Aleppo a unique city

edited by

Annalucia D’Erchia

ALEPPO A unique city Challenges in revitalising historic cities

Architectural and urban design seminar ABC - PhD Design Workshop

Scientific director Adalberto Del Bo Academic Board Adalberto Del Bo | Politecnico di Milano Massimo Ferrari | Politecnico di Milano Maria Cristina Loi | Politecnico di Milano Cristina Pallini | Politecnico di Milano Laura Anna Pezzetti | Politecnico di Milano Lecturer Lilas Abdulmawla | Politecnico di Milano Francesco Bruno| Politecnico di Milano Michele Caja | Politecnico di Milano Claudio Chesi | Politecnico di Milano Armando Dal Fabbro | IUAV Devin | Politecnico di Milano Massimo Ferrari | Politecnico di Milano Cecilia Fumagalli | NOSTOI Research Director Giulia Annalinda Neglia| Politecnico di Bari Cristina Pallini | Politecnico di Milano Laura Anna Pezzetti | Politecnico di Milano Cameron Rashti | Aga Khan Trust for Culture Francesco Siravo | Aga Khan Trust for Culture Sandra Tonna | Politecnico di Milano Jurjen van der Tas | Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Critics Francesco Collotti | UniversitĂ degli Studi di Firenze Carlo Moccia | Politecnico di Bari

Design Team Leader Michele Caja Adalberto Del Bo Massimo Ferrari Cecilia Fumagalli Martina Landsberger Cristina Pallini Students Daniele Beacco Annalucia D’Erchia Derya Erdim Giulia Grassi Jessica Kassis Flavio Menici Sara Troncone Siqui Miao Hosein Rosaei Ling Qin Gor Shahnazaryan Denislav Sokolov

Promoted by

AGA KHAN TRUST FOR CULTURE

Index

PREFACE

8

Adalberto Del Bo Aleppo a unique city

CONTRIBUTIONS

20

Cameron Rashti Challenges in revitalising historic cities.

Kabul from destruction to reconstruction

28

Jurjen van der Tas AKTC’s socio-economic engagement in Aleppo 2007 – 2011

36

Francesco Siravo Assessing War Damages in Old Aleppo.

A Pilot Area Investigation Conducted by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture

46

Claudio Chesi, Devin, Sandra Tonna The Umayyad Minaret.

Original Structural concept and reconstruction criteria

56

Lilas Abdulmawla A history written in stones

64

Cristina Pallini A work of architecture.

The rise of Thessaloniki from Selanik ashes

72

Cecilia Fumagalli Tools and Strategies for an Atlas of Urban Planning in the Historic Cities of the Islamic World

PROJECTS

80

Michele Caja The Reconstruction of a European City.

The case of Berlin.

88

Francesco Bruno The Multan Walled City Experience

96

Armando Dal Fabbro Aleppo project

104

Massimo Ferrari Rebuilding with reasons

112

Laura Anna Pezzetti Reconstruction Narratives: Historical Space, Memory and Nostalgia Three Models between Preservation and Rewriting in Chinese Built Heritage Practices

120

Giulia Annalinda Neglia Cultural Landscapes: The Ancient City of Aleppo

130

Citadel Massimo Ferrari, Annalucia D’Erchia, Gor Shahnazaryan

134

Historical residences Michele Caja, Martina Landsberger, Cecilia Fumagalli, Ling Qin

138

Suq Cristina Pallini Flavio Menici, Siqui Miao, Hosein Rosaei, Sara Troncone New residential settlement

142

CRITICS

Adalberto Del Bo Daniele Beacco, Derya Erdim, Giulia Grassi, Jessica Kassis, Denislav Sokolov

148

Francesco Collotti Is the presence of the past project forming?

