Mediterranean rehabilitation experiences

Expériences de réhabilitation méditerranéennes Experiencias de rehabilitación mediterráneas Mediterranean rehabilitation experiences

Expériences de réhabilitation méditerranéennes Experiencias de rehabilitación mediterráneas Mediterranean rehabilitation experiences

THIS PROGRAMME IS FINANCED

BY THE EUROPEAN UNION

Euromed

Euromed heritage

Agencia española De cooperación internacional

Col·legi d’aparelladors I arquitectes tècnics de barcelona

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Consortium RehabiMed: Project manager: Xavier CASANOVAS Members: Ministry of Communications and Works Department of Antiquities of Cyprus Person in charge: Evi FIOURI Bureau Culturel de l’Ambassade de la République Arabe d’Egypte en France Supreme Council of Antiquities, Egypte Persons in charge: Mahmoud ISMAÏL et Wahid Mohamed EL-BARBARY Col·legi d’Aparelladors i Arquitectes Tècnics de Barcelona, Espagne Person in charge: Xavier CASANOVAS Ecole d’Avignon, France Person in charge: Gilles NOURISSIER Centre Méditerranéen de l’Environnement Marrakech, Maroc Person in charge: Moulay Abdeslam SAMRAKANDI Institut National du Patrimoine, Tunisie Responsable: Mourad RAMMAH Director: Xavier CASANOVAS Development and following-up of the articles: Oriol ROSELLÓ Mónica ALCINDOR Fanny ABELA Mónica FRAGUAS Development and following-up of the files: Jessica FERRER Vanessa RODRIGUEZ

Network of experts for the RehabiMed consotium: Cyprus Persons in charge: Irene HADJISAVVA y Eliana GEORGIOU Constantinos ALKIDES Evi FIOURI Maria GEORGIOU D. IRWIN M. KRITIOTIS Diomedes MYRIANTHEAS Athina PAPADOPOULOU Eleni PETROPOULOU Chrysanthos PISSARIDES Eleni PISSARIDOU Artemis PSEFTODIAKOS Egypt Person in charge: Dr. Mahmoud El Alfy Wahid Mohamed EL-BARBARY Assad NADIM Spain Person in charge: Jessica FERRER Martí ABELLA Hassid BOZZO Valme CABALLERO DE INÉS Juan CANTIZANI Joan CASANOVAS Oriol CUSIDÓ Jose Luís GARCIA GRINDA Ramon GRAUS Carla HABIF Gerhard LOCH José Manuel LOPEZ OSORIO Araceli MANZANO

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Tanja MARTINOVIC Carlota NAVARRO Joan PONS Oriol ROSELLÓ Teresa ROVIRA Julia SCHULZ Ángel UZQUEDA Montserrat VILLAVERDE Eduardo ZURITA France: Person in charge: René GUERIN Candice ASSOUAD Jean SIRI MOROCCO Person in charge: Abdellatif MAROU Faissal CHERRADI Abderrahim KASSOU Quentin WILBAUX Tunisia Person in charge : Mourad RAMMAH Lazhar BADREDDINE Naceur BAKLOUTI Radhia BEN MBAREK Amor BOUZGUENDA Hmed GDAH Samer HAROUN Ghouila JIHÈNE Taha KHÉCHINE Noureddine LOGHMARI Leyla MARZOUKI Dhafer MNARI Experts collaboradors in other Mediterranean countries: Algeria : Zouhir BALALOU Abdel Aziz BADJADJA Mousselmal BAHMED Mustapha BERDJANI Nawel YOUNSI Greece Nikolaos KALOGIROU Alkmini PAKA Israel Hagit ANTMAN Michael COHEN Tal EYAL Yael FUHRMANN-NAAMAN Moshe FUDAM Gabriel KERTIS Matti KUNES Haled LAPI Faina MILSTEIN Yael NAAMAN Avi PEREZ Yael ROSENTAL David SCHWARTZ Yaacov SHAFFER Yaara SHALTIEL-SINVANI Ram SHOEFF Tamar TUCHLER Eyal ZIV Italia Carlo ATZENI Carlo AYMERICH Vito CENTRONE Luisa DE MARCO Michelangelo DRAGONE Fabio FATIGUSO Giovanna FRANCO Giovanni FURIO Vito LAUDADIO Stefano F. MUSSO Manuela SALVITTI Antonello SANNA Jordania Omar AL-GHUL Ziad AL-SAAD

Ammar KHAMASH Fandi WAKED Lebanon Nathalie CHAHINE Youssef El KHOURY Antoine FISHFISH Roland HADDAD Oussama KALLAB Yasmine MAKAROUN Maya SAMAHA Palestina Dima ABU SOUD Nazmi AL-JUBEH Suad AMIRY Khaldun BSHARA: Hilmi MARAQA Farhat MUHAWI Ruba SALIM Syria Kamal BITAR Ghada RIFAI Kinan BOURGOL Fadi FARAFRAOUI Mohamad HAMAMI Mazen Sheikh ISMAIL ZADA Mohamad KHEIR HAIEK Bahaa OSO Nadim RAHMOUN Ahmad SHEHABI Turkey Nur AKIN Can BINAN Banu ÇELEBIOGLU Aynur CIFTÇI Serife TURK DERIN Irem YAYLALI Scientific Committee of the Rehabimed Project: Brigitte COLIN (UNESCO) Josep GIRALT (IEMed) Paul OLIVER (Oxford Brookes University) French translation: Michel LEVAILLANT ADDENDA English translation: Elaine FRADLEY ADDENDA Photographs: RehabiMed team Graphic design: Lluís MESTRES + Jordi RUIZ, Marta VILCHES Website: www.rehabimed.net © 2008 Col·legi d’Aparelladors i Arquitectes Tècnics de Barcelona for RehabiMed consortium Bon Pastor, 5 – 08021 Barcelona, Spain rehabimed@apabcn.cat ISBN : 84-87104-94-0

RehabiMed wish to encourage the reproduction of this work and the diffusion of its contents, with due mention of its source.

This project is financed by the Euromed Heritage programme of the European Union and by the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional (AECI).

The opinions expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union or its member states.

Presentation The first Euro-Mediterranean Conference of heads of state in 1995 saw the launch of the Barcelona process, an ambitious initiative ratified in 2005 at the Barcelona +10 Summit. The priority objectives are intended to seek socio-political, economic, cultural and environmental synergies from a regional and mutual development viewpoint. It was within this context that the Euromed Heritage Programme emerged in 1998, to contribute towards the improvement and protection of the diverse heritage shared by the different Mediterranean countries.

Traditional architecture, as an essential part of the cultural legacy generated by the collective imagination of the Mediterranean, plays an important part in the actions carried out by Euromed Heritage. In their first years, CORPUS and CORPUS Levant carried out an enormous task cataloguing and analysing the characteristics and typologies of traditional Mediterranean architecture, identifying the problems presented and suggesting the best alternatives for preserving it. RehabiMed wanted to continue this stage of analytical study to develop the essential ideas arising from the needs and urgent requirements detected by these projects – promoting effective, respectful renovation.

Today, in a globalized world, where economic and cultural uniformity mark the development criteria to be followed based on standard patterns, RehabiMed’s proposal is even more meaningful.

Renovation counteracts the idea of globalisation, and regional wealth, cultural diversity, different ways of life and particular local features become essential elements to be preserved.

There are many public and private initiatives aimed at recovering constructed heritage; some are oriented towards singular, monumental heritage, which we call Restoration, and others, as is the case with RehabiMed, are directed towards more modest, more abundant heritage with a greater presence in the territory, such as traditional architecture in historic town centres, rural villages and dispersed throughout the territory. This is what we call Renovation, always carried out to provide buildings – the majority of them without any kind of heritage protection – with a use. This activity involving action on what has been built presents a wide diversity of situations, if we look at the Mediterranean sphere. In European countries, renovation activity represents almost 50% of total activity in the sector, while in the countries of the south and east of the Mediterranean basin, this activity does not amount even to 10% of activity in the sector, despite its importance concerning economic development and the social cohesion of the population.

RehabiMed’s aim is to reinforce renovation activity and maintaining traditional Mediterranean architecture as a factor in sustainable (social, economic and environmental) development.

Achieving this objective will allow us to move forward with two historical challenges that may appear contradictory but from our point of view are perfectly compatible and complementary: firstly, contributing towards improving the living conditions of residents, who are the people who give meaning and life to this heritage; and, secondly, contributing to preserving the historical and cultural identity of Mediterranean peoples.

To achieve this aim, RehabiMed’s approach has been to work in three directions. Firstly, we have developed some strategic and methodological tools orientated towards renovation; alongside these, we have carried out various publicity actions and training for professionals in the spirit of the content of the tools developed; and, finally, we have launched four pilot operations with real renovation work to test, experiment and demonstrate the importance, possibilities and positive effects represented by good renovation policy.

