Adam Joshua Fan, "The Thin Grey Line", Thesis Studio Booklet by adamjfan

The University of Melbourne Masters of Architecture

THE THIN GREY LINE: The Home As A Psychological Space of Self-Sabotage and Hopelessness

Thesis Project by:

Adam Joshua Fan

Thesis Studio 10 it will not be over until we talk

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The Home As A Psychological Space of Self-Sabotage and Hopelessness

IV. FINAL PROJECT: Last Night, I Dreamt Of That Empty Lot Again................................................... 32

TABLE OF CONTENTS

IV. 1. SITE - State of Palestine - Present Day, 2021............................................... IV. 2. SITE - Ma’ale Adumim Settlement - Plan................................................... IV. 3. SITE - Mitspe Nevo District - Plan.............................................................. IV. 4. SITE - The Affect of Materials - Diagram..................................................... IV. 5. SITE - 53 Ha-Gilgal - Existing Plan............................................................. IV. 6. SITE - Detail A: A Noticeable Gap - Photo................................................... IV. 7. SITE - Detail B: The Ghosted Driveway - Plan............................................ IV. 8. SITE - Detail C: The Naked Backside - Section............................................ IV. 9. SITE - Detail D: Evidence of Structures - Plan............................................ IV. 10. DESIGN - North Facade - Elevation........................................................... IV. 11. DESIGN - East Facade - Elevation.............................................................. IV. 12. DESIGN - Basement - Floor Plan............................................................... IV. 13. DESIGN - Detail A: The Tulip Garden - Perspective.................................. IV. 14. DESIGN - Detail A-1: Ideal - Section.......................................................... IV. 15. DESIGN - Detail A-2: Sabotaged - Section................................................. IV. 16. DESIGN - Detail B: The Master Bedroom - Perspective............................ IV. 17. DESIGN - Detail B-1: Sabotaged - Section................................................. IV. 18. DESIGN - Detail B-2: Sabotaged - Section................................................. IV. 19. DESIGN - Detail B-3: Sabotaged - Section................................................. IV. 20. DESIGN - Detail B-4: Sabotaged - Section................................................. IV. 21. DESIGN - Detail C: The Leak - Perspective................................................ IV. 22. DESIGN - Ground - Floor Plan.................................................................. IV. 23. DESIGN - Detail D: The Kitchen - Perspective........................................... IV. 24. DESIGN - Detail E: The Office - Perspective............................................... IV. 25. DESIGN - Detail F: The Piano Room - Perspective.................................... IV. 26. DESIGN - Detail G: The Dining Room - Perspective................................. IV. 27. DESIGN - Detail H: The Obelisk - Perspective........................................... IV. 28. DESIGN - Detail I: The Balcony - Perspective............................................ IV. 29. DESIGN - Detail B: The Bedroom Flooded - Perspective.......................... IV. 30. DESIGN - Detail K: The Attic - Perspective................................................ IV. 30. DESIGN - Detail L: Beyond The Wall - Perspective...................................

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I. THESIS STATEMENT........................................................................................... 3 II. RESEARCH DRAWINGS: The Lines of Division In The West Bank .............................................................. 4 II. 1. A Centre Retreats. Where Identity is Open Onto Plurality............................. 5 II. 2. Where East is Not Strictly East, And West is Not Strictly West...................... 6 II. 3. King of the Hill............................................................................................... 7 II. 4. A Political Boundary In The Domestic........................................................... 8 II. 5. The Facades Outside and Inside..................................................................... 9 II. 6. The Bethlaham Bypass................................................................................... 10 II. 7. Gaps Between the Monoliths.......................................................................... 12 II. 8. The Boundary Expands and Contracts.......................................................... 13 II. 9. The Home of Mu’taz Ibrahim Khalil Hijazi.................................................... 14 II. 10. Concrete As a Remover of Space................................................................... 15 II. 11. Domesticity Set in Stone............................................................................... 16 III. RESEARCH WRITINGS: The Theories of Division In The West Bank ......................................................... 17 III. 1. Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native................................. 18 III. 2. Tracing and Racing Zionism with Patrick Wolfe.......................................... 19 III. 3. The Story of Palestinian Labourers on Israeli Settlements............................ 20 III. 4. Eyes of the Skin............................................................................................. 21 III. 5. Only A Criminal Can Solve The Crime................................................................ 22 III. 6. An Interview With Jorge Otero-Pailos.......................................................... 23 III. 7.Dali and Le Corbusier Conquer New York.................................................... 24 III. 8. Architecture Where The Desire May Live..................................................... 25 III. 9. The Green Line: Potency, Absurdity, And Disruption Of Dichotomy............ 26 III. 10. Biopolitics And Checkpoint 300 In Occupied Palestine............................... 27 III. 11. Still Life Paintings of Anne-Françoise Couloumy......................................... 28 III. 12. The Cage..................................................................................................... 29 III. 13. Animals...................................................................................................... 30 III. 14. Decolonizing The Mind.............................................................................. 31

33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64

V. INDEX: Visual Imagery Collected For Supplementary Research....................................... 65 VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY: List of Academic Sources....................................................................................... 75 2

THE THIN GREY LINE:

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THESIS STATEMENT:

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This thesis investigates the psychological ramifications of Palestinian laborers employed to construct illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Specifically, this thesis will ask three main questions: (a) How do political and military processes collide with domestic tropes? (b) In what ways are Palestinian laborers subjected to control and dehumanization? (c) Is decolonization possible in the context of illegal settlements in the West Bank?

The sum of these inquiries will culminate with a final project that speculates whether it is possible for Palestinians to imagine a state of domesticity that Israeli's currently live with; Or simply put: Even in dreams, can Palestinians dream freely of an ideal domicile?

