Jury Citation
This scheme has been chosen to receive an Award because it applies exemplary conservation standards and engages local pride in safeguarding this culturally significant monument for future generations.
The project represents the establishment of a successful and sustainable partnership between local and external expertise for the conservation process. Although the restoration spanned approximately ten years during exceptional political conditions, the consistency, dedication and commitment of both the external and local stakeholders ensured that the fabric of the building was not compromised in any way. In fact, the process has raised the benchmark for restoration in the region, reviving traditional practices in tandem with modern scientific approaches to conservation. These range from the use of traditional mortars and plasters to complex structural repairs and the conservation of the delicate decorative ceiling paintings. The project also demonstrates sensitivity in dealing with the building as a living fabric. The restoration has extended the significance and usefulness of this historic mosque for the benefit of the larger social, cultural and physical landscape in which it is situated.
Project Data
Client Government of Yemen, General Organization for Antiquities,
Manuscripts and Museums, Yemen: Yussuf Abdallah,
Director; Qadi Ismail al-Akwa, former Director; French
Centre for Yemeni Studies, Yemen: Jean Lambert, Director;
Frank Mermier and RÈmy Audouin, former directors.
Sponsors United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization, France; French Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
General Directorate of Cultural, Scientific and Technical
Relations, Archaeology Department, France: Philippe
Georgeais, Director; Jean-Claude Jacq and Philippe
Guillemin, former directors.
Conservators MarylËne Barret, France, conservator and coordinator, with assistance from Abdullah al-Hadrami, Yemen, for architectural and masonary restoration.
Restorers Ceiling and woodwork: FranÁois de Bazelaire, France, and
Benoit Cruypennick, France, wood restorers; Gilbert
Delcroix, France, advisor; Camilia An’am, Abeer Radwan,
Khalida Hassan, Adel Said, Rashad al Kubati, and Mohamed
al Noman, archaeologists (all from Yemen); Samia Noman,
Yemen, archivist.
Masonary Mohamed Satar, master builder; Ahmed al Arasi, qudad
work; Ahmet al Tairi and Mohamed al Namrani, gypsum
work; Ali al Imad, master mason; Mohammed al Siry,
master carpenter. (All from Yemen.)
Master craftsman& caretaker Ahmed al-Shadhabi, Yemen.
Commission 1986
Design 1987–May 1992
Construction December 1995–March 1996
Occupation May 1996
Site Area 1200 m2
Built area 110 m2
Cost US$ 400,000
Old City of Jerusalem Revitalization Programme (OCJRP)
Old City, Jerusalem
Sponsor: Welfare Association, Switzerland
Conservation: OCJRP Technical Office, Jerusalem
Completion: Ongoing since 1996
Description
Jerusalem has an extraordinarily long and varied history, but the urban fabric of the old city is threatened by overcrowding, lack of maintenance and poor services. The Old City of Jerusalem Revitalization Programme aims to rehabilitate the city, to preserve its heritage and to create a better quality of life for its inhabitants. It is a comprehensive project aimed at every aspect of human life, with several components, including restoration, training, education and raising public awareness. All these components are tied together to achieve an integrated and enduring revitalization. The body of completed works to date includes over 160 projects, all undertaken in close collaboration with local institutions, international organizations and funding agencies.
The urban fabric has suffered from neglect, inappropriate use and inadequate services, with many people living in dilapidated buildings in unsanitary conditions. To address these issues the Welfare Association – a Geneva-based non-governmental organization established in 1983 to support Palestinians in all development areas – set up a technical office in Jerusalem in 1995. The office is composed of professionals from different fields: architecture, engineering, planning, economics and history. Its main aim is to implement a comprehensive programme for the rehabilitation of the old city, comprising a number of complementary components: a revitalization plan; emergency restoration; total restoration; training in conservation; a community outreach programme; and an information centre. The Old City Revitalization Plan forms the basis of the programme’s work. A broad survey was carried out to identify the buildings most in danger and make proposals for their rehabilitation. The aim is not the immediate restoration of a contiguous quarter but interventions throughout the old city. Many of the projects are houses – either single buildings of two or three storeys housing one or two families, or traditional residential complexes (hosh) of several units surrounding a courtyard and housing up to ten families.
The programme also focuses on major public or religious buildings – mosques, churches, madrasas (schools) and hostels – some of which retain their original function, while others are adapted to a new use.
Buildings are selected either for emergency or total restoration. Emergency restoration is normally a quick and limited intervention to solve particularly urgent problems that pose immediate health or safety risks, such as structural instability or water leakage. The duration of the projects varies from about three months for a small house to many years for non-residential projects; work on buildings of historic and architectural value is carried out slowly and sensitively and decisions are made with great care. Dar al Aytam is one such example, and this historical orphanage, comprising five monumental buildings from the Mamluk and Ottoman periods, including a soup kitchen and bakery established by the wife of Sultan S¸leyman, is being upgraded incrementally as an educational institution.
The other areas of the programme complement the restoration work to ensure the sustainability of the improvements. Training for architects, engineers, contractors and craftspeople is provided through short courses, internships and fellowships to study abroad. A community outreach programme encourages public awareness and participation in the rehabilitation process and organizes publications, meetings, workshops and lectures for schools, religious organizations, residents and users. Further components of the programme are also proposed: an information centre and a data bank of conservation professionals and organizations, and the Jerusalem Institute for the Preservation of Architectural Heritage in Palestine.
By the end of 2003, eighty-two residential projects and twenty-six public and fifty-five commercial buildings had been restored through the programme, providing decent living conditions for residents, creating new spaces for the community and ensuring the preservation of the rich historic fabric of the old city.