The last three years have been marked by hard work, constructive debate, and shared experiences with experts, politicians, students and most of all with the people who are directly affected by our work, which has allowed us to achieve the objectives we set ourselves.

We think that the results are excellent and that we have laid a solid foundation for the further progress of rehabilitation that gives meaning to the tools created, the training given and the experiences carried out.

It is now my great pleasure to present this publication, bringing together a selection of Mediterranean rehabilitation experiences, the result of a long and intense process that began three years ago when we set out to look for rehabilitation experiences that illustrate the situation of this type of intervention in the various countries. Approximately 400 files were written to show the most varied situations and interventions in the rehabilitation of built heritage. The task of documenting these interventions has been by no means straightforward. Accessing existing information, during work and after completion, tended to take us a long way back in time. Furthermore, it came as a surprise to discover that this concept is something of a euphemism in many rehabilitation projects, which respond more to a process between the owner and the builder than to a rehabilitation project in the strict sense. This was a major limitation on our initial aim, calling for an extra effort on the part of the more than 200 experts in 15 countries who were involved in the task.

It is also true that these difficulties served as an incentive to create a database of good practices in the rehabilitation of traditional Mediterranean architecture. While monument restoration work is generally documented to a greater or lesser extent, rehabilitation continues as a rule to be immersed in undocumented heritage and does not serve as an opportunity to accord it the value it deserves.

The 400 experiences presented are singular cases with the twofold value of being interesting rehabilitation projects that have been addressed by means of the procedure they deserve, with recognition of their heritage value and due concern for traditional techniques and the social role they play for their inhabitants or users. This, then, is the threefold economic, social and environmental component that underpins the concept of sustainability.

All of this gives greater import to the initial objectives of the RehabiMed project and the interventions carried out. The existence of a Method helped governments committed to the theme to improve public and private interventions, by following the steps required to guarantee optimum results: prior knowledge or diagnosis, a detailed, considered project that is applied with respect and reasonable criteria, implementation using traditional materials, techniques and trades, and a series of proposals for future maintenance.

The interventions carried out are represented in two ways in this compilation of experiences. First, standardized files of the 400 projects present the experiences and are available for consultation on our website, www.rehabimed.net. Second, two examples from each country are explained in greater detail in the articles in this book. Both the texts published here and the standard files are structured according to two different scales that have been used throughout the RehabiMed project: city and territory, and individual buildings.

The articles examine the interventions by looking at the successive stages outlined by the RehabiMed Method. This illustrates how different realities share similar forms of intervention as regards the rehabilitation of traditional architectural heritage. These examples complement the RehabiMed Method and will serve to show politicians and experts in the various government agencies that they are not alone in their attempts to promote rehabilitation. The articles offer the best references for different specific realities and present the Method’s proposals, which are reasonable, easy to apply and a guarantee of successful results.

An analysis of the various experiences shows that 70% correspond to the rehabilitation of buildings and 30% to urban or territorial interventions. The vast majority of the buildings were dwellings, some of which (40%) maintain this function, while many (60%) have been turned into cultural or social amenities, or converted for tourism (20%). The city and territory experiences centred mostly (70%)

on an urban environment in large and medium-sized cities, with far fewer in a rural setting (30%). In all cases, the project prioritizes examples in southern and eastern countries in the Mediterranean, as it is in these areas that its important rehabilitation interventions are least known.

Choosing examples was a complex process, particularly when selecting cases for this publication.

It was important to strike a balance as regards topology and ensure the representativeness of the projects. Now the project is at an end; we are satisfied with the results and consider that the book offers a good cross section, despite differences in the quantity and quality of information, particularly as regards images. Nor can we forget the diversity of interlocutors with whom we have worked or the social realities of each place, from pleasant tourist destinations, to frenetic cities, to places in a situation of open warfare. All of this is reflected in our experiences.

Xavier Casanovas RehabiMed Project Manager Barcelona, 15 January 2008

The experience files are an essential complement to this publication. They are available for consultation at: www.rehabimed.net

Mediterranean rehabilitation experiences Rehabilitation experiences. Town & Territory The revitalization of a space of exchange Rehabilitation of the market square, Ghardaïa (Algeria)

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New central areas to enrich the city Renovation of the historic centre, Aglantzia (Cyprus)

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Promoting a commercial street Rehabilitation of El-Moez street in Islamic Cairo, Cairo (Egypt)

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Recovering a town’s forgotten values Urban rehabilitation, Bàscara (Spain)

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New life for a degraded district Improvement of unsanitary housing at Philonarde, Avignon (France)

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Knowledge of typology as a point of departure Rehabilitation plan for the upper town (Ano Poli), Thessaloniki (Greece)

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Renewal of historic district Rehabilitation of the Yemin Moshe district, west Jerusalem (Israel)

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Governing the transformation of a terraced landscape Rehabilitation of National Park “Cinque Terre”, Liguria (Italy)

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Traditional architecture as a tourist attraction Renovation of Khirbet Abu-jaber at Kan Zamman, Madaba (Jordan)

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A difficult recovery in a territory in conflict Refurbishment of square, Jdeidet Marjayoun (Lebanon)

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A new lease of life for an old market Rehabilitation of the Souk el Ghzel, Marrakech (Morocco)

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Urban recovery in an occupied territory Rehabilitation plan for Hebron’s historic centre, Hebron (Palestine)

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Improving public space to improve quality of life Rehabilitation of Qinnisreen street, Aleppo (Syria)

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The street as an element of citizen identity The rehabilitation of a heritage route in the medina, Kairouan (Tunisia)

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Adapting to new times and new requirements Plan to protect the historic centre, Safranbolu (Turkey)

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Rehabilitation experiences. Buildings The transformation of a large complex of buildings into a museum Renovation of the Hadj Ahmed Bey, Constantine (Algeria)

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Attention to the spaces and materiality of traditional architecture Rehabilitation of Annic de Rochefort house, Lefkara (Cyprus)

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Recovering architectural heritage, recovering craft skills Renovation of Bayt El Suhaymi, Cairo (Egypt)

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Creation of private housing in a district which is being renovated Refurbishment of three buildings on Carrer Carders, Barcelona (Spain)

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Creation of 5 apartments as part of an overall urban revitalization operation in the historic centre Rehabilitation of an apartment building in Rue Pomme de Pin, Toulon (France)

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Visibility of new techniques and attention to traditional features Rehabilitation of a house in Ano Poli, Thessaloniki (Greece)

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Reconstructing the facades as part of district renovation project Renovation of the Afifi house, Acre (Israel)

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Tradition and the contemporaneity of new uses: library and municipal services Rehabilitation of Corda House, Serrenti (Italy)

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The successive uses of an Ottoman school Renovation of the Al-Judah building, Irbid (Jordan)

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Reassignment in museum of an abandoned pre-industrial complex Refurbishment of the new Silk Museum, Bsous (Lebanon)

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Recovery of a traditional structure for hotel use Renovation of a “riad� in Ben Youssef, Marrakech (Morocco)

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Making improved living conditions a priority Renovation of the Hosh El-Hilu group of houses, Jerusalem (P.N.A.)

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Adaptation of an uninhabited townhouse as a study centre Rehabilitation of Dar Hammad, Aleppo (Syria)

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Successes and limitations of the transformation of a house into a hotel de charme Renovation of the Belhouane house, Tunis (Tunisia)

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The pioneering vision of a private project in the 1970s Refurbishment of the Salih Efendi house, Bodrum (Turkey)

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Rehabilitation experiences. Town & Territory

The revitalization of a space of exchange Rehabilitation of the market square, Ghardaïa (Algeria) Location: Ghardaïa market, M’Zab valley, Ghardaïa ksar, Algeria.

Objectives: Rehabilitation and revitalization of the market square.

Description of setting: High-density historic fabric with grouped buildings between party walls.

Technical team: Nemmour Hocine, project manager Client: Cultural Directorate of the wilaya (province) of Ghardaïa.

Contractor: ETP Affou, ETP Becis, ETP Boussada, ETP Behaz, ETP Habirech Construction period: 2002 Budget: 273.000.- € Surface area: 3,300 m2

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The revitalization of a space of exchange Rehabilitation of the market square, Ghardaïa (Algeria)

Distribution of the five towns that make up the Pentapolis.

Description of the area The M’Zab valley, county town of the Wilaya of Ghardaïa, is located at 600km of the capital city of south of Argel. It aggregates about 150.000 inhabitants distributed in the four communes.

It is set up in five Ksour: El Atteuf, Bounour, Melika, Beni Izguen and Ghardaïa which testify an unrepeatable millennium urbanistic and architectural know-how in the world.