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RESEARCH DRAWINGS: The Lines of Division In The West Bank

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- 0.10m Israeli Settlement: Lawn Sprinkler System

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- 6.50m West Bank: Settlement Drainage Outlet

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A Centre Retreats. Where Identity is Open Onto Plurality 1

Darwish, Mahmoud. “Who Am I, Without Exile?” The Butterfly’s Burden. Copper Canyon Press, 2006

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The structures of division are limited by the processes of architectural practicality. The impenetrable 6m concrete wall contains clandestine passages of drainage that connect two worlds as one. Flowing water defeats precast concrete. The water used within the wall for the maintainence of green manicured lawns seep through the soil and fill to eventually reach the other side: creating a small tear-shaped patch of hydrated ground. Grass and flowers grow as the margins of water advance past the wall.

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(Detail A)

Where East is Not Strictly East, And West is Not Strictly West 1

Darwish, Mahmoud. “Who Am I, Without Exile?” The Butterfly’s Burden. Copper Canyon Press, 2006

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The blossoming of flowers and grass occur where ever conditions are right, regardless of any man-made boundary or division. Water follows the forces of gravity; it can be diverted, but it has to end up somewhere. Since the natural operates beyond the realm of politics, it has the power to empower those that are constrained by politics.

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OCCUPIED Gilo Settlement

6 1.4

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PALESTINE Beit Jala, Bethlaham

Lines have metastasized in the West Bank. The lines hug each other atop the hills and establish settlements for Isreali settlers. Settlements are constantly visible to Palestinian towns beneath them, and new barriers are constructed to protect them from potential violent events. Although eighty percent of settlers claim that they moved for non-ideological reasons, the mechanisms of the settlements produce an ideological effect.

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King of the Hill

45cm

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Flight Path: Fruit Fly

+ 0.00m Israeli Settlement: Tiled Ground Floor

Concrete is the most used material in Palestine. Almost every wall is made from concrete. For Israel, concrete is used to create space while for Palestine, concrete is used to remove space. The wall between the living room of an Israeli Settlement and its backyard is a political boundary. Does a crack in a window mean a crack in the political boundary? Can a fruit fly that has flown into the kitchen of a settlement symbolize a break down of the wall?

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A Political Boundary In The Domestic

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The Facades Outside and Inside 7 Despite its overwhelming presence, concrete is never to be seen in the domestic interior and exterior of an Israeli Settlement. The exterior facade is mostly hidden behind a wall of Yellow Jerusalem Stone; a material that is symbolically embedded in the history and aesthetics of the locale. The interior surfaces are also facades that disguises the material beneath. A rupture of the facade may disturb the fragile stability of settlements in the West Bank. Weizman, Eyal. 2012. Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture Of Occupation. 1st ed. London: Verso.

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OCCUPIED Gilo Settlement

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Central Division Line

PALESTINE Beit Jala, Bethlaham s

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The Bethlaham Bypass

Where there are roads there are settlements. Highway 60 is the lifeline of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. New highways are constructed to shorten the distance between settlements and Israeli territories, as well as seperate settlers and Palestinians on the road to avoid conflict. These new roads traverse beyond the horizontal: they float above and dig into Palestinian grounds, which adds a new vertical dimension of division within the land.

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Towards South: Israeli Settlements

Towards North: Jerusalem

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AA + 3.00m Protective Fence Towards Beit Jala

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- 3.00m Bridge to Column Connection

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- 25.50m Line of Division: Israel-Palestine

“The Bethlaham Bypass”

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Gaps Between the Monoliths 7

Weizman, Eyal. 2012. Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture Of Occupation. 1st ed. London: Verso.

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Highway 60 is a monolithic arm stretched across the West Bank. Its levitation above Palestinian towns not only creates a third dimension of division, but also reveals a third dimensional boundary that is not easily defined. Further, this monolith cannot hold its own form without the need for thermal dynamic joints and tolerances. These segments are held together by 20cm gaps. How do we determine where Palestine ends and Israel begins?

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The Boundary Expands and Contracts 7

Weizman, Eyal. 2012. Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture Of Occupation. 1st ed. London: Verso.

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At critical points of the highway, Israel and Palestine are divided by milimeter thin folds of neoprene strip seal. This gap is continuously expanding and contracting as the structure heats and cools throughout the day. By scaling up our view, we find that these rigid borders cyclically grow and retreat. The metaphysical line requires large effort to hold its physicality. How would both sides react to an alterate understanding of the line that divides?

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+ 0.00m Israeli Settlement: Tiled Ground Floor

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The Home of Mu’taz Ibrahim Khalil Hijazi 2 Demolishing the homes of Palestinians that have attacked Israeli patrols has been a long standing occurrence in the West Bank. However, the removal of these homes also removes the physical evidence that such people existed, as well as the actions that led to their punishment. Israel has developed a new punishment called “concrete sealing” where the room of the accused, or the whole home is sealed by pouring concrete into the house. Delso, Rodrigo. 2018. “Concrete Punishment: Time, Architecture And Art As Weapons In The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”. Political Geography 66: 57-66.

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Concrete As a Remover of Space 2 The much needed quantities of concrete Palestine requires for construction are controlled by Israeli authorities. If a physical thing is defined by its function, then concrete for Palestine means the remover of space and life. Thousands of square meters of Palestinian homes have been flooded with concrete, which becomes neither space for both sides. The act functions as a memorial of crime and punishment for the West Bank. Delso, Rodrigo. 2018. “Concrete Punishment: Time, Architecture And Art As Weapons In The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”. Political Geography 66: 57-66.

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+ 0.00m Israeli Settlement: Tiled Ground Floor

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Domesticity Set in Stone 2 People are swiftly evicted and concrete pours quickly into the home. There is no time to pack, and most of the house remains as it was lived. Towels still hung and dirty dishes in the lay in the sink: the life of the home is set into stone. The result is an oddly beautiful, yet horrific act of violence which immortalizes an ordinary location with ordinary objects within it.

