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- By Rafique Gangat Special to Weekend Review
- Published: 21:30 January 3, 2013 GULF NEWS
Generally, young architects take to
modernisation of building designs like fish to water. However, in the
West Bank of Palestine, a group of architects — most of whom have
international postgraduate degrees and could easily have found lucrative
careers abroad — has returned home to preserve architectural heritage
of the holy land, a heritage that is either being deliberately destroyed
by the Israelis or being neglected by Palestinians. For the former,
cultural heritage has become a battleground to stake a claim to the land
— a war in which they have the ascendency — and for the latter, the
upkeep of historically important sites and buildings is a luxury they
cannot afford.
Riwaq, a Palestinian
non-profit organisation established in 1991 in Ramallah, provides these
passionate young architects with a platform to use their talents to
preserve the heritage.
It took Riwaq 13 years to
prepare a record of historical buildings in Palestine, before moving on
to rehabilitation and development of the architectural heritage. This
involved restoring the remains of the many civilisations that existed
here. The various strata, with their different styles, make up the
complex identity of Palestine, and Riwaq is committed to not only
protecting structures built by the nobility and religious sites but also
the valuable and varied urban, peasant and nomad architecture. To do
this successfully it faces the challenge of convincing the public and
the decision makers that historical buildings and centres are important
tools for development, not liabilities.
Riwaq has been the recipient
of many notable awards — the Dubai International Award for Best
Practices, in 2007, and the Curry Stone Design Prize, in November 2012.
Their offices are fittingly housed in an old building in Ramallah, where
I meet a youthful, fun-loving and energetic team to learn more about
their motivation for being there and the amazing work they do, which may
even be viewed as a non-violent form of resistance against Israeli
occupation.
Lana Judeh, whose youthful
looks belie her talents, is presently heading a project that is
rehabilitating a historical site in the north of Ramallah. She obtained
her masters degree in London, in architecture and cultural identity, and
when asked why she chose Riwaq instead of the private sector, she
replies, “This place provides an opportunity for me to work and develop
in a way I can’t elsewhere. I have learnt the geography of Palestine,
which is very unique, but most of all, that to design new things you
need to understand the old so you can build on it. Also this is a highly
qualified team, and the intellectual discourse here is hard for me to
find elsewhere.”
Judeh’s project is the
“Abwein Historic Centre” from the Ottoman period, famous for its “Throne
Village Palace” where rulers collected taxes from peasants. To begin
with, Riwaq implemented preventive conservation of the palace a few
years ago, restoring it from the outside to protect it from any further
deterioration.
“We are
trying to bring life back to abandoned areas that are either run-down or
in ruins,” Judeh says. “Our restoration work has many aspects to it,
beginning with a core building and then extending it to the whole
neighbourhood. The involvement of locals in cleaning and beautifying
their public space brings back their focus on the centre of the old town
from which they have moved away and where they only visit the mosque or
attend funerals.”
This particular site lay
abandoned for 30 years. “It is frustrating at the beginning, especially
as an outsider, because heritage is not a priority for the local
communities,” Judeh says. “Two years later, we see how it pays off, as
the quality of life has changed, with children playing in clean
courtyards, free of the garbage that used to be dumped there, and a
local women’s organisation will use the restored building.”
Judeh says Riwaq has two
options: “Either we renovate for public use, where a local organisation
rents the building from the original owner for 15 years. In that case,
the owner pays nothing and gets his building back, restored, after 15
years. Or in the case of Abwein, if the owner wants to restore his
building for private use, we ask for a contribution — for example,
providing the owner with building materials — and he completes the
restoration under Riwaq’s supervision.”
In other instances, Riwaq
provides owners with material and they complete the restoration
themselves. In essence, Riwaq works in partnership with the owners and
does not impose its will on them.
Michel Salameh is another
young architect with Riwaq. “I work here because it is a place where I
feel I am doing something special for my community by protecting the
heritage of Palestine,” he says.
Salameh is heading the “Adh
Dhariyeh” project, in the south of Hebron, where he began with
single-building restoration and has progressed to a community centre and
two schools. He explains, “This used to be a Roman fort and people in
the village lived in a network of caves under the buildings, and each
country that invaded the holy land used Dhariyeh as a protective fort
against enemies approaching from the south.
“Dhariyeh is one of 50
historical sites whose renovation Riwaq has undertaken and which
constitute 50 per cent of the architectural heritage of Palestine.”
Salameh says. “There are almost 900 old buildings and the project is
funded by the Arab Fund in Kuwait.
“The 50 historical centres
mark a shift as Riwaq moves away from a single-building approach towards
a community approach, emphasising entire historical fabrics.”
Riwaq’s goal is to breathe
life back into 50 per cent of Palestine’s heritage buildings and the
communities in and around them, and to secure and reinforce the
Palestinian identity that their architecture embodies...READ MORE
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