M’zab oasis in the Algerian Sahara stands amid palm groves, one of five towns known as the Pentapolis, with Ghardaïa as the capital. The oasis was for centuries the refuge of a heterodox Islamic sect, the Ibadites, (an Islamic community that emerged in the late 7th century) who founded a group of settlements; the rich heritage let the Valley be classificated as national Cultural Heritage in 1971, and on the UNESCO worldwide list in 1982.

The oasis cities of M’Zab are famous thanks to the ingenious urbanistic system and to the architectural conception of an arid and inhospitable place.

Indeed, the territory is rigorously structured to capitalise the hydric ressources from the M’Zab Oued and to make it beneficial with an ingenious occupation of the space.

The architecture of M’Zab responds to a form of community living while respecting the structure of the family. It is a complex architecture produced by a way of understanding the world, a specific socio-economic and cultural context, and careful management of local resources.

The geomorphologic enclave in which the town is set, called alShabka, is a rocky meseta varying between 300 and 800 metres

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The valley in section

in height. The landscape is characterized by the strong river erosion of the Quaternary period that moulded the southern part, creating small hillocks separated by valleys.

The founding of the town dates back to 1053. Its location was chosen by the Ibadites due to its strategic position for defence and domination over the M’Zab wadi, a valley containing a sporadic watercourse and collecting water in the subsoil.

The first town extension was promoted by its inhabitants.

Basically a farm settlement, the town needed to meet other needs and therefore invited Jewish families to settle in the valley to carry out craft trades that would complement their own activity. This gave rise to the exchange of goods and products in the setting of the market. The offer made to new residents did involve certain conditions: they were forbidden to dig wells or own farmland.

The second extension took place in the 13th century, following the radial layout, with a slight tendency to extend to the northeast. In a third phase, growth spread westwards.

A description of the area would be incomplete without some mention of the peculiar climatic characteristics of a desert area, with very little rainfall, though heavy rain does occasionally fall, producing heavy spates that course down the wadi. The average winter temperature in January is 10º and, in July, about 37.6º.

The revitalization of a space of exchange Rehabilitation of the market square, Ghardaïa (Algeria)

Photo of Ghardaïa city

The diagnosis process The town’s architecture is a reflection of traditional knowledge, with a view to optimizing the systems used to manage water resources: either meteoric or collected from surface layers thanks to the force of gravity. It is the result of the work that has in the course of history modelled the landscape to make human life possible in this inhospitable place.

Ghardaïa, with 301,200 inhabitants, stands in the middle of an oasis. In the words of Pietro Laureano, it “is a human settlement in a harsh geographical situation that uses rare resources that are available locally in order to spark off a rising amplification of positive interactions and create a fertile, self-sustaining environmental niche which is in direct contrast with the unfavourable surroundings.”

In terms of production, farming is still the main activity based eminently, as in the past, on the production of large palm trees, supplemented by the production of fruit and vegetables which is, however, insufficient for local consumption. The town’s economy also depends on the important trading activity carried on by its inhabitants beyond the Valley.

Over three decades ago, the government decided to invest in improvements to the region, mainly the recovery and the settlement of shops and offices for the good management of the building industry and of the natural ressources. Moreover, M’Zab Valley took benefit of a second kind of classification as protected sector since 2005 which brings together the five Ksours as well as the palm grove. After this classification, State’s funds were mobilized to highlight the preservation and

Well in the center of the city

rehabilitation of all the cultural and natural components of the valley.

The town and its surroundings are defined by some key elements: The palm grove A veritable centre of commerce in the middle of the Sahara, the oasis provides the community’s primary resources. Its creation date back to the valley’s original sedentary settlers.

Eight kilometres of date palm plantation are watered by a complex hydraulic system, where the inhabitants carry out the cleaning each season. Gardens are tended in the shade of the palm groves, with fruit trees, cereals and vegetables, as well as ornamental plants. The production of date participate to provide raw materials for construction, branches for tools and, most of all, beams. It is also a place for rest and seasonal residence, especially during the summer, for the inhabitants of the Pentapolis whom most of them possess houses with gardens.

The town wall and gates A defensive system of watchtowers ensured sighting of potential enemies or spates in the rivers. Entrance to the town was through the gates situated in the town walls. Today, little remains of the wall, just a stretch of some 250 metres near the souk area. These remains mark the line between the third and other, subsequent extensions.

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The revitalization of a space of exchange Rehabilitation of the market square, Ghardaïa (Algeria)

Situation of the market within the town

Cemeteries In Ghardaïa, the cemeteries are situated at the edges. They are organized by families and comprise a vast platform surrounded by a low wall. Today, there is no space for new members, and new cemeteries have been built further out.

Wells Water is a high valor ressource, wells are public resource. There is at least one per district. The ground is extensively dotted with wells, as much as 60 m deep, to pump water by means of ingenious devices harnessed by animal traction (donkeys and dromedaries) and a large network of channels for irrigation.

The sound of the pulleys of the valley’s more than 3,000 wells is known as “the song of M’zab”. Here, water is valuable, and the times of consumption are measured scrupulously to ensure equitable distribution. Today, the old systems are being replaced and automated by motorized pumps.

Palms are beding close to the wells in order to take advantage of the water discharged by the users. Then the dates produced by the palms are shared between the inhabitants.

Religious buildings There are three types of religious buildings in the M’Zab Valley, with different functions. The towns’ mosques are generally situated at the highest point, topped by a towering minaret for calling the faithful to prayer. This minaret is characterized by its pyramid form. Its only decoration is the rigorous harmony of its structure.

Moussalas are abundant in the Ksar and are used both as prayer area and Coranic school.

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Floor plan of the market showing the location of the huita

In the cemeteries, amid the countless tombs, there are also mausoleums, mainly used on Fridays in winter to pray, read the Koran and distribute food during muslim celebrations. The palm groves also have their prayer areas which have no minaret.

Residential buildings The dwellings (the Diars: plurial of Dar) are built in terraced fashion in concentric circles around the mosque, as far as the town walls that embraced them. The houses, with their cubic form and lime washes of pastel blue, ochre and spice tones, topped by terraces, are similar in their dimensions and shape the dense built landscape. The traditional urban configuration seeks to preserve privacy and make the most of light, weighing up the orientation and height of the buildings. It is an austere, unadorned architecture that reflects the rigorous purism of the M’zab’s Ibadite community.

The ground floors of the buildings comprise local stone rubblework, and the structural floors are built of timber beams and palm branches. The roofs are walk-on terraces comprising a layer of earth with gravel and stones taken from the wadi, over which another layer of lime mortar is laid. Traditionally, to ensure watertightness during rainy periods, the occupants would periodically apply a lime grout to fill in cracks and keep water out. The disappearance of this practice is one of the main reasons for the deterioration of beams at certain points, calling for replacement or reinforcement.

The revitalization of a space of exchange Rehabilitation of the market square, Ghardaïa (Algeria)

Façades of the square

The market Whereas the mosque represents the sacred, the market is the public hub, a place for transactions, hustle and bustle, and meetings. Situated on the southern side, it is the only space with a regular shape.

Market square This rectangular square is one of the most picturesque spots of the town, where a daily market offers local craft products and modern manufactured goods, M’zab rugs, copper trays, etc.

Situated outside the town centre, in the past this square was accessible to foreigners for commercial transactions, though they were forbidden to visit the rest of the town.

A labyrinth of narrow streets leads from the square up to the town centre, though there is also a main street linking them, a place for shops and the sale of products such as fruit, vegetables and pulses.

The market square was created during the third expansion of Ghardaïa. It measures 75x44 m and is edged by two-storey buildings with a structure of porticos and irregular arches topped by stores and shops.

At the centre of the square is the huita, a space reserved for use by the djemaâ assembly. This assembly predates the colonial era, and dealt with issues related to the town during the market.

Other weak point in this market square were walls damaged due to cracking and the subsequent loss of material. Water leakages from the drainage network into the subsoil accelerated

the appearance of cracks and the degradation of the walls, a problem increased during spates due to the pressure of floodwater. The ground on which the market buildings stand is a stony stratum very close to the surface, removing any fears for their stability.

There was also a specific problem in some of the market premises with a phenomen of excavation uncontroled in the subsoil untaken by few merchants compromising the structure of the whole. As the buildings were made among party walls, there was a big risk of breakdown.

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The revitalization of a space of exchange Rehabilitation of the market square, Ghardaïa (Algeria)

Overview of the site

The objectives of rehabilitation The fundamental objective was to revitalize the market without making significant changes (material or imaterial) to the original structure or modifying its time-honoured system of functioning.

The intervention concentrated on three key aspects: - - -

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Rehabilitation of public space Improving the paving and the huita Infrastructures works Through, this action, few works will started: • Reparation and improve of piped drinking water, gas and repairs to the drainage system.

• Stabilization of the structures, consolidating and conserving as much of the existing fabric as possible.

Both the outer appearance and formal aspects were maintained in order to conserve local construction techniques.