Delso, Rodrigo. 2018. “Concrete Punishment: Time, Architecture And Art As Weapons In The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”. Political Geography 66: 57-66.

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RESEARCH READINGS: The Theories of Division In The West Bank

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“Settler Colonialism and the Elimination of the Native” 3

Wolfe, Patrick. 2012. “Arabic Translation: Settler Colonialism And The Elimination Of The Native (2006)”. Settler Colonial Studies 2 (1): 226-252.

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Patrick Wolfe defines the current treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli government as a condition close to genocide, since historically the large majority of colonialism by foreign powers leads to an eventual action of accommodation for the native population it oppresses. Wolfe argues that the settler colonialism by Israel is a deeply rooted ideology that is fused with the creation of Israel itself: “As a member of a pioneering movement, I myself ‘made the desert bloom’ by uprooting the ancient olive trees of al-Bassa.”

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“Tracing and Racing Zionism with Patrick Wolfe” 4

Makdisi, Saree. 2017. “Elimination As A Structure: Tracing And Racing Zionism With Patrick Wolfe”. American Quarterly 69 (2): 277-284.

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The construction and dispersion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank are founded on this abstraction of Palestinians as a looming threat of violence and death, rather than human beings that wish to sustain their livelihoods and stories. “The settler state rests on incomplete foundations” argues that the spatial relationship between small Israeli settlements and the violent sea of the West Bank furthers the narrative that Israel’s reclamation of Palestinain land parallels the story of David and Goliath. Every settlement is a victory against the Other (the enemy). Through this, the Zionist ideology that justifies the construction of settlements relies also on the continued existence of the Palestinian threat: their reclamation of the land must never be complete, like a house that is never built to completion.

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Extract A

Extract B

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Extract C

“The Story of Palestinian Labourers on Israeli Settlements” 5

Vickery, Matthew. 2017. Employing The Enemy : The Story Of Palestinian Labourers On Israeli Settlements / Matthew Vickery.. London: Zed Books.

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Employing the Enemey traces the real human stories in the complex and ironic relationship between Israeli settlements and their reliance on Palestinain labourers for building. The book outlines the reality that anything built in the West Bank either does not gain approval by Israel, or will eventually be demolished in the near future; rather, one of the only things that gets to be built by Palestinian hands are Israeli settlements that removes their land. To gain work on a constuction site is a harsh daily struggle to line up in security checkpoints near new settlement boundaries in the dead of morning, as well as paying for workers permits by lucrative middlemen with Israeli connections. Most Palestinians that work in these sites live in shame, wishing for a better life with very little hope for change.

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“Eyes of the Skin”, 1996, Juhani Pallasmaa 6

Pallasmaa, Juhani. 1996. The Eyes of The Skin. Chichester: Wiley.

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"Our bodies and movements are in constant interaction with the environment; the world and the self inform and redefine each other constantly. The percept of the body and the image of the world turn into one single continuous existential experience; there is no body separate from its domicile in space, and there is no space unrelated to the unconscious image of the perceiving self." Pallasmaa's seminal text pontificates the constant engagement between one's body and architecture as a continuous construction of a self image. But what if our bodies were engaged with an architecture that demoralizes our identity? Can architecture dehumanize us?

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“Only A Criminal Can Solve The Crime”, 2021, Eyal Weizman and Christina Varvia 28

Weizman, Eyal, and Christina Varvia. 2021. "Only A Criminal Can Solve The Crime’". In Architects After Architecture, 1st ed., 195-203. New York: Routledge.

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Eyal Weizman and Christina Varvia discuss the orgins of Forensic Architecture and the various processes their team implores to uncover the truth behind various acts of injustice around the world. Weizman describes how the IDF mastered the tactics of domination through the both the construction and destruction of architecture. Architecture had become weaponized, literally. Weizman's process of investigation utilizes many of the technological tools that made some of the IDF's tactics possible, and discussed the morality of aestheticizing atrocitiees. Like Derrida, Weizman shares the common belief that we're at a point where things are never what they seem, and there are always several layers that require pulling back.

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“An Interview With Jorge Otero-Pailos”, 2018, Bryan E. Norwood 29

Norwood, Bryan E. 2018. "An Interview With Jorge Otero-Pailos". In Log 42: Disorienting Phenomenology, 1st ed., 137-144. New York: Anyone Corporation.

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The text above contains an enlightening discussion about phenomenology from its past to present relevance within the architectural discourse. One of the main talking points was to establish a modern definition of what phenomenology means, and how can it overcome its past shortcomings. In particular, Norwood critiques how phenomenology had lionized certain experiences and moods over others, and brings about discussions on the universalizing of experience and the limitations of such biases. Ultimately, the discussion came to discuss experiences and moods that are seldom touched upon in architecture, such as anxiety, fear, trauma, and so on. The text proposes our increase concern for unattractive experiences, so that architecture may respond to real human issues, rather than prompting up a universal experience that is no longer relevant to the zeitgeist.

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“Dali and Le Corbusier Conquer New York”, 1978, Rem Koolhaas 33

Koolhaas, Rem. 1978. "Europeans: Biuer! Dali And Le Corbusier Conquer New York". In Delirious New York, 1st ed., 235-243. New York: The Monacelli Press.

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Koolhaas's seminal book Delirious New York contains one of architecture's loudest attempts at striping away the myth of rationality off of its facade. The chapter that discusses the misadventures of Dali and Le Corbusier during thier shared time in the city acts is particularly important because its shows how a site can thoroughly affect even the strongest of minds. New York is one of the most populated cities of the world, but it is also one of the most empty. The city hails the ideology of rebirth and limitless possibilities, hence one could do anything to its physical fabric: to fantasize, to dream, to dominate it with pure desire and id.