152

Carlo Moccia Composing with antiquity

18

The contributions

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The Umayyad Minaret Original structural concept and reconstruction criteria Claudio Chesi, Devin, Sandra Tonna Politecnico di Milano

W

ithin the Aleppo monumental heritage, an outstanding role is played by the Umayyad Mosque, located at the heart of the Old City. Due to its ancient origin, dating back to 715, the Mosque has acquired, together with the minaret, an iconic significance for the City of Aleppo. As a consequence, the issue of rebuilding the minaret, which was destroyed by heavy fighting in 2013, is now receiving special consideration. In this work an effort is done to improve the knowledge of the destroyed minaret, in view of the possibility of rebuilding it as it was, preserving as far as possible the original nature of the masonry structure, satisfying, at the same time, the safety properties which are nowadays required for new construction.

Specifically, the process of knowledge requires, first of all, to collect information about repair and modification works made, through history, as a consequence of the damage produced by different causes (wars, fires, earthquakes, ‌); in parallel, a geometrical survey is needed, accompanied, if possible, by the specification of structural details and material mechanical properties; finally, the historical sequence of earthquakes which affected the site should be clarified, together with the present seismic hazard evaluation in use for the region of Aleppo. All this is discussed in some detail in the following.

Historical events The minaret is the oldest structure of the Umayyad Mosque [1]. It was built in 1089 and survived nine centuries, until it was destroyed in 2013. Unlike what is commonly found in minarets, which are characterized by a circular cross section, this is a square minaret, in the style of the Umayyad Dynasty (Fig. 1).

Several inscriptions are present on the facades; one of them gives the name of the builder, Hasan bin Mufreh Alsirmani. Several dramatic events have characterized the minaret life, including fires (1169, 1260, 1280), earthquakes (1169, 1179, 1822), and human attacks during wars. Repair works, therefore, were undertaken at different times, resulting in a progressive modification of the original structure. An important restoration and renovation project was developed in recent times, between 1999 and 2006, mainly required by the leaning of the minaret. Foundation consolidation works were performed, in order to stop the phenomenon; in addition, strengthening of the walls was achieved by the insertion of both vertical and horizontal steel links and the application of an aramid and epoxy tape to the wall interior surface.

In 2012 the mosque started to be seriously damaged by fightings between the Free Syrian Army and the government forces. On April 23, 2013 the minaret was reduced to rubble; even if it was reported that this accidentally happened and was due to the use of heavy weapons in the conflict between governmental forces and rebels, it is much more believable that the minaret was intentionally destroyed. In order to protect from artillery attacks, indeed, it On the side: The Umayyad minaret

The Umayyad Minaret

47

1. The Umayyad minaret: as it was (left) and in the present state (right)

is a common strategy to destroy the so called “false targets�, which are needed as reference points to finalize bombing to specific targets.

The Umayyad Minaret: structural and architectural configuration Vertical and horizontal cross sections of the masonry structure are shown in Fig. 2, from which clearly appears that a detailed geometrical survey of the minaret had been completed before it was destroyed, reflecting a good knowledge of both the structural configuration and the rich decorative system.

The minaret tubular structure is approximately square in plan; the cross section is almost constant over the height, with sides of about 4.90 m at the base and 4.65 m at the top. Perimeter walls have a constant thickness over the height of almost 90 cm. The total height is 45.4 m, so that the tower slenderness ratio is close to 9, corresponding to a fairly slender structure, if compared to the typical situation of towers in Europe. The tubular structure is composed of 5 elements, extending up to 39.5 m; in the last portion, a rigid diaphragm 48

Claudio Chesi, Devin, S. Tonna

is present, about 2 m thick, supporting the top balcony. The upper portion of the minaret, over the balcony, is constituted by a thin masonry wall covered by a small dome; a wooden sunshade is also present over the terrace. At the base, a massive masonry block is present, with a thickness of about 2 m; correspondingly, stairs run externally.

Inside the tubular structure, a square central core, 1 by 1 m, consisting of a massive masonry element, extends up to the level of the top balcony. Stairs run along each side within the gap, about 1 m wide, between central core and external walls, supported, along each side, by an arch. As it is common in the typical minaret structure, the stair system creates an effective connection among all the structural elements, providing the minaret with adequate capacity towards horizontal actions, despite the high value of slenderness.