• Intervention on the façades, but not to any of the interiors or roofs, as this was left to the owners. In the case of the façades, the objective was to halt degradation due to atmospheric agents and to eliminate additions made over the years by different owners that detract from the original appearance.

The façades before the intervention

The experts responsible for the project were well acquainted with the type of buildings in question: constructions dating from before the 19th century, principally comprising four materials: local stone, lime, timber and by-products of the palm trees that characterize the immediate surroundings.

The revitalization of a space of exchange Rehabilitation of the market square, Gharda誰a (Algeria)

Dressing and preparing the stone

Laying the stone setts

Action plan Managing the operation It was vitally important to organize the work correctly in order to avoid stopping commercial activity in the souk, for that, work was divided into sectors, successively closing off different areas to the public.

Efficient coordination of the site allowed many different tasks to be carried out at the same time. The intervention of four contractors meant that separate work zones could be created.

The covered area of the porticoes was accessible at all times, except for specific periods of less than 48 hours. The central area of the market, conversely, was closed for longer periods, particularly during repair work to the pipes crossing diagonally and the paving.

Implementation of the work One of the first tasks was to repair the drainage network. A trench was dug around the square into which all the installations for the souk premises were introduced. A PVC pipeline crossing the square diagonally now canalizes the drainage system running from the mosque and beneath the commercial street, under the new paving.

Other trenches were intoduced for the transit of gas mains and the telephone lines.

The electrical installation was also rewired. The overhead wires were all rationalized and concealed inside the porticos, without

Repair work to the pipes beneath the market square

recourse to chasing. Night lighting consisted of conventional light fittings attached to the walls with the sole purpose of allowing use of the square at night, without seeking to highlight any architectural features.

The central square was paved with hardwearing limestone, laid in the traditional fashion. It was dressed by hand, though the faces of the stones that would not be seen were cut using modern machinery for greater efficiency.

As regards the buildings, the main intervention work was centred on repairing the walls. Had to replaced material missing, take back once again the cracks using local material.

Only when the cracks were still widening were staples used to immobilize them. The pillars in the ground floor porticos were also consolidated and many of them had to be rebuilt using the original materials.

The lime mortar on the walls was removed and they were completely rerendered, acquiring the characteristic yellowish tone lent by the local sand. They were given a finish of two coats of lime wash.

The entire production process and the handline local material using during the works were controled. The lime mortar used was produced by hand craftsmans in wood-fired kilns and mixed on site by the builders.

The structural floors also required replacement materials, principally the beam fill of palm branches, which had been affected by leaks.

The shopkeepers are to be responsible for the maintenance of the roofs, which were not included in the intervention.

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The revitalization of a space of exchange Rehabilitation of the market square, Gharda誰a (Algeria)

The square at the beginning of 20th Century

Overview of the souk

Evaluation of the results The success of the intervention lies in the conservation of the character and original appearance of the market place from all point of vue.

The square continues to be the meeting point of numerous narrow streets housing all manner of activities. The intervention has however served to strengthen the social and unifying role that has always characterized the market.

It was decided to preserve the existing construction systems rather than introduce new ones that would be less compatible with existing materials and generate problems of incompatibility in the long term.

The most noteworthy part of this experience was the role of the agents who carried out the work. These were workshopschools where young people learned the trade under the supervision of an instructor. This project gave a new generation of professionals the opportunity to learn traditional techniques, keeping up and passing on knowledge that is often looked down on.

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Market after the intervention

New central areas to enrich the city Renovation of the historic centre, Aglantzia (Cyprus) Site: In the municipality of Aglantzia.

Objectives: The purpose of the project was the renovation of the urban environment, the improvement of social cohesion and the economic reactivation of the historic centre of Aglantzia. An attempt was also made to create a new central focus for commercial and cultural activities via a set of interventions to improve the traditional urban fabric and some disused quarries.

Budget: Approximately 5 million euros.

Area: 14,330m2

Description of the environment: The municipality of Aglantzia is a historic rural centre near the city of Nicosia which, although it has maintained its administrative autonomy, has come to form part of the conurbation of the capital.

Technical team: I. Ioackim and A. Loizas for the main activities including the Skali Cultural Centre, and other architects for the historic centre.

Developer: Aglantzia Town Council, with the support of the government of Cyprus through the Department of Town Planning and Housing.

Contructor: This is a complex operation, with multiple actions, and it is not possible to define a principal constructor.

Implementation period: 1989 -2005

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New central areas to enrich the city Renovation of the historic centre, Aglantzia (Cyprus)

Aglantzia location map.

Description of the area The historic core of Aglantzia used to be a rural centre near Nicosia which has been absorbed by the growth of the capital, coming to form an urban continuum with it. It is located on a site that is very interesting in terms of land relief. The historic core is flanked on its south by limestone cliffs. With the expansion of the area, this natural boundary, now divides the suburb in two.

The history of this town goes back to 1388 BC, as shown by the Bronze Age tombs discovered on the nearby Arona hill.

The current urban fabric of Aglantzia dates from the medieval period, when a settlement grew up alongside the road linking Nicosia with Larnaca. Between 1468 and 1472, before the period of Ottoman rule, Aglantzia served as a defensive zone for the Franks, who appreciated the area’s natural resources and good climate. For three centuries, until the end of the 19th century, the island of Cyprus was under Ottoman domination and this longlasting presence impregnated the local architecture with an eastern air. In 1878, Cyprus came under British domination. This period, neoclassic influences gave a new aspect to the traditional architecture. Cyprus gained its independence in 1960.

In 1974, Turkey invaded and still occupies the northern part of the island using as a pretext a coup d’état organised by the then Greek military Junta. As a result, almost 37% of the territory of the Republic of Cyprus remains under Turkish military occupation. The ceasefire line which separates the area between the occupied part and the areas of the Republic in which the Government of Cyprus exercises effective control, goes through the municipality of Aglantzia.

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Graphic description of the ceasefire line separating the occupied part from the areas which are under the effective control of the Government of the Republic of Cyprus (eastern side of Nicosia)

Before the Turkish invasion, Aglantzia was a small community with a population of about 9,000 inhabitants. During the last twenty years, its urban area has extended rapidly in all directions until the urban development of its western end blended into the outskirts of Nicosia.

New central areas to enrich the city Renovation of the historic centre, Aglantzia (Cyprus)

Cultural Center before the rehabilitation

Process of diagnosis The historic centre of Aglantzia was gradually becoming impoverished due to its physical deterioration: the ageing of the building stock, inadequate infrastructure and a chaotic road network. The traditional buildings showed a lamentable state of preservation, while a number of them were abandoned.

Moreover, the density of the urban network impedes car access and parking.

As a result of the Turkish occupation of the northern part of the island, many refugees established themselves in this municipality, feeling uprooted, something to be expected in such situations, i.e. of invasion and forcible expulsion from their ancestral homes and properties. Social marginalisation started to occur in the historic core of the municipality with the majority of its residents being elderly, immigrants or refugees – people with few economic resources and little possibility of revitalising the surroundings they lived in, with their own means.

In environmental terms, a key element of the territory was the urban vacuum represented in the area of the cliffs and the stone quarry, where material was extracted to be used in the building construction. The quarry was abandoned due to the introduction of new construction materials. Subsequently, the area formed a wasteland, further deteriorating its environmental state.

Cultural Center after the rehabilitation

The objectives of the rehabilitation scheme Two different areas of the rehabilitation scheme can be distinguished: on one hand, the urban fabric of the historic centre and, on the other, the limestone cliff to its south-east. At a general level, it was necessary to connect the historic fabric together with its destructured periphery, and the cliff area was a potential hinge between the two urban areas.

Historic centre: A reorganisation of the existing road network was required, creating parking areas and reserving routes strictly for pedestrians. Many of the traditional houses needed complete rehabilitation. Projects initiated by the public and private sector, allowed for a number of them to be rehabilitated and re-used as cultural and leisure facilities, quality housing etc. Urban infrastructure needed renovation and, in some cases, new one needed to be added.

Cliff area: This large urban space would require reorganisation in order to halt its deterioration. In this case, the area’s marginality and abandonment were its great potential. Due to the absence of buildings and its extent, this area could accommodate a largescale facility that would reinforce Aglantzia’s new role at a citywide level.

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New central areas to enrich the city Renovation of the historic centre, Aglantzia (Cyprus)

Diagram of functional connections between amphitheatre and caves

Plan of the amphitheatre and neighbouring caves.

Transversal section of the amphitheatre and function room.

Action plan

Rehabilitation plan for the historic core of Aglantzia

General plan of the scheme: Rehabilitation of the historic centre, creation of the cultural centre and organisation of the urban space

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The strategy for the physical and social rehabilitation of the area came within four independent and complementary lines of action.