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“Architecture Where The Desire May Live”, 1997, Jacques Derrida 32

Derrida, Jacques. 1997. "Architecture Where The Desire May Live". In Rethinking Architecture, 1st ed., 300-305. London: Routledge.

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Derrida’s re-analysis of architectural thinking through the lens of deconstruction offers insights into how the process of reverse construction can illuminate different layers of meaning beyond the physical artifact of a building. Derrida proposes an interpretation that coincides with post-modern thought: that architecture becomes a self-referential sign, which can only be thought of as inherently itself. This fundamentally begs us to rethink the relationship between man and home, questioning the presuposition that a home does not guarantee habitability. It takes a certain amount of mental effort to understand a building as a home, yet what does a home look like if one stopped attemping to see it as such?

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“The Green Line: Potency, Absurdity, And Disruption Of Dichotomy”, 2014, Mette Gieskes 31

Gieskes, Mette. 2014. "The Green Line: Potency, Absurdity, And Disruption Of Dichotomy In Francis Alÿs’S Intervention In Jerusalem". In The Imagined And Real Jerusalem In Art And Architecture, 1st ed.

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Gieskes’s interpretation of Francis Alÿs’s artistic interventions in Jerusalem provides an interesting counterpart to the stern weight of the tense region. The article demonstrates how Alÿs utilizes simple and absurdist methods to probe at complex relationships between Israel and Palestine. In particular, the author notes that the absurdity of a work suspends the definition of meaning, and prompts new interpretations of meaning that could not be fathomed prior to the conceptual transgressions made by the artist. Alÿs’s artwork that consisted of snails on a gallery wall - seperated by green lines that divided them into groups - was concerned with the dichotomy between barriers we can see versus those we cannot. Between each region of snails was an invisble corridor which allowed a few snails to cross the green line.

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“Biopolitics And Checkpoint 300 In Occupied Palestine”, 2018, Mark Griffiths and Jemima Repo 30

Griffiths, Mark, and Jemima Repo. 2018. "Biopolitics And Checkpoint 300 In Occupied Palestine: Bodies, Affect, Discipline". Political Geography 65: 17-25.

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Griffith’s article discusses how security checkpoints between Israel and Palestine further oppress groups of people through deliberate architectural designs that go against modern principles of ergonomics. Security checkpoints strive for uncomfortablity and discomfort, where architecture and human bodies contest upon each other. An important note in the text showed the phenomena of some Palestinians climbing the metal bars that separate the two lanes, in order to jump the busy queue. The desperation of migrant laborers is so high that Palestinians are forced to compete with their own people, in an economy that benefits those willing to turn their backs on other Palestinians.

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Still Life Paintings of Anne-Françoise Couloumy 23, 24

Couloumy, Anne-Françoise. 2017. Le Salon Au Chateau. Oil on Canvas. London: Cynthia Corbett Gallery

Couloumy, Anne-Françoise. 2017. L'entrée rue Renan 2. Oil on Canvas. London: Cynthia Corbett Gallery

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Anne-Françoise Couloumy's still life paintings offer a recapitulation of an artistic cliche we already know intimately. Yet, without populating the scenes that she paints with modern symbols or devices, the artwork seems fresh and within the times. Part of the modernity of the works are their anxious point of views: the viewer is placed at a height slightly too short for a normal adult. Further, the views that Couloumy places us in have a quality of anticipation - like a photograph that had been taken one second too early or too late. We are meant to gaze at something that has already left the frame of view Couloumy had set up. Nevertheless, the paintings aestheticize these trembling emotions to reinvigorate the cliche of the still life.

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“The Cage”, 1975, Martin Vaughn-James 25

Vaughn-James, Martin. 2013. The Cage. 2nd ed. Toronto: Coach House Books.

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"The Cage" is a 180-page graphic novel that explores the relationship between the architectural and the human psyche, where the crumbling of the inhabitant correlates with the crumbling of the home. Vaughn-James pushes the boundaries of how much human emotion can an inanimate domicile convey through its gradual destruction and escalating absurdism. The work brilliantly choreographs scenes of intense aesthetic achievement and emotional character, but does not specify the time and place of its protagonist. The home acts as a generic placeholder for a home, and does not point towards a specific contextual position. Perhaps the ultimate point of the work is to imply that architecture cannot help but imprison us, and by depicted its deconstruction can be begin to fathom the meaning of our bodies in relation to architecture.

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“Animals”, 2016, Oneohtrix Point Never 18

Oneohtrix Point Never. 2016. Oneohtrix Point Never - Animals (Director's Cut). Video.

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The music video of Oneohtrix Point Never's "Animals" depicts a minimalist set of a hotel room, in which a lone Val Kilmer gently sways at the edge of a queen-sized mattress. The cinematography moves through the room inhumanly - a gradual and constant dolly that places the view uncomfortably close to Kilmer's body - which immediately evokes qualities of voyeurism and omnipresence. Kilmer never moves from his spot, yet his gentle swaying combined with capitulated editing suggests dramatic movements within the space of his mind. The sparse room ironically fills up the space by allowing the smallest movements of Kilmer to speak loudly and suggest fantasies that we cannot see, yet are fully capable of sensing. Like Couloumy's paintings, the video utilizes angles and views to unsettle an anxious viewer, which the works view as a necessary prerequisite for the audience to grasp the art.

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“Decolonizing The Mind”, 2011, Alessandro Petti 17

"Precedents". 2021. DAAR (Decolonizing Art Architecture Research).

Petti, Alessandro. 2011. TEDxRamallah - Decolonizing The Mind. Video.

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Alessandro Petti's lecture on his continued work on decolonizing Palestine with the DAAR shone an important spotlight onto not only the complex situation architects must face within Palestine, but also the difficulty with defining what decolonization means for people of the West Bank. Petti suggests that three main thoughts of decolonization exist in the region: (1) the emotional destruction of oppressive structures, (2) the preservation of oppressive structures for the inhabitation of new regimes, and (3) the transformation of oppressive structures into positive spaces for community needs. Petti's example of Oush Grab highlighted the challenges of implementing (3) because a true consensus of what the community needs is rarely reached. Instead, Petti proposed a non-human project that transformed the fort into a nesting ground for migration birds.