The real effectiveness of the structural system relies also on special details, belonging to the minaret specific architectural tradition, like iron connectors and molten lead, which allow continuity between adjacent masonry blocks.

In view of the minaret reconstruction, the knowledge of such details would be of primary importance; while organizing the minaret debris, an accurate inspection, therefore, should be done in this sense. From the simple analysis of available pictures, showing the collapsed structure, no such detail can be clearly identified (Fig. 1).

From the above considerations, the high level of the geometrical and constructive sophistication of the minaret comes out clearly, giving reasons for the long survival of the Umayyad Minaret to any sort of external actions for about nine centuries. In addition to this, moreover, the richness of the decorative system has also to be considered, which had made the minaret an outstanding historical landmark in Aleppo, listed as a World heritage by UNESCO since 1986.

Luckily, all artistic values, before being destroyed, had been carefully documented through accurate surveys, based on the use of modern techniques [2]. The use of spherical photogrammetry is described in [3] as a metric documentation technique, which was applied to the minaret three years before it was destroyed, within a program for metric photographic documentation of several monuments belonging to World heritage sites in Syria. An interesting work was also done in 1999 by experts at the Engineering Office of Aleppo University, who documented the minaret’s facades and their corresponding seven inscriptions [1, 4]. Through these, important information is given about the complex construction process of the minaret and about people who were involved in it.

At the moment, a program has been started for the storage and classification of the minaret debris, in order to select and save decorations and artistic values for possible reuse in the minaret reconstruction.

Defining the context for reconstruction In view of examining the possibility of rebuilding the minaret through a faithful The Umayyad Minaret

49

A history written in stones Lilas Abdulmawla Politecnico di Milano

A

fter war reconstruction is a term that any Syrian nowadays will hear a lot; but since ever cities have been destroyed and reconstructed, the history is always repeating itself in a metaphor we have to look to the past more than once1. Humans are part of the war and part of the reconstruction. The Syrian war was dramatic and caused devastating damages to the country and its citizens; it caused life loss and life condition loss2.

However, sooner or later reconstruction phase will start.

It is important to shade the light that reconstructing Syria is not only a reconstruction of its world heritage, but it is also reconstructing its own heritage by giving back to the Syrian citizens their cultural heritage so they can live their traditional life.

Heritage is not only about history and the past; it is about the past, the present and the future; it is the living experience that is creating memories continuously. We usually think about a heritage by itself, an item by its fabrics or by its sites, but heritage it is not only a site nor a thing; Heritage is the activities that are happening around, and inside the site, it is the engagement of the act itself, it is the meanings that have been created, and the new meanings that were created while experiencing it. It is creating the identity, the memory, the place. It is a cultural process that engages with the memory of that work. It is the past that is engaging or reacting in the future3.

It is always important to learn lessons from the past; however, the literature suggests that there is no specific template to rebuild after the war4. Currently, the reconstruction of Syrian cities has been put on the table5. Many papers argue about how to reconstruct, in which it could also be reflected in this paper, but the main interests would be reflecting the cultural life of Syrian, touching untold stories to the west, stories that could not be found in books, nor in history. Stories that are known with being a citizen or having a life experience there.

In Damascus, heritage and history are not only in the soul and atmosphere of the city, but they also live in the memory of the citizens. “Everywhere you go, you are living with history�. Memories are in each stone. While every stone may have its history, some intangible aspects of cultural heritage are used in everyday life in Damascus 6.

Another notable city that is no less important in term of heritage is Aleppo. The city has been shaped over time with a distinct character, a limestone that holds all together, the rich and the poor, the old and the new, a limestone that gave the city a unique appearance 7. Stones grading with a grey of decay yet telling the visitor the story of Aleppo, Many buildings uses have been changed over time, for example from Temples to Mosques, however, the stones from which the buildings are built still preserve their features, their stories and history8.