Firstly, actions to be carried out on public space were defined, always promoting the formalisation of hitherto non-existent areas for interaction between residents. These included the formation of small squares distributed in existing open urban spaces and the creation of a series of pedestrian routes allowing human-scale connections throughout the historic centre. Some of these empty spaces were formed as public parking spaces.

Secondly, the restoration of three traditional buildings for public use was planned. For this action, detailed plans of the existing situation and the proposal were prepared, while for the rehabilitation works traditional materials and techniques were used.

Thirdly, a technical plan for the improvement of the existing and the provision of new infrastructure was drawn up acting at the historic centre and also on its immediate surroundings.

Finally, the creation of a cultural centre in the downgraded stone quarry area was proposed. This would have a double goal: it would provide a cultural space for both residents and visitors and would attract activities of interest for residents of Nicosia, breaking the historical isolation of the centre of Aglantzia and, on the same time, it would improve the environmental aspect of the area.

New central areas to enrich the city Renovation of the historic centre, Aglantzia (Cyprus)

Photo of Heroes’ Square

Details of the quartering of the pavement in a stretch of street

The schemes Historic centre Building rehabilitation In the historic centre specific actions were undertaken: the acquisition and restoration of three traditional buildings to be reused for public purposes, two public squares were redesigned and six parking areas were created. Six streets were paved and pedestrianised.

These actions, undertaken by the Local Authority, acted as a trigger for further rehabilitation projects initiated by the private sector. This was further encouraged by the generous grants provided by the Cypriot government for the restoration of listed buildings. Thus, the core area is in a process of transformation that has substantially improved the area’s image.

Square rehabilitation Karaolis Square is the main square of the historic core. It represents the epicentre of the historic district. In its periphery the three rehabilitated buildings are situated. Heroes’ Square helps to connect the civic space of Karaolis Square with the new cultural centre. Some sculptures have been installed in this square referring to recent historical events occurring in the area. Moreover, 250 parking spaces were created, making the daily life of residents much easier and facilitating visitors.

As well as updating all the networks of urban infrastructures, most of the streets were paved. The pavement used combinations of different textures, quartering and geometry of

Plans of the coffee shop: existing situation and proposal

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New central areas to enrich the city Renovation of the historic centre, Aglantzia (Cyprus)

Transformation of a cave into a function room

the local limestone. This made it possible to hierarchise spaces and set out routes while avoiding excessive use of different materials.

Skali Cultural Centre in the stone quarry caves.

The most ambitious component of the scheme has been the adaptation of the stone quarry caves and their surroundings as a Cultural Centre. The centre, due to its extent and location, has a city-wide significance. A key element is formed by the caves themselves, their empty spaces offering unique qualities and design potential. The architects carefully considered the effect of the site on its surroundings and used its morphological peculiarities, transforming the caves in the quarry into spaces to accommodate cultural activities.

A rich pedestrian itinerary was created to connect the multiple spaces of the centre for social activities arranged on different levels. “Skali Cultural Centre� enjoys a panoramic view of the plains of Mesaoria and the Pentadactilos mountains in the background. By locating a viewpoint at the heart of the design, the attraction was polarised into the caves, the natural cliff and the two neighbouring historic churches.

The quarry caves became an attraction, not merely for the aesthetic qualities of their interiors, but also as a southern backdrop for the amphitheatre with capacity for 1,200 people.

Both structures are now used for cultural activities and concerts. A series of stone steps connects the square to the covered exterior area, at lower level, which acts as a foyer for the amphitheatre, the art gallery and the cafe.

The epicentre of this cultural complex is the open-air square where the amphitheatre, the exhibition hall, a restaurant, the municipal cemetery and a car park are located. The architects

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Inside view of the function room, with the appearance of the cave preserved.

made an effort to maintain the original appearance of the caves, preserving their natural original condition without excessive interventions and using quite simple and modern materials, like concrete, ceramics and glass. The amphitheatre square enjoys a superb panoramic view of the mountains and is adapted for exhibitions, concerts and other open-air activities. The exhibition and meeting room has capacity for 120 people. The restaurant/cafeteria caters for events and operates independently of the programmed cultural events.

New central areas to enrich the city Renovation of the historic centre, Aglantzia (Cyprus)

Terrace of the coffe shop

Cultural activities on the square

Assessment of the results: The “Skali Cultural Centre� is undoubtedly the most dynamic facility in the whole district and has made it possible for Aglantzia to become known at national level. Nowadays, it is an undoubted source of pride for the area. The centre has successfully achieved its aim of providing cultural activities aimed at residents, revitalising the historic centre and expanding towards the broadest social and cultural circles in the country. As was its original objective, it has become a new central cultural feature and is on the cultural agenda for all of Cypriot society.

From a town planning and architectural point of view, the project has also been a success as, by putting the complex morphological structure of the initial site at the centre of the scheme, all the centre’s functions have been integrated into the natural platforms of the landscape, as was the idea of the initial proposal.

The squares, enjoy a rich, plural character, strengthening their role in structuring the municipality of Aglantzia. This scheme, particularly its public spaces, has promoted multiple activities and recovered an area of social cohesion. The intervention has reduced the social marginalisation of the population, eliminated symbolic barriers and, at the same time, strengthened the quality of life of the residents and their identification with the place.

Moreover, the physical rehabilitation scheme for the area has led to the indirect benefit of socio-economic improvements for its residents and an increase in the value of their properties.

The scheme has contributed in attracting private investment, in the area and many of the traditional buildings are now being rehabilitated. New businesses have also been established. To date, the quality of life has improved and new population has been attracted to the area.

Aerial photo of the finished cultural complex

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Promoting a commercial street Rehabilitation of El-Moez street in Islamic Cairo, Cairo (Egypt) Location: Historic centre of Islamic Cairo, Gamaliya district.

Objectives: urban revitalization and conservation of historic areas.

Description of the setting: this is the main street crossing Islamic Cairo from north to south through a chaotic urban fabric that is crisscrossed by thousands of narrow streets and alleys. It is home to important monuments and lively commercial and artisan activity.

Technical team: Professor Amr El-Adawy, Professor Mostafa Gabr, Professor Ibtehal el Bastawisy and a team of architects and urbanists.

Client: Ministry of Culture.

Contractor: Arab Contractor.

Construction date: work started in 2005 and completion is planned for July 2008.

Budget: Approximately 35 millions euros, 30 millions for infrastructures and urban services, and 5 millions for the rehabilitation of faรงades and urban landscape.

Surface area: interventions scattered along a street about 2 km long

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Promoting a commercial street Rehabilitation of El-Moez street in Islamic Cairo, Cairo (Egypt)

Location of the district within the Cairo metropolis

Description of the area The Islamic district of Cairo stands at the very centre of the great metropolis that is the city today. It dates back to the year 969, when Fatimids from the Maghreb conquered Egypt, becoming established throughout most of the region and moving the capital of their empire to al-Qahira (the triumphant).

At that time, the most characteristic part of Cairo was already in place: an urban fabric based on a main street with many narrow streets and alleyways, which still exists today. The introduction of stone as the principal construction material and the creation of richly ornamented façades characterize this intense period.

El-Moez Street is the central axis of this historic nucleus, cutting diagonally through it from the north, at Bab Al-Futuh gate, to the southern gate of Bab Zuweila. This dense fabric is only interrupted by Shari Al-Azhar, a great orthogonal avenue built in 1927 to facilitate the arrival of the tram to Al-Azhar mosque.

The urban rehabilitation project centres on the northern half of El-Moez Street, from Khan el-Khalili to Bab Al-Fuah gate.

Until the 19th century, this district was the true centre of the city, but the construction of Cairo’s new town with great avenues in the colonial period displaced the centrality of the city towards what is now considered the centre of Cairo. Many of the district’s wealthy inhabitants then began to move to the new modern buildings nearby, in an exodus that has continued from the 19th century up until the present day.

Strolling through tahese streets is like taking a walk through the history of Islamic Egypt. Not only are the streets full of architectural monuments, they are alive with the bustling

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Sector of the district in question

commercial activity that has been conducted for centuries.

This is where Nayib Mahfuz, 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature, was born in 1912, author of a collection of works about everyday life and the people who live in the neighbourhood.

Promoting a commercial street Rehabilitation of El-Moez street in Islamic Cairo, Cairo (Egypt)

Study of activities and monumental buildings of the area

The diagnosis process Diagnosis work centred on three key aspects for revitalization of the street, which is the main artery along which flow all the economic activities that fuel its future development. The three aspects are the existing buildings, the public spaces and economic activity.

Built heritage Many studies of the buildings have been carried out, both by local technical teams and international experts. A large body of information bears witness to the great density of monuments of the first order and great architectural quality that are references to the city’s history, representing almost a millennium.

These urban studies about the buildings of Islamic Cairo allow us to observe their constant renovation, with buildings constructed almost a thousand years ago alongside others built in the 19th and even 20th centuries. It is also true that the permanent renovation of buildings has taken place without modifying the urban fabric, thereby preserving its traditional character even as it acquired the cosmopolitanism of a city like Cairo, capital of the region for centuries.