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FINAL PROJECT:

The site of 53 Ha-Gilgal, located in the newest limb of the Ma'ale Adumim settlement, is an extraordinary plot of land. Amidst an endless wall of yellow stone villas, each allotted with a portion of paradise on Earth, a sudden gap where a beautiful home should be is a striking sight to behold. The powerful absence of a home - a gap in the idyllic settlement - elicits chatter between the Palestinian men employed on the work sites across the road. What could have happened to that plot of land? The men speculate. Last night, I dreamed of that empty lot again. Except, it was anything but empty. It was mine. The house looked a lot like the one I'm currently working on, but it was stretched out in some places and compressed in others to fit the dimensions of the lot. I had a home, a family I didn't know, and perhaps I even had a future. The pristine green lawn. A soccer ball that did have to get passed down to me. Pink and yellow flowers I'd never seen in the flesh. But I couldn't help but feel watched, as if there were eyes looking at me in the empty armchair. I thought I hear the faint sounds of my grandmother, but I think it was just the wind. The stone tiles started to seem like they were suspended, rather than fixed firmly onto the grout work. The floor boards squeaked as if they were wet with liquid. The sound of an icetray dropping on the kitchen floor was deafening loud, like a wall being knocked down. I felt the ground shake with force and the chandeliers sway above me.

A sweet voice called to me. Dinner's ready. But by the time I could walk to the dining room, there was nobody there. The voice belonged to nothing. The chandelier dropped, and I was pushed onto the floor by a shockwave. I'm covered with whipped cream and sponge cake. I think it's supposed to be my birthday. Before I knew it, I was laying in a pool of sand and dirt. The sliding windows had become jammed with sand, and the breeze has turned cool and pale. I walked back to the master bedroom, which is now covered with dark water and floating pieces of plastic and wood. Everything had become wrapped in plastic sheets and the sun was beginning to set. My legs felt heavy and slow in the water. I don't rememeber the last time I saw a body of water. I had to move upstairs. I rushed up the unstable stairs, that were both wet with liquid and heavy with sand, into the attic above. I pressed hard on the door of the attic, as if it had been glued shut long ago. As the door swung inward, I fell hard onto the ground. I helped myself up by holding a cold bar next to me, and as I stood I could see that I was grasping onto a metal door with a space beyond it. The roof had caved into the space behind the door I could not open; and underneath the bright red roof tiles and insulation boards, I could see my father's pray mat in the pale moon light - pointing towards the West. Then, my alarm rang and I prepared for work.

I began to see things happening to the house, with each room containing a event that I didn't want to look at. The room that resembled an office was in disarray from a crack of the window. Gusts of wind blew strongly into the room, causing dozens of paper to twirl in the room. The piano room behind me let out the terrible sound of a stone crashing through thew glass pane. Dead leaves and brown sand began drifting into the room.

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"Last Night, I Dreamed Of That Empty Lot Again"

25km

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Jenin

Tubas

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Tulkarm

Nablus Qalqilya

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Salfit

Jericho

EAST JERUSALEM

SITE

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BETHLAHEM

AREA A: Full civic and security control by Palestine Authority

Hebron

AREA B: Joint security control by Israel-Palestine forces

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AREA C: Full civic and security control by Israel

SITE - State of Palestine - Present Day, 2021

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5km

35*19’00’’E

35*18’30’’E

35*18’00’’E

35*17’30’’E

35*17’00’’E

35*16’30’’E

35*16’00’’E

35*15’30’’E

SITE

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Highway 1 Highway 1

12 minute drive to Jerusalem, Israel

PALESTINE alZa’im, Jersusalem

3.85km length OCCUPIED Ma’ale Adumim

PALESTINE al-Eizariya, Jersusalem

PALESTINE Jahalin, Jersusalem

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Highway 1

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PALESTINE Abu Dis, Jersusalem

5.87km to Jerusalem, Israel

1.63km width

SITE - Ma’ale Adumim Settlement - Founded in September 21st, 1975

40m

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New Developments (Under Construction)

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SITE 53 Ha-Gilgal St

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Children's Park

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SITE - Mitspe Nevo District - Expanded in the 1990s

m 5.5

10cm

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4:30AM Settlement Security Checkpoint Palestinian workers climb the metal bars to cut the queue for passage into settlements, seeking construction opportunities

PRE-CONSTRUCTION

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2:05PM Settlement Construction Site Grabbing the protruding rebar for balance, at the edge of the first floor slab

CONSTRUCTION

Bright Hot Afternoon Sunlight The piercing afternoon sun heats the steel rebars at the construction site, while blistered fingers clasp them for balance

3:35PM Settlement Children’s Park Israeli Children hold on to the metal bars of a jungle gym, chasing each other in a game of cops and robbers

POST-OCCUPANCY

Afternoon Sunlight Filtered Through Leaves Aboves The park is populated with large trees, providing comfortable shade during the bright afternoon playtime.

SITE - The Affect of Materials 8 - Current Day 36

Griffiths, M. and Repo, J., 2018. Biopolitics and checkpoint 300 in occupied Palestine: Bodies, affect, discipline. Political Geography, 65, pp.17-25.

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Dim Fluorescent White Lighting Dark environment before dawn, anxious bodies constantly bumping into one another, fighting for space

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28.50m length

51 Ha-Gilgal st

North

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SITE

53 Ha-Gilgal St

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+2.00m

+1.50m

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+0.50m

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55 Ha-Gilgal st

SITE - 53 Ha-Gilgal - Current condition

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(Detail A)

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INDEX of Site Conditions* (Detail A) A Noticable Gap: Driving around the streets of the settlement, the landscape beyond is rather difficult to encounter since houses endlessly abutt one another: A wall within the wall. The disappeared home punctures the wall and reveals the valleys of the West Bank. The condition of the empty lot - the scattering of abandoned materials and trash - justapose the idyllic cleanliness of the Ma’ale Adumim Settlement.