Jury Citation
The programme has received an Award for its comprehensive approach towards sustaining the life of a community in its natural setting – a life threatened by the deterioration of its physical, social and economic conditions. The project is successful in addressing several issues, including the restoration and rehabilitation of housing, as well as the adaptive reuse of historic buildings and monuments for new functions. The programme is notable for the training it provides in conservation for architects, engineers, contractors and craftspeople, and for the establishment of an information centre and a database for the old city, including documentation, surveys, research and studies. Finally, the project has created a community outreach programme to raise public awareness of the value of historic buildings and to encourage public participation in the process of rehabilitation and restoration.
This effort is conducted under severe constraints, restoring the old city as a living, vibrant and beautiful environment. The process is meticulously conducted by a team of professionals motivated by their love of the place and its people. This is a project about dignity and self-esteem.
Project Data
Project principals Welfare Association, Switzerland: Hisham Qaddumi, Jordan,
Chairman of the Technical Committee of the OCJRP;
Ismael el Zabri, Jordan, Director General; Shadia Touqan,
Jerusalem, Director of the OCJRP Technical Office.
Partners Department of Islamic Waqf, Jerusalem; Division of Cultural
Heritage, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization, France.
Sponsors Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, Kuwait;
Islamic Development Bank, Saudi Arabia; the Ford
Foundation, US.
Project team Ehab Zuheaka, Deputy Director; Khalid Halabi, Supervision
Unit Manager; Amal Abu al Hawa, Samer Rantisi, Sahar
Ghazal, Bashar Husseini, Faten Lafi, Bahi Abdel Hadi,
Marah el Aloui and Nisreen Karsou, architects; Khaled
Muhanna, Lana el Khushashi and Suhad al Bakri, civil
engineers; Hazem Quneibi and Wafa Elder, administration;
Arda Batarseh, information manager, Yousef Natche,
architectural historian; Anita Vitullo, editor. (All based in
Jerusalem.)
Consultants Instituto Veneto per i Beni Culturali, Italy, 2002–present;
Riwaq Centre for Architectural Conservation, Ramallah:
Suad al Amiri, Director, 1998–2000; Centre for Conservation
and Preservation of Islamic Architectural Heritage, Egypt:
Saleh Lamei Mostafa, Director 1997–98.
Commission July 1994
Design 1995–ongoing
Construction 1995–ongoing
Occupation Since 1996
Site Area 871,000 m2 Old City
Cost US$ 12,382,000 (1996–2003)
B2 House
B¸ykh¸sun, Ayvacık, Turkey
Clients: Selman and Suha Bilal, Turkey
Architect: Han T¸mertekin, Turkey
Completion: June 2001
Description
Two Turkish brothers, Selman and Suha Bilal, wanted to build a house on Turkey’s north Aegean coast as a place to spend weekends in a spot where they could find beauty, tranquillity and seclusion without travelling long distances from their homes in Istanbul. B2 House is located on the edges B¸ykh¸sun, a small village near Ayvacik housing a tightly knit community of around 450 people who work mainly in agriculture. Located just outside the south-east boundary of the village, the pure rectangular mass of B2 House sits on an open terraced site, unmistakably modern and separate from the traditional houses of the surrounding village, but respecting and allying itself with those houses through its use of traditional local materials and techniques. The house opens itself to the surroundings and encourages its users not only to observe the landscape but also to immerse themselves in nature through the use of semi-external and external parts of the accommodation. It is a place where a basic shelter becomes a space for the celebration and contemplation of nature.
The response of the Turkish architect, Han T¸mertekin, to the sloping topography of the triangular site, which drops 7 metres from north to south, is also based on the local practice of terracing. The site is divided into two flat plateaus with a difference of 1.3 metres between them, creating a long rectangular terrace, on which the house is placed, and a triangular terrace to the back of the house, which is used as a garden. Like the local houses, B2 House is embedded in the slope of the mountainside; however, in contrast to the local building typology, there are no garden walls around B2 House. As a result, the site is absorbed by the surrounding landscape but, at the same time, the house is set apart, appearing almost as a sculpture on a pedestal.
The owners sought to contain the scale of the house in order to maintain construction costs while achieving a simple, practical structure that would not demand much maintenance. The programme is therefore basic: the ground floor is dominated by a large living room and the upper floor by two bedrooms. The connection between the two floors is through an external stair of wood and steel. The purity of the main spaces and an integration with nature are maintained by semiexternal spaces set within a 1.2-metre-deep utility wall that contains bathrooms, a laundry area, storage, a kitchenette and a fireplace that opens onto an outdoor living room sheltered beneath the stair deck. All of the outdoor spaces are conceived as integral parts of the house.
The structure of the house is earthquake resistant and fairly simple, and was built with local technology and materials. The east and west faÁades comprise a tripartite composition consisting of two concrete structural members that frame a stone wall; this is continued on the roof, although the stones there are not fixed. With a reduced architectural language employing humble materials and rudimentary forms, remarkable spatial conditions are achieved in B2 House. The spaces gain a sublime presence that transforms the sense of a dwelling into that of a monument. The house functions as an apparatus for perceiving nature with truly mesmerizing effects, constantly shifting the user from domestic activity to a state of pure contemplation in a suspended timeless zone. Its capacity to transport its users between different realms is extended to its image: the pure mass on a pedestal is conceived with the silent grandeur and noble simplicity of a monument, while its scale and humble materials take it back to the realm of the vernacular.
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