Apart from the marvellous monumental landmarks that dot the street, the urban complex as a whole is in itself remarkable.

It coherently integrates buildings of different epochs and architectural styles that, without having a singular image of their own, present a homogeneous image of this part of the city that is of architectural importance. Diagnosis work also focused on

finding out about and evaluating these more modest buildings, drawing up maps to show the best conserved and the most run-down areas in construction terms. Using this information, it was possible to determine areas for rehabilitation and areas for where existing buildings should be replaced.

Public space The whole district’s infrastructures were fairly old and had undergone multiple extensions and repairs in order to provide the services required by ongoing modernization of the city. The studies carried out showed them to be very poor or completely obsolete and in urgent need of renewal. The infrastructures, particularly the water and plumbing installations, had been deficient for many years and were causing serious damage to the buildings’ foundations and walls due to rising damp, which in many cases reached as high as three or four metres.

The degradation of the public space was also apparent, with damaged pavements, abandoned landscaped areas, almost non-existent street furniture and very poor street lighting. This prime spot in the city had therefore become a marginalized area with difficult vehicular access, where the use by local residents of public space was limited to the strictly functional.

Socio-economic aspects Various urban, economic and demographic studies have been carried out in recent years in this district to identify its situation and needs.

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Promoting a commercial street Rehabilitation of El-Moez street in Islamic Cairo, Cairo (Egypt)

Elevation of monumental faรงades

Street strech before the intervention and proposal of rehabilitation

Most families live in private apartments, but over 15% occupy part of a dwelling, which they have to share with other families.

As many as 15% of homes do not have running water. In general, the housing situation might be considered rather poor, in a process of degradation and progressive abandonment.

This abandonment of the district has been particularly marked in the last 25 years, with a loss of 50% of its population.

Analysis of economic activity revealed a very active social and working fabric, distributed almost equally between craftwork and industry, commerce and services. The two latter, commerce and services, centre around El-Moez, with artisan activity and small industry based in the many khans in the maze of narrow streets and alleys that converge on the main thoroughfare.

Tourism-based commercial activity plays a minor role overall, though its concentration around Sheiakha Khan el-Khalili gives this area an air of economic dynamism.

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The objectives of the intervention In the latter years of the 20th century, the Ministry of Culture began a policy of restoring Islamic monuments, so many mosques, madrasas and other religious buildings had been restored. Unfortunately, they then stood in a very run-down urban fabric that did nothing to show off the brilliance of these buildings to advantage.

The seriousness, complexity and urgency of the problem detected in a historic district that is the germ and heart of the city of Cairo, housing the finest monuments of the Islamic period, called for decisive intervention to open the way to modernization of the district. The objective established for intervention was, then, to improve this thoroughfare to halt its progressive abandonment by inhabitants and make this part of the city a place to visit for tourists and Cairenes alike.

Promoting a commercial street Rehabilitation of El-Moez street in Islamic Cairo, Cairo (Egypt)

Representation of Beet El-Quady Plaza after the intervention

Interventions already carried out Three particularly significant interventions have been carried out to date: the remodelling of El-Moez Street, the reurbanization of Beyt El-Quady Plaza and the rehabilitation of some façades.

Remodelling of El-Moez Street The most important and complex part of the entire intervention was the complete renovation of all the infrastructure networks in the street. For months, renovation work had to be combined with the inhabitants’ everyday lives. Provisional services were provided so that work could be carried out and obsolete installations eliminated. This was not an easy process. The traffic was interrupted, pedestrians were constantly walking between mounds of earth and construction materials, and the workmen tried to make progress amid the chaos of the city. Work to renovate the electricity, telephone, water and drainage networks was complex and costly, but with apparently little to show for it, as it was all hidden beneath the new pavement. Politicians often try to save themselves the bother of this very vital work that is key to any urban remodelling operation.

Coinciding with work on the costly new urban installations, guidelines were marked out for suitable urban paving for the entire district. Different types of street sections were defined; continuous without differences in level, differentiating the pavement from the street; two raised areas with a kerb on either side to protect pedestrians from traffic. In both cases, a slight slope collects rainwater in the centre of the street. Finding a

Rehabilitation work of façades

solution to the different levels of entrances to buildings and shops was a basic challenge calling for great flexibility.

Stone was used for finishes, two-tone granite in some parts and basalt in others. The central part comprises Aswan granite setts with a strip of Verdi granite marking the axis and a pavement on either side of staggered rectangular slabs at the engagement of the pavement with the façades. This served both to provide a neutral background to highlight the organic urban fabric and differentiate the parts of the street reserved for traffic and pedestrians. Cast-iron fences richly decorated with floral motifs were installed to prevent car parking.

Reurbanization of Beyt El-Quady Plaza In the plaza, the project acquired a larger scale and set out to create a public space where inhabitants could pause for breath amid the haste and the bustle. Similar paving criteria were used, laying out some parking spaces around the edge and at the rear, to the north of the square.

A single-storey volume was built in the centre, housing public toilets at the rear and a café on the main side. Following on from the café, continuing the axis of the square, six pairs of palm trees were planted to delimit the central terrace. This setting has as a backdrop the façade of Mamai Maquaad, which also completes the urban definition of the south side of the plaza. The aim of this intervention was to highlight the façade of Mamai Maquaad and use the proportions of this space to generate a public space.

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Promoting a commercial street Rehabilitation of El-Moez street in Islamic Cairo, Cairo (Egypt)

Various project studies and example of finished faรงade

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Promoting a commercial street Rehabilitation of El-Moez street in Islamic Cairo, Cairo (Egypt)

Infrastructure works

Rehabilitation of some façades The improved urban landscape called for the rehabilitation of some of the façades that configure it. The aim was to restore the buildings’ capacity to generate quality urban space by recovering their original architectural qualities, independently of their construction date. The idea was not to create a new and uniform architectural space but to present the history of the city in its urban image. In the commercial areas, various ways of framing the ground floors were deployed, with porticos that mark out a forceful architectural cadence.

Another proposal was to regulate the elements in the façades, recovering the compositional grammar of the traditional shading structures and placing signposts within the architectural framework.

To complete the results, the system of lighting both the streets and monumental buildings was renovated, producing a pleasant, welcoming atmosphere during the night-time hours and allowing appreciation of the monuments’ architectural features.

Coexistence between comercial activities and rehabilitation works

Evaluation of the results As work is still in process, it is not possible to give a full evaluation of the results. However, as the interventions are gradually completed, they reveal the substantial changes taking place in this area of the city to make it much more functional for its inhabitants and more attractive and permeable for tourists to visit, without leading to the disappearance of artisan and commercial activities, which are well integrated.

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Promoting a commercial street Rehabilitation of El-Moez street in Islamic Cairo, Cairo (Egypt)

Area of El-Moez Street, before and after the intervention

Project proposal

Area of El-Moez Street, before and after the intervention 34

Recovering a town’s forgotten values Urban rehabilitation, Bàscara (Spain) Location: Bàscara, Alt Empordà, Girona, Spain.

Objectives: Rehabilitation of the old town of Bàscara and rehabilitation of an outstanding building for use as the town hall.

Description of setting: average density historic fabric with grouped buildings between party walls Technical team: Carles Bosch i Genover, Joan Lluís Frigola i Torras Clients: Directorate General of Architecture and Housing and Bàscara Town Council Contractor: Malagelada, Sixte i Jan Matas Sisteró SA Miralles Construction period: 1991-2003 Budget: Public space 602,300 euros Town Hall 420,846 euros Surface area: 4,812 m2 Public space 1,628 m2 Town Hall

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Recovering a town’s forgotten values Urban rehabilitation, Bàscara (Spain)

Napoleonic map of Bàscara

Urban analysis

Description of the area

The diagnosis process

Bàscara is a small town on the edge of the comarca or county of Alt Empordà, in the province of Girona. Strategically situated on a hill beside the river Fluvià and equidistant from the province’s three major cities, Figueres, Girona and Banyoles. It stands on the N-II trunk road from Madrid to France and very close to the AP7 trans-Europe motorway.

The historic nucleus stands on the right bank of the precipice formed by the river Fluvià, forming a natural defence to the north. The approach from the south is flat. The fortified precinct, with its trapezoid floor plan, encloses the historic nucleus and is delimited by the N-II trunk road with its historical layout to the east and the precipice that channels the river to the west. To the southwest is the medieval castle and, on the other side, the church, marking out a very rational road network that connects the square with the castle and the church, inside the town wall.

Several studies were carried out, including architectural, socioeconomic, historical and geographical, and biophysical.

Urban structure It is important first of all to highlight the good condition in which the walled medieval fabric has been preserved. The main architectural elements include the church, the town wall and the castle. The defensive wall formed the backbone of the urban morphology until the mid-19th century when the road acquired greater protagonism.