*All images are sourced online from Google Maps

1.0m

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North

Detail C

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Property Boundary

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Detail C

Traces of the lost home are scattered across the slope of the site: crushed concrete blocks, bent rebars, fallen tiles, and remnants of concrete foundations. From the edge of the street, the implication of the ghosted driveway is imprinted on the pedestrian footpath, where the car port would have been located. Despite its disappearance, the house still affects the street of the settlement.

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INDEX of Site Conditions (Detail B) The Ghosted Driveway

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60cm

Property Boundary

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10cm

30cm

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30cm

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Stone Tile Wall Elevation

Israeli settlements adamantly disguises concrete surfaces, most often with Yellow Jerusalem Stone tiles that reference traditional Israeli architecture. The consistancy of this tile being used in settlements is not only an aesthetic implementation, but literally attempts to expand Jerusalem beyond the city itself, across the West Bank. The missing home reveals the concrete structure beneath the property boundary wall it shares with the neighboring homes on either side of it.

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INDEX of Site Conditions (Detail C) The Naked Backside:

40cm

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North

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Through small gaps in the timber boundary fence, we can vaguely observe rhythms of rebars piercing through the dirt slope. Some rebars are straight, while others are bent and damaged. The existence of these thin steel bars suggest the possibility that a concrete foundation remains intact below the dirt. We can understand an invisible home with these fragments of structure. I know that this is an intersection of a corner. The wall heads North one way and West the other way, enclosing a room that faces the backyard.

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INDEX of Site Conditions (Detail D) Evidence of Structures

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Property Boundary

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+ 20m drop to Palestinian ground

The SITE: The Construction - Completion - and Post-Occupancy of a Settlement Home Sitting on the edge of a new Israeli settlement, the site of this thesis is confined to a single property of a four bedroom settler home. Like many settlements, the houses are a stark juxtaposition to the surrounding Palestinian context - a fortress of identical homes atop of a hill.

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(Detail B)

10cm

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Property Boundary

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Property Boundary

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+ 3.60m

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The SITE: The Construction - Completion - and Post-Occupancy of a Settlement Home The idyllic visage of the home was built by the hands of Palestinian men: Concrete mixers, formwork builders, brick layers, plasterers, plumbers, electricians, painters, gardeners, and many more. During every step of the construction process, the traces of the men that built this home are not only accidentally inflicted onto the skeleton of the home, but perhaps certain traces are made through deliberate actions by these nameless men.

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(Detail A)

51 Ha-Gilgal st

15.50m width

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North

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28.50m length

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55 Ha-Gilgal st

SITE - 53 Ha-Gilgal - Basement Floor Plan

Detail A - Sunrise - The Tulip Garden

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Perspective 1

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50cm

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White Fence (To Be Completed)

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Detail A - Ideal The Tulip Garden The Yellow tulip garden is an important domestic passion of the house wife of this particular home. The bright yellow hue of the flower bulbs match perfectly with the Yellow Jerusalem stone facade of her new home. She makes additional effort to constantly remind her children not to play soccer too close to the tulips, or else they shall expect a fury of fire from their formidable mother. She tells her husband that they should install a protective white fence so that the kids won’t accidentally hurt her flowers with their ball 46

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50cm

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Detail A - Sabotaged The Tulip Garden The housewife is devastated. Over the course of one week, the glorious Yellow Jerusalem Stone tiles started to fall off of the adhesive grout, which have damaged the tulip garden beneath her bedroom window. The void surfaces where the stone tiles once were reveal cracks in the grout - suggesting that the mixture had been tampered with. Not even the recently erected white picket fence could protect her beautiful flowers.

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Perspective 1

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But I couldn't help but feel watched, as if there were eyes looking at me in the empty armchair. I thought I hear the faint sounds of my grandmother, but I think it was just the wind. The stone tiles started to seem like they were suspended, rather than fixed firmly onto the grout work. The floor boards squeaked as if they were wet with liquid.

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Detail B - Sunrise The Master Bedroom

30cm

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(Detail B-1)

+ 3.60m

+ 3.25m Balcony Drain Pipe (Sabotaged)

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(Detail B-2)

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+ 1.20m Tie Rod Sealing (Sabotaged)

+ 0.45m Tie Rod Sealing (Detail B-3)

Detail B - Sabotaged The Master Bedroom On the other side of the Tulip Garden rests the parents of the home. Their Master Bedroom is immersed in natural light during all times of the day, thanks to the large wide windows that face the open valleys beyond their backyard. Without their knowledge, their bedroom is under going severe water damage everytime the house wife hoses down the balcony above the room, which needs to be cleaned every few days because of the sand and dust particles carried by the wind. 49

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+ 3.60m Balcony Floor

+ 3.25m Balcony Drain Pipe (Sabotaged)

Detail B-2 - Sabotaged Leaky Drain Pipe The dust infused water runs into the drain at the edge of the balcony, seemingly eliminated from the domain of the home. At the rounded connecting joint between the vertical and horizontal pipes, the connector has been sabotaged during its installation - allowing small drops of water to leaky out of the gaps between pipes. The leak runs along the walls of the concrete structure and the edges of the plasterboard of the bedroom. Overtime, mold begins to grow in the membrane of the board. 50

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7cm

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Hung Photo Frames

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+ 1.20m Tie Rod Sealing (Sabotaged)

