

44 Reshaping the Border

RETAINING WALLS: QUOIN VERSUS STITCH In order to structure the unstructured sequence of emptiness, a basic principle of cut and add is applied. A merely civic technical intervention of adding two retaining walls allows a reshaping of the landscape through which the set of chambers will be reinforced, refined and defined as spaces that vary greatly with regard to their atmosphere, extent of exposure, usage, etc. The appearance of this pair of minimalistic - in terms of providing the uttermost essential (infra) structure - though very robust interventions results from the logics imposed by the underlying landscape. It is by re-scaping the land that we can endow a certain sustainability to this site, since landscape possesses a high extent of perpetuity. It is the landscape and its topography that serves as the major determinant for all what occurs on top of it, as is also the case at our site of focus. The dissimilarity of the topographic conditions within both voids gives rise to a different morphological approach of the two retaining walls; the quoin versus the stitch, respectively as the northern and southern wall.

Due to the bidirectional inclination of the northern void, the necessity of a twofold retaining structure results in the appearance of a quoin; a cornerstone that acts as a hook profile for the campâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s part A, connecting the two membranes constituted by the main road and the northern wadi, which keep the fabric within its official boundaries. It is the northward oriented branch of this quoin that offers the opportunity to re-establish the connection between the main road and the northern wadi that has become silted due to urbanization activities along the main road at the junction of the bifurcation.

III

In contrast to the retaining function of the northern wall, both with regard to topography as well as built fabric, the southern one merely retains the flank, while it simultaneously acts as a stitch. Implemented along the topographic lines of the flank, this retaining wall establishes a new connection between the camp and its immediate overspill and thereby fosters the process of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;internal migrationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; in southeastward direction, whereas the quoin emphasizes the enclosed condition of part A.

Quoin (north) versus stitch (south).

Grid unit 100m

Roof plan

0

5

10

25

Level +0

0

5

10

25

Level +1

0

5

10

25

Level +2

0

5

10

25

Level +3

0

5

10

25

The Quoin

The Stitch

Despite the fact that both walls operate differently in plan, they exhibit a high extent of affinity in section. The supplementation by two retaining walls to the above mentioned existing demarcations of the site reinforces the existing spatial conditions of these spaces into a set of clearly demarcated chambers, with each their own characteristics; an exposed urban plaza, an intimate multileveled garden and a terraced grove. Due to the topographic conditions, it is within the thickness of the retaining walls where these contrasting atmospheres overlap resulting into several interesting typologies that can serve as a carrier for new innovative programs and activities, providing a flexible platform that allows to respond to the campâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s varying needs throughout the course of time. The retaining walls moreover constitute the thresholds that have to be bridged in order to move from one chamber into another. These shortcuts are however concentrated within the armpits of each buckled retaining wall, serving as a collecting and dividing mechanism for people, goods, water, etc.

Due to this concentration, both branches of both retaining walls are elaborated minimalisticly according to the uttermost necessary infrastructure, allowing a maximum flexibility.

60 III I

Reshaping the Border

OVERLAP OF ATMOSPHERES

Section stitch - urban plaza - quoin

61

Overlap of Atmospheres

62

A VARIETY OF CONTRASTING SPACES

III

Reshaping the Border

The quoin can be considered as a central hinge between a multipliticity of urban structures; the campâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tissue versus the overspill, the wadi versus the main road, openness of the chambres versus fullness of the dense fabric. This variety of adjacent conditions results in diverse types of spaces, stacked within the retaining structure. Each of them activates its contiguous outdoor space - the urban plaza, the intimate garden, the northern green wadi - in its own way. They donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t necessarily attempt to be democratic or totally accessible for everyone, at every moment. In contrast, the quoin fosters communal events which have the possibility to be limited to a certain group, age or gender.

Section quoin - intimate garden

A Variety of Contrasting Spaces

Here, the gradient between the intimate campâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tissue and the exposed main road or the green wadi could be manipulated by means of shifting height differences, resulting in a sequence of disparate, multi-levelled outdoor spaces, which can simultaneously operate separately. In this particular proposal, the intimate garden consists of a paved terrace as a continuous extension of the grand hall, supplemented by a lower, intimate green patio enclosed by two galleries that can serve as storage rooms; and a more exposed playground next to the wadi.

63

The mutually perpendicularly oriented branches of these bidirectional retaining walls are connected by a corner piece, which acts as an outdoor, functional tube that provides all vertical circulation within the quoin. The branch facing the main road and framing the urban plaza holds the opportunity to set a new standard with regard to future verticalisation along the main road through the stacking of varying typologies, which are capable to absorb a variety of possible fill-in scenarios: a vocational school, a wedding hall, a camp restaurant, classrooms, etc. In contrast, the northward oriented branch makes the transition from a building into a landscape, through the integration of an auditorium within the existing topography of the site. Moreover, this wing initiates the alley that reestablishes the silted connection between the wadi and the main road; a linear empty space trapped in-between the obtained height differences.