The resulting urban structure is clearly defined in three sectors, shown on the map.

Socioeconomic aspects As regards socio-economic profile, many different activities coexist in the town, such as farming, services and construction.

Other important features are the high number of first homes and the good proportion of social facilities. This translates as a strong, active social fabric with two particularly relevant activities: the weekly market, with its medieval origins, and the celebration at Christmas of a living Nativity, an event organized strictly by residents that is famed throughout the country.

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Recovering a town’s forgotten values Urban rehabilitation, Bàscara (Spain)

Town Hall: before and after the intervention

A singular geology

Objectives of rehabilitation

Also worthy of mention are the peculiar geological characteristics of the promontory on which the historic nucleus stands. It is a combination of clay and limestone strata, of which the latter are disintegrating and giving rise to concavities that now compromise the stability of the subsoil in the area around the castle.

After analysing the information collected and studying the architectural characteristics of the old town of Bàscara, the following objectives were established: a. To ensure that it remains a living village, with a variety of complementary activities and uses, requiring good public services, communications, and facilities. To incentivize a housing rehabilitation policy, with emphasis on cultural aspects, with a view to promoting and renovating this sector and ensuring the continuity of services centred in Bàscara. b. To highlight the medieval urban fabric, demolishing certain sheds and extensions that obstruct essential routes and constructing a new itinerary around the church square to reconstitute the fragmented space. c. To pave the village throughout in order to reduce infiltration of rainwater and avoid the progressive degradation of the lower layers of the precipice. d. To consolidate the engagement of the village with the precipice, completing the faces of the town wall with new, easily identifiable materials, consolidating the fallendown surfaces and showcasing views of the river and the mountains. To clear the vegetation that conceals the spectacular outline of the precipice, eliminate the roots that constitute one of the main agents in destabilizing the walls and create paths down to the river. e. To redesign the urban fabric between the castle and the church in order to interpret individually two elements that share a single space. f. To carry out some publicity to interest non-residents in the old centre of Bàscara, attracting quality tourism.

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Recovering a town’s forgotten values Urban rehabilitation, Bàscara (Spain)

Town wall: before state

Plan of action Urban management The rehabilitation of the historic centre of Bàscara was carried out over a long period of time, involving different planning projects.

From 1986 up until the present day, a single architecture practice has been responsible for various interventions promoted by the Town Hall, particularly by its mayor, a leading figure in the process of recovering the historic nucleus.

The preliminary studies, completed in 1988, outlined strategies for action rather than hard and fast rules. The first phase corresponded to the rehabilitation of the Gothic townhouse, Can Ferrer, as the new council headquarters, and served to create a new public approach to a stretch of the town wall previously camouflaged by private buildings.

The second phase addressed the paving of the village square and surrounding streets. This project was inaugurated in November 1992. The third phase covered the town wall walkcum-vantage point, the church square and two adjacent streets.

The fourth and final phase urbanized urban open space and the streets adjacent to the castle. This phase was completed in 2003.

Still pending today are the recuperation of the castle moat as a public space and the restoration of the prison tower, though the recovery of the medieval complex will only be complete when the geological instability of its base is solved.

These projects for the partial recovery of the historic centre were drafted in the context of a Special Plan that defined the type of paving and urban installations and regulated the

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volumetric characteristics and treatment of façades of private constructions. It also laid down guidelines for the creation of future planning projects for the remaining public spaces. The system adopted by the Special Plan was that of expropriation, by means of which private properties were purchased for the communal good.

Project and implementation The various interventions carried out to date can be divided into four sections: Public space Replacement of the paving of concrete, tamped earth and old sett paving by new, standard paving. The old technique of sett paving was chosen, using local stone from the river Fluvià laid over a bed of concrete to stand up to vehicular transit.

The only place in which draining materials were used was the largest, most recreational square between the church and the castle, for which sauló, a clean granitic sand, was used.

The layout of the pavements was completed by a geometric pattern created using strips of Sant Vicenç stone. According to the specific geometry, different patterns were adopted: the square features a grid layout that continues the lines of the streets above it and frames the tree growing at the centre; on the viewing platform, the strips converge around the church, and in the streets they run perpendicular to the main layout.

Recovering a town’s forgotten values Urban rehabilitation, Bàscara (Spain)

Phases of intervention

Walk around the church and the town wall A shed construction blocking one street and walls enclosing the vegetable gardens around the castle tower were demolished to improve the lines of sight and the itineraries. This was followed by the repointing of the exterior of the castle tower, the bell tower of the church and the town wall, using lime mortar and white cement. The old sacristy built against the crossing of the church was also knocked down to restore the original floor plan.

The constructions built against the bastion were demolished as part of its transformation into a vantage point over the river Fluvià and two stretches of the town wall were rebuilt with hand-made solid bricks to form a portico. A walkway raised above the square was built on the inside facing of the town wall.

The general criterion was to use new materials and language to enable clear identification of the original parts and the intervention.

The Town Hall This building was renovated in terms of both space and construction, with the application of traditional building techniques. The original building had three brick-built vaults, one of which, on the ground floor, was in a state of ruin before the intervention. The restoration project included the reconstruction of this vault. Unfortunately, just before work started, the two vaults still standing collapsed and, since the budget had been approved, it was only possible to replace them with conventional structural floors. Curiously, the only vault now visible in the building is the one that was rebuilt during the intervention.

Elimination of the old sacristy

Viewpoint plan

The rehabilitation of the façade created a bigger impact, as it represents the image of the village. The intervention consisted of creating new windows and doors according to the original criteria of composition and the building’s dictates as the façade was stripped back to reveal evidence of earlier openings. The walls were rendered using a mixture of white cement and pigments. The façade was most transformed at the point of the window at the rear of the ground floor, with views of the town wall.

The different phases were carried out by local builders, who were of great assistance in salvaging the traditional techniques described.

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Recovering a town’s forgotten values Urban rehabilitation, Bàscara (Spain)

The reconstructed brick vault in the Town Hall

Infrastructures The new street lighting took the form of spotlights suspended from the façades and indirect lighting to show up the texture of the historic buildings and avoid excessive night lighting.

The local administration has since modified the original project and there are now more spotlights and new models that do not obey the original criteria.

The urban installations that have contributed most to improving conditions of habitability are the drainage and drinking water networks. Some dwellings did not previously have even these basic infrastructures.

In general, the intervention employed materials coherent with the context.

Viewpoint

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Evaluation of the results The intervention in the historic centre, with the recovery of a uniform cobbled paving, together with the introduction of water and electricity installations, has prompted numerous owners to improve their houses, thereby consolidating the rehabilitation work carried out by the Town Hall and promoting the revitalization of this part of the village that over the years had fallen into abandonment.

To date, the materials used have responded excellently. They are gradually acquiring a patina with age, causing the recent intervention to merge in with the historic buildings. A point of criticism may be the low level of landscaping used to interrupt the sameness of the urban paving.

Those who have benefited most from the recuperation of the walk and who use it most are elderly local residents and the few tourists who take a pleasant stroll after lunch in local restaurants.

Despite major efforts to make the centre attractive to tourism and showcase Bàscara’s historic values, new housing blocks along the main road hinder views of the village from the main road, defeating the object of attracting passers-by and tourists.

This does however heighten the pleasant surprise to be had by first-time visitors who decide to stop and stroll around the village, when they discover this well-preserved medieval fabric and the lovely views.

Also as regards tourism, rehabilitation of the town hall has led to many civil marriages of couples not resident in the comarca, looking for an idyllic setting for the ceremony. The major oversight of the intervention has been the walk around the foot of the town walls, which, apart from the occasional hiker in the summer, is usually rather solitary.

Recovering a town’s forgotten values Urban rehabilitation, Bàscara (Spain)

Night lighting of public space

Different views of the paving

Façades study

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New life for a degraded district Improvement of unsanitary housing at Philonarde, Avignon (France) Site: Avignon, Vaucluse, Provence - Alpes Côte d’Azur, France.

Implementation period: Planning 1987–1993// Work began in 1989 and is still going on

Objectives: Improvement of a sector within the walls thanks to the renovation of unsanitary homes and the opening out of the urban fabric.

Area: 2600m2

Environment description: High density. Historic fabric of buildings grouped between partition walls.

Urban technical team: - Société d’Equipement du Département de Vaucluse (SEDV), currently Citadis.

- Municipal public health office - Protection Amélioration Conservation et Transformation de l’habitat – Association de Restauration Immobilière (PACTARIM) of Vaucluse (social survey) - Jean-Louis Grosjean, Olivier Cadart (architects-town planners).

Building technical team: Olivier Cadart, Olivier Foulquier and Bruno Jouve, architects Developers: Town Planning: Avignon City Council Construction: Public Office for Housing at Reasonable Rents (OPHLM) of the city of Avignon.