Detail B-3 - Sabotaged Sealing Secrets After the temporary formwork had been removed, the tie rod holes of the concrete wall required filling with grout. During the process of sealing these gaps in the wall, the labourer pauses at one of the holes, staring into the dark shadow of the void within. He recalls a story of when men had a secret that they cannot confess to any living soul, they would go into the mountains and whsiper the secret into the hole of a tree. Once the secret had been said, you cover the hole with mud - so that the secret lives on as long as the tree. The labourer leaves one of these holes unsealed, carefully smoothened dark mud so that it goes unnoticed by others. 51

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+ 2.00cm Thick Plasterboard

7cm

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+ 0.45m Tie Rod Sealing

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+ 0.15cm Skirting Board (Damaged)

Detail B-4 - Sabotaged The Dream Intruders The Yellow tulip garden is an important domestic passion of the house wife of this particular home. The bright yellow hue of the flower bulbs match perfectly with the Yellow Jerusalem stone facade of her new home. She makes additional effort to constantly remind her children not to play soccer too close to the tulips, or else they shall expect a fury of fire from their formidable mother. She tells her husband that they should install a protective white fence so that the kids won’t accidentally hurt her flowers with their ball 52

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Detail D - Sunrise - The Leak

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Perspective 1

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28.50m length

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North

51 Ha-Gilgal st

G D

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15.50m width

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55 Ha-Gilgal st

SITE - 53 Ha-Gilgal - Ground Floor Plan

Perspective 1

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The sound of an icetray dropping on the kitchen floor was deafening loud, like a wall being knocked down. I felt the ground shake with force and the chandeliers sway above me. The scattering of the cube across the marble floor looked eeriely familiar. The way they had fallen and lay sideways on the ground. I began to see things happening to the house, with each room containing a event that I didn't want to look at.

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Detail D - Midday The Kitchen

Perspective 1

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Detail E - The Office (From Left to Right) 1. Amendment No. 163 - Revoking child allowances from parents of children convicted of security offenses

5. Amendment No. 10 - Land (Acquisition for Public Purposes) Ordinance

2. New Law - "Anti-Terror" (Counter-Terrorism) Law

6. Amendment No. 20 to the Youth (Care and Supervision) Law - Fines on parents of stone-throwers

3. Amendment No. 120 to the Israeli Penal Code - Mandatory minimum sentences for convicted stone-throwers

7. PA Press Release - Amazon discrimination towards Palestinian Territories

4. Amendment No. 4 - "Negev Individual Settlements" - Negev Development Authority Law

Perspective 1

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Detail F - Afternoon The Piano Room

Detail G - Sunset - The Dining Room

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Perspective 1

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Detail H - Sunset - The Obelisk

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Perspective 1

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Detail I - Sunset - The Balcony

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Perspective 1

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Perspective 1

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I walked back to the master bedroom, which is now covered with dark water and floating pieces of plastic and wood. Everything had become wrapped in plastic sheets and the sun was beginning to set. My legs felt heavy and slow in the water. I don't rememeber the last time I saw a body of water. I had to move upstairs.

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Detail B - Sunset The Bedroom Flooded

Detail K - Night - The Attic

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Perspective 1

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Detail L - Sunrise - Beyond The Wall

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INDEX:

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Visual Imagery Collected For Supplementary Research

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(Column B)

(Column C)

(Column D)

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(Column A)

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INDEX of Architectural Defects* (A) Moldy Plasterboard: Unwanted moisture trapped in the hidden vacuum between structure and plaster, causing darkened spots that grow rapidly. (B) Garden Vandalism: Broken pots, crushed flowers, and fractured fences are dramatic acts of violence upon the pure pleasures of gardening. (C) Natural Intruders: Weeds can grow just about anywhere. Water trapped within walls birth weeds that can pierce through skirting boards. (D) Falling Tiles: Poor grout mixtures, broken seals, and heat expansion can casue exterior tiles to crash below.

*All images are sourced online from unknown authors (unless referenced otherwise)

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(Detail B)

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INDEX of Site Conditions* (Detail B) The Ghosted Driveway: Traces of the lost home are scattered across the slope of the site: crushed concrete blocks, bent rebars, fallen tiles, and remnants of concrete foundations. From the edge of the street, the implication of the ghosted driveway is imprinted on the pedestrian footpath, where the car port would have been located. Despite its disappearance, the house still affects the street of the settlement.

*All images are sourced online from Google Maps

talk we until over be not

(Detail C)

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INDEX of Site Conditions* (Detail C) The Naked Backside: Israeli settlements adamantly disguises concrete surfaces, most often with Yellow Jerusalem Stone tiles that reference traditional Israeli architecture. The consistancy of this tile being used in settlements is not only an aesthetic implementation, but literally attempts to expand Jerusalem beyond the city itself, across the West Bank. The missing home reveals the concrete structure beneath the property boundary wall it shares with the neighboring homes on either side of it.

*All images are sourced online from Google Maps

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(Detail D)

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INDEX of Site Conditions* (Detail D) Evidence of Structures: Israeli settlements adamantly disguises concrete surfaces, most often with Yellow Jerusalem Stone tiles that reference traditional Israeli architecture. The consistancy of this tile being used in settlements is not only an aesthetic implementation, but literally attempts to expand Jerusalem beyond the city itself, across the West Bank. The missing home reveals the concrete structure beneath the property boundary wall it shares with the neighboring homes on either side of it.

*All images are sourced online from Google Maps

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INDEX of Real Homes in Ma'ale Adumim 26

"Hameitzadim - Ma'aleh Adumim, Israel". 2021. RE/MAX Israel. https://www.remax-israel.com/en/listings/house/for-sale/maaleh-adumim/831811001-314.

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(A) The Home Office: Unwanted moisture trapped in the hidden vacuum between structure and plaster, causing darkened spots that grow rapidly. (B) The Living Room: Broken pots, crushed flowers, and fractured fences are dramatic acts of violence upon the pure pleasures of gardening. (C) The Dining Room: Weeds can grow just about anywhere. Water trapped within walls birth weeds that can pierce through skirting boards. (D) The Bed Room: Poor grout mixtures, broken seals, and heat expansion can casue exterior tiles to crash below.