Subtitle

Book 2

Quoin level +0, southern branch [vocational course].

TITEL (ALTIJD UITLIJNEN MET ONDERSTE REGEL) Tekst

Informatie bij foto, plan of schema. Mag verplaats worden, bijvoorbeeld onder een foto, maar deze breedte aanhouden.

Normale tekst 1 kolom Buiten uitgelijnd

Alley connecting main road with wadi, passing the auditorium, the intimate garden and the playground.

68 Reshaping the Border III

The stitch constitutes the preferred soft connection between the camp and its overspill and at the same time exploits the interesting overlap between the southern residential hilltop and the arterial main road. This results in an attractive commercial place, which can act as a counterweight to the campâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eccentric centre and its adjacent souq. Goods, food and animals can be supplied from the bigger context of Jerash governorate through the artery, while women can easily reach the stitch due to its integration in the campâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s residential network.

The elongated shape of the retaining wall within the undulating landscape produces two different typologies, adapted to its surrounding conditions. The western branch of the stitch anticipates the overlap between the artery and the residential tissue, constituting a sequence of commercial units within two different atmospheres. Both levels could also function together by providing internal shortcuts - by means of stairs or hoists - to combine the arterial production, labour and storage with selling activities on the upper floor. The eastern branch of the retaining wall on the other hand, is more deeply carved into the landscape. This part of the stitch offers place for cool storage rooms underground and an open concrete structure on top. Right in between both branches, the armpit of the stitch operates as a collector and divider for either people, goods, water and waste products. Therefore, its surrounding outdoor spaces collect rainwater, each on its own way according to the logics of its shape, and lead it to the central armpit where it scan be stored and deployed as a supplementation to the water provision used for several activities within the stitch.

Section terraced grove - stitch - urban plaza

A Variety of Contrasting Spaces

The unstructured southernmost void flanks this belt of openness along the camp’s eastern border. Retained by the elongated stitch and in stark contrast with the emptiness of the urban plaza, the flank presents itself as a Palestinian greenscape in-between the camp’s southern tissue. A terraced grove, connected with the stitch provides a collection of shaded spaces of stillness and slow passageways, elevated above the fuss of the plaza. The terraced slope, elaborated with a network of channels offers the opportunity to collect an enormous amount of stormwater, leading it to the water reservoir provided within the armpit of the stitch.

69

In contrast to the defined, intimate garden, the exposed urban plaza can be considered as an undefined plain which can be flooded by an endless amount of activities, whether related to its adjacent buildings or as an entity on its own.

It constitutes a decompression zone which has the possibility to catch the ‘fast’ of the main road and absorb cars, trucks and goods from the artery. Besides it can host communal activities related to the quoin or a serve as a commercial spur of the stitch. Since it is - in its untouched bare form - mostly exposed to the sun, the urban plaza will transfigure throughout the day and hence will operate time-related. The chilly morning will attract vendors and suppliers, the hot afternoon pushes each and everyone to the square’s shaded margins while its afterglow magnetizes communal activities after dusk.

Stitch level +0, western branch [shops along urban plaza].

Stitch level +1, eastern branch [open bazaar].

74

PERMANENT TEMPORARINESS

III

Reshaping the Border

The shape of the adapted landscape can be considered as a result of distilling and exploiting the logics of which it consists, both site-specific and with regard to the existing spatial frames. By deploying these logics, the derived built form of the civil technical intervention can acquire a high degree of durability.

The excessively designed concrete retaining structures - made by on-site recuperated granulates - form part and parcel of the landscape and provide space for temporal fill-in activities which can change through time. It is a landscape of open, flexible structures in which the camp can develop at its own pace and with its own means. It constitutes a platform for changeable programs that can activate its surrounding openness. Hereby, the intervention anticipates the unknown future of the camp and its growing overspill.

To intervene within the existing landscape, there has been appealed to local techniques, materials and know-how to deal with the camp’s specific habitats, culture and climate. Inground retaining structures ensure cool spaces for storage and workshops along the main road, while upper floors consist of open structures which can be covered by local and temporal materials, depending on the use and available resources. This allows a continuation of the camp’s roofscape, hence integrating the retaining walls in the landscape as well as in the camp’s fabric.

75

Applying local agriculture techniques.

Permanent Temporariness

Flexible ground floor of quoin.

4,75m W x 12m D x 3,5m H 7 units open gallery changeable roofing additional storeys possible

retaining structure 24m W x 12m D x 3,5m H changeable roofing additional storeys possible

retaining structure 4,75m W x 12m D x 3,5m H 7 units

retaining structure 24m W x 12m D x 3,5m H underground storage room with freight elevator connected to upper storey(s)

[inverted beams] 4,75m W x 12m D x 3,4m H 5 units open gallery changeable roofing additional storeys possible

24m W x 14m D x 4,75m H open hall

retaining structure 24m W x 14m D x 7,3m H additional internal floor possible by means of concrete brackets

retaining structure 10m W x 20m D x 7,3-4m H auditorium

I

Book 2

78

79

TANGIBLE BORDER Through the reinforcement of the border as sequence of open spaces, an accessory layer with regard to the refugees’ identity can be added to the project.