The view from Aleppo Citadel is the living example of this, looking to stones colours and shapes creating the magnificent view of brown Aleppo.

On the side: Yann Arthus - Bertrand, Aleppo View, 2008

A history written in stones

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1

2

3

4

5

Islamic urban form: 1. Cairo, Egypt; Damascus, Syria; 3.Herat, Afghanistan; 4. Jerusalem, Israel; 5.Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

74

Cecilia Fumagalli

6

7

8

9

6. Sana’a, Yemen; 7.Tunis, Tunisia;8. Baghdad, Iraq; 9. Lamu, Kenya (sourse: 3D-printed models by the author)

Tools and Strategies for an Atlas of Urban Planning in the Historic Cities of Islamic World

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150

Francesco Bruno

Worzewski, Valentina Fantin, Ilaria Corrocher, Serena Acciai, the pergola also with PAS Jourdan & MĂźller + Steinhauser).

The measurements, proportions and details of the pergola stem from our basic survey of the nearby cathedral. The ancient existing stone being the project construction material.

The challenge with the past is direct, obliged, site-specific based. For centuries, new buildings have been built on the ruins and foundations of previous works, using these materials in various ways. Sometimes for so called spoliatio, redeploying trabeations and tombstones in the foundations of Byzantine or medieval walls. The ancient stones are used as building material or as ready made platforms. All around the Mediterranean here is the experience of Naples, Arles, NĂŽmes, Milan, Ravenna, Split, Zadar, Thessalonica, Byzance/ Constantinople/Istanbul, Amman, Aleppo, Alessandria.

We’re interested in the use of these fragments as construction material for the architectural project.

Is building not far from re-building?

Buildings such as the Orsini Palace by architect Baldassarre Peruzzi, built in Rome on the Theater of Marcellus, or the Cathedral of Syracuse, in Sicily, where the church was built in the cell of the previous Doric ellenistic temple, all these examples demonstrate the use of a building concept not far from rebuilding.

Contaminated, processed, amplified, measured and reconstructed or re-used in a second life, the classical and late classical ruins are the material on which the landscape and the town is built in the following centuries.

Is the presence of the past project forming?

They seem to be hardship but are they in deed chances?

In architecture, indeed, fast advances and antique gestures go hand in hand, the continuity is a condition, not a choice. We are not interested in embalming the past. We prefer to recognise its ability to accept the transformation without denying it.

What is the relationship between old and new, which continuity, at what distance?

These questions would be able to go beyond the absolute gap between pure restoration and anything-goes-project, in which the contemporary architectural debate seems to be confused.

Is it still possible to think of a second life for old buildings?

How to use the old buildings or how to use the past to build new ones?

And where is the border between conservation and embalming?

Our attitude to re-read the urban phenomena and sort through the project is maybe forced to survive in fragments.

For fragments of plans, of architecture, of ideas, lives the contemporary city (Aldo Rossi).

For fragments we can still evoke tasks often forgotten for this metier, obliging us to continue to build-up the city and landscape, relocating it with memory projection, as transfigured it may be.

Is the presence of the past project forming?

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The design experiences developed in the contest of Architectural and Urban Design Workshop, within the PhD program of ABC Department of Politecnico di Milano, are added to lectures about cases study and themes related to Aleppo reality. A concrete way of understanding a Doctoral course in the specificity of Architectural Composition discipline requirements. The contribution shown by the ABC Department professors and by professors from others Italian Schools of Architecture with the contributions of the seminar “Architecture and City Reconstruction: Aleppo as a case study” are a first occasion of confrontation and discussion on the Syrian city under the “Aleppo Strategic Urban Rehabilitation Initiative” agreement signed by AKTC Aga Khan Trust for Culture and Politecnico di Milano (ABC Department – Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering – and Fondazione Politecnico di Milano).

ISBN 978-88-6242-345-8

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