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INDEX of Real Homes in Ma'ale Adumim 27

"Nofei Haselah – Ma'aleh Adumim, Israel". 2021. RE/MAX Israel. https://global.remax.com/en/listings/israel/garden-apartment/for-sale/maaleh-adumim/831811001-326.

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(1)

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(2)

(3)

(Column B)

(Column C)

(Column D)

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(Column A)

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INDEX of Real Homes in Ma'ale Adumim* (A) The Home Office: Unwanted moisture trapped in the hidden vacuum between structure and plaster, causing darkened spots that grow rapidly. (B) The Living Room: Broken pots, crushed flowers, and fractured fences are dramatic acts of violence upon the pure pleasures of gardening. (C) The Dining Room: Weeds can grow just about anywhere. Water trapped within walls birth weeds that can pierce through skirting boards. (D) The Bed Room: Poor grout mixtures, broken seals, and heat expansion can casue exterior tiles to crash below.

*All images are sourced online from unknown authors (unless referenced otherwise)

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(1)

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(2)

(3)

(Column F)

(Column G)

(Column H)

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(Column E)

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INDEX of Real Homes in Ma'ale Adumim* (E) The Hobby Room: Unwanted moisture trapped in the hidden vacuum between structure and plaster, causing darkened spots that grow rapidly. (F) The Outdoor Room: Broken pots, crushed flowers, and fractured fences are dramatic acts of violence upon the pure pleasures of gardening. (G) Compression Spaces: Weeds can grow just about anywhere. Water trapped within walls birth weeds that can pierce through skirting boards. (H) Odd Arrangements: Poor grout mixtures, broken seals, and heat expansion can casue exterior tiles to crash below.

*All images are sourced online from unknown authors (unless referenced otherwise)

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“The Fruit Harvest”, 1899, Paul Gauguin 20

Gauguin, Paul. 1899. Rupe Rupe (The Fruit Harvest). Oil on canvas.

"Rupe Rupe (The Fruit Harvest)". 2015. #Gauguinsounds.

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"In the case of The Fruit Harvest, completed a little later, this gold-colored ground runs through the whole picture. It glows like a divine aura around the heads of the three female figures, and in the lower half of the picture intermingles with nature as warm patches of sunlight. Even if the carefully balanced composition gives rise to a rhythm of light and dark, of vertical accents and various rounded forms, the overall impression is one of stillness and great calm. The existential questions “Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?” do not present themselves here. With The Fruit Harvest, Gauguin has created a place where such concerns are no longer relevant—a vision of the paradise that, despite feverish searching, he never found in his lifetime." 21

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Darwish, Mahmoud. “Who Am I, Without Exile?” The Butterfly’s Burden. Copper Canyon Press, 2006

Delso, Rodrigo. 2018. “Concrete Punishment: Time, Architecture And Art As Weapons In The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”. Political Geography 66: 57-66.

Wolfe, Patrick. 2012. “Arabic Translation: Settler Colonialism And The Elimination Of The Native (2006)”. Settler Colonial Studies 2 (1): 226-252.

Makdisi, Saree. 2017. “Elimination As A Structure: Tracing And Racing Zionism With Patrick Wolfe”. American Quarterly 69 (2): 277-284.

Vickery, Matthew. 2017. Employing The Enemy : The Story Of Palestinian Labourers On Israeli Settlements. London: Zed Books.

Pallasmaa, Juhani. 1996. The Eyes of The Skin. Chichester: Wiley.

Weizman, Eyal. 2012. Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture Of Occupation. 1st ed. London: Verso.

""Anti-Terror" (Counter-Terrorism) Law". 2021. Adalah.Org. https://www.adalah.org/en/law/view/598.

""Negev Individual Settlements" - Negev Development Authority Law - Amendment No. 4". 2021. Adalah.Org. https://www.adalah.org/en/law/view/500.

"Fines On Parents Of Stone-Throwers - Amendment No. 20 To The Youth (Care And Supervision) Law - Adalah". 2021. Adalah.Org. https://www.adalah.org/en/law/view/595.

"Land (Acquisition For Public Purposes) Ordinance - Amendment No. 10 - Adalah". 2021. Adalah.Org. https://www.adalah.org/en/law/view/502.

"Mandatory Minimum Sentences For Convicted Stone-Throwers - Amendment No. 120 To The Israeli Penal - Adalah". 2021. Adalah.Org. https://www.adalah.org/en/law/view/593.

"News Agencies : PA Demands Amazon To Halt Discriminatory Practice Toward Palestinians". 2021. Group 194. https://group194.net/english/article/65655.

"Revoking Child Allowances From Parents Of Children Convicted Of Security Offenses - Amendment No. - Adalah". 2021. Adalah.Org. https://www.adalah.org/en/law/view/594.

Al Jazeera English. 2014. Rebel Architecture - The Architecture Of Violence. Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybwJaCeeA9o.

"Precedents". 2021. DAAR (Decolonizing Art Architecture Research). http://www.decolonizing.ps/site/foreword/.

Petti, Alessandro. 2011. TEDxRamallah - Decolonizing The Mind. Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcfdqtOq6IA&ab_channel=TEDxTalks.

Oneohtrix Point Never. 2016. Oneohtrix Point Never - Animals (Director's Cut). Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UztCDH2xuQ&ab_channel=OneohtrixPointNeverOneohtrixPointNeverVerified.

Gauguin, Paul. 1899. Rupe Rupe (The Fruit Harvest). Oil on canvas. Moscow: The State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts

"Rupe Rupe (The Fruit Harvest)". 2015. #Gauguinsounds. http://app.gauguin.fondationbeyeler.ch/en/ruperupe.