The safeguarding of the emptiness contrasts with the fullness of the fabric within the border and hence emphasizes the camp’s boundary, through which importance can be given to the armature of open spaces that define the act of crossing the border, not merely as a linear element, but rather as a tangible space; a special moment one has to traverse before entering the official camp.

The experience of crossing these open spaces stresses the importance of the camp as the symbolic and legal representation of the ‘Palestinianess’, since it constitutes the closest connection between the refugee and his pre-exilic origin.

[Woroniecka, 2013]

Tangible Border

Therefore, these spaces themselves serve as a collection of places where the physical appearance of the initial camp is manifested and thus serve as the mirror of the camp [Campus In Camps, Common1]; places where the collective feelings of this community in exile can be fostered, which are gradually being jeopardized by the growing individualism emerging in the overspill. Through the activation of these places as a new space of centrality for the bigger Palestinian urbanization, the relation between the camp and its overspill can be advanced and collective feelings can be reinforced or re-established. Moreover, it offers the opportunity to improve the relation with the surrounding landscape and spatially integrate the concrete stain that the camp constitutes within its surroundings; fitting the alien without derogating the initial camp as a site of commemoration.

EPILOGUE

Due to its coordinates, the site of intervention finds itself on the hinge between several stakeholders; various actors involved though indifferent with regard to the site’s current disregard and future prospects. First of all, UNRWA adapts a reticent stance towards the site of focus, adducing their impotence to intervene spatially due to its location outside the official perimeter of the camp that demarcates their field of action. In the meantime, the augmenting refugee population and its dilating spatial impact are converting this neglected backside into the point of gravity of the bigger Palestinian urbanisation; a landfill in the making amidst a greater territory inhabited by a population to which UNRWA provides assistance and relief in order to foster their human development.

Nevertheless, the recent accomplishment of the high school for boys stands proof for the fact that UNRWA does have the capability to intervene outside their ‘legal’ zone, albeit by means of a collaboration with another party.

The site’s central location within the spreading ex-Gazan community makes the voids physically part of what is spatially considered as camp. It therefore causes a non-interest on account of the municipality of Jerash, complementary to the general exclusion of Palestinian camps from Jordanian urban development plans and policies.[Al-Husseini, 2012] In contrast however, it are precisely the site’s coordinates that potentially offer the opportunity to attract (external) private investors. The voids’ dual connection with the economical artery of the main road constitutes an asset, waiting to be exploited. It is the deployment of this commercially and infrastructurally advantageous location through which the emptiness can be activated in a feasible way. By using the arterial characteristics of the main road as the indispensable catalyst to upgrade these neglected backsides, one can prevent their subjection to the greedy spatial impact of the camp’s dilating growth. Instead, the deviations can be safeguarded as generous open spaces for interchanges and encounters to take place; introducing a complementary pole of attraction within the magnet which the camp constitutes.

Notwithstanding the urge for this new counterweight, we feel that we are not in the position to be imposing a specific, defined program, as we consider this as something that has to grow bottom-up or in a participatory way. What we think we can do to achieve our ambitions and visions for Gaza camp, is to design the uttermost essential (infra)structure that has the necessary spatial impact on its immediate surroundings and serves as a flexible carrier that that can be appropriated by the camp’s community, UNRWA, DPA, private enterprises, NGO’s, etc. The spatial translation of this idea is however done with a set of scenarios in our mind as a design tool, which are based on the experiences we had during our fieldwork and the analysis we’ve conducted and that seek to tackle a number of issues that call for a solution.

However, what it comes down to is to make an attempt for gathering a mixture of different actors and stakeholders around the table for discussion and raise the awareness of the latent possibilities of the site and the frames in general, what is exactly the aim of this thesis.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY WORONIECKA, Dorota, “Identity and Place in Extended Exile: The Case of a Palestinian Refugee City-Camp”, in: Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai - Sociologia, issue 1, 2013, p. 21-37.

AL HUSSEINI, Jalal, The Evolution of the Palestinian Refugee Camps in Jordan. Between Logics of Exclusion and Integration, Cities, Urban Practices and Nation Building in Jordan, Beirut, Presses de l’Ifpo, 2012, p. 181-204.

Bibliography

CAMPUS IN CAMPS, Common2, (Collective Dictionary), published on website: http://www. campusincamps.ps/en/projects/common-1/, last consulted on 30th May 2014.

CAMPUS IN CAMPS, Common1, (Collective Dictionary), published on website: http://www. campusincamps.ps/en/projects/common-1/, last consulted on 30th May 2014.