Société Anonyme Immobilière d’Economie Mixte de la Ville d’Avignon (SAIEMVA) Société Anonyme Vaucluse Logement Société Anonyme Erilia Constructor: Various construction firms depending on operations

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New life for a degraded district Improvement of unsanitary housing at Philonarde, Avignon (France)

Historic evolution of Avignon City

Description of the area.

Avignon is a medium-sized French city standing on the left bank of the River Rhone about80 kilometres from the coast.

It enjoys a mild, temperate Mediterranean climate which, together with its geographical characteristics, has contributed to consolidating it as a key city as a meeting point between Northern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, a point which has marked its historical development.

The city’s historical background The first known human settlement, which occupied a plain near the Rhone, was in the Neolithic Period (2100 B.C.). Later, the Romans established a colony protected by a quadrangular wall, of which little now remains. After a period of decline, an oval-shaped wall fortification was built in the high middle ages, in the 12th century, broken only by Saint Benedict’s bridge, the sole bridge communicating Lyon with the Mediterranean Sea. Nothing remains of this defensive structure, based on which the city established its growth process. Later, in the 14th century due to the conflicts occurring in Rome, the Pope and the entire ecclesiastical establishment decided to move to Avignon, bringing with them a period of economic and demographic splendour for the city. It was a period when the construction of churches and palaces multiplied and a new elliptical wall was built, which still remains today. It was a period when the city was beautified, leaving an architectural heritage of great value.

The city remained the seat of the papacy only from 1309 to 1377, the year when the Pope returned to Rome. From this point, Avignon went into decline and once more became a

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papal enclave when Provence joined the Kingdom of France in 1481. However, it did not lose its status, and this brought it prosperity until the 18th century, with the construction of many mansions continuing. In 1791, Avignon was finally incorporated into the new French republic, forming part of the départament of Vaucluse, a territory it still belongs to.

At the end of the 19th century, with the arrival of the train, there was considerable urban expansion, strengthened by the location of the station outside the walls and the opening of various avenues inside them to allow a more direct relationship between the station and the historic centre. The 20th century saw the definitive “leap” over the walls and Avignon grew and developed considerably outside them.

New life for a degraded district Improvement of unsanitary housing at Philonarde, Avignon (France)

Current extent of the city of Avignon

Diagnosis process.

A district within the walls The history of the Magnanen-Teinturies district is described from the origin of its streets. Originally leather was tanned in the Rue Philonarde because of its proximity to the watercourse.

From 1890 to 1972 some public baths were also established in a building listed as a historic monument since 1992. Another protected building in the district is the Montaigu mansion, built in 1645 in Rue Four de la Terre, where there was a pottery kiln in the 14th century. Rue de la Bonneterie used to have a leather market, while Rue de Teintures, as its name indicates, brought together the guild of dyers of Indian cotton, arranged along the Grande Sorgue watercourse to make use of its power, with mills located all along it. The current district also includes the 12th-century poor area, a district initially outside the walls, where prostitution was carried on.

Rue Philonarde, which takes the name of the governmental authority Marius Philonardi, lies on the line of the 12th-century oval wall, now disappeared. Its position, on the banks of the river, has historically made it an area that floods easily, despite the efforts made to control flooding. Protection dykes have been created along the route of the walls, where the restoration carried out by Viollet Le Duc in the 19th century and, later, by the national Rhone company in the 20th century, are outstanding.

Morphologically, the district is characterised by its dense urban fabric. The streets are oriented north-south and their average width does not exceed four metres. The average height of the existing buildings is 13 metres, which translates into a ground floor and three upper floors. The arrangement of plots defines

The Grande Sorgue along the Rue de Teinturiers

narrow sites between partition walls, with the façades of the buildings oriented to the east and west. The average surface area of homes is 50 square metres, and they have their public areas facing the street and their service areas, such as kitchens and bathrooms, facing the courtyard. With the passage of time internal courtyards of the blocks have been occupied by a multitude of annexe buildings which have made the proper ventilation and illumination of the interior rooms on the ground and first floors impossible.

A process of abandonment and physical and economic degradation The historic centre of Avignon has undergone phenomena of abandonment similar to other medium-sized French cities, moving from 36,000 inhabitants in 1861 to 25,000 in 1962 and becoming establishing at 14,000 inhabitants since 1982. The census carried out in 1990, showed that the historic centre had 10,000 homes, of which 75% were main residences and 17% were empty. Small homes (1 or 2 bedrooms) represented 45% of the housing stock, largely occupied by young people without children and elderly residents.

The Magnanen-Teinturies, district, of which Rue de Philonarde forms part, had just 30% of owner-occupied homes in 1990, demonstrating the population’s low level of income. It is also worth highlighting that almost 9% of the homes were considered unsanitary and 20% were empty. It seems clear that in 1990 this district housed the most deprived sector of the population: a large percentage of elderly people (aged over 60), the unemployed, workers and immigrants. The population of African origin was concentrated in the most degraded properties.

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New life for a degraded district Improvement of unsanitary housing at Philonarde, Avignon (France)

The Montaigu mansion

Rue Philonarde

Rue de Four de la Terre

Since 1980, the district had lost its economic activity based on small local shops (food), while the nearby districts were well provided for, with a large number of central public facilities.

Near Rue Philonarde, was a market, public car park, and a pedestrian zone with many shops were established. Also nearby, the University of Avignon has almost 8,000 students.

There are public and private schools and colleges and also cultural centres. The Montaigu mansion houses the Maison des Compagnons du Tour de France. There are no public transport problems, as one of the main bus stations is in the Place Pie, on the edge of the area. But, from the point of view of private transport there are parking problems district, as it is almost totally unviable.

The interiors have plastered walls and the existing flooring is of ceramic elements. The roofs are resolved in the traditional way with Arab tiles. Many houses have neither sanitary facilities nor heating.

There are few public infrastructures in the district, the sewerage network is non-existent and lighting is deficient.

Obsolescence and degradation of infrastructures and construction systems.

The following studies were carried out:

All these circumstances led the district to a truly critical situation, both in social terms and concerning its provision with facilities and infrastructures and the gradual degradation of the buildings which, in some cases, threatened to fall into ruin.

The vertical structure of these buildings is based on intermediate load-bearing walls and outside walls on the façades, with an average of two openings per floor. These walls are of masonry of rather soft limestone fixed with lime mortar and filled in internally with rubble. Some façade walls are of limestone, largely from nearby locations like the Alpilles or Villeneuvelez-Avignon. The horizontal structure is formed by ceilings of wooden beams and girders.

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A multidisciplinary approach Carrying out these urban improvement and renovation operations involved several years of work. It was necessary to make many prior studies to ensure the success of the operation.

- A social study, making it possible to appreciate the real rehousing needs and establish the profile of the population.

- An economic study, making it possible to discover the main activities of the district - A technical study, making it possible to inventory the constructed heritage and define the means to use to solve the sector’s problems of poor sanitation.

- A town planning study, providing the necessary information to decide which areas of the historic urban network made it difficult to adapt to the new necessities of life.

- A financial study, in order to put all the proposals into practice.

New life for a degraded district Improvement of unsanitary housing at Philonarde, Avignon (France)

Blocks included into the intervention

Steps of the intervention

The objectives of the renovation

Action plan.

Based on the knowledge acquired at the diagnosis stage, the municipal government established a framework for action and some key objectives to be achieved:

a.- Urban management:

- To change the unsanitary conditions of the sector and supply it with an efficient drainage network.

- To ensure rehousing for inhabitants of unsanitary homes.

- To build new social housing and renovate the most degraded housing for the same use.

- To keep the former residents in the renovated homes and prevent property speculation.

- To revitalise the commercial nature of the district by building premises for activities and improving parking for vehicles.

- To improve the urban environment and improve the architectural heritage.

Avignon city council awarded the management of the renovation operation to the Société d’Equipement du Département de Vaucluse (SEDV, now Citadis), a mixed economy company specialising in urban renovation. Its mission in this project was very well defined with two sides: on one hand, the physical aspects of the operation, such as the purchase, consolidation, renovation and demolition of properties or renovation of infrastructures and, on the other, the social and economic aspects, such as rehousing the inhabitants, revitalising the area and integrating facilities.

Promoted by the city council, the first studies began in 1989, giving rise to the definition of the objectives and form of action, including: - - - - -

64 homes to be demolished and later rebuilt.

69 homes to be renovated.

Creation of 50 parking places.

500m2 of premises for activities, both shops and services.

Restoration of the Montaigu mansion building.

As these studies were drawn up, the 80% of the buildings declared unsanitary and the empty buildings were purchased; the former so that action could be taken in them without hindrance and the latter in order to resolve the rehousing of the residents required by the intervention.

The rehousing plan, affecting 130 people, was implemented on 21 June 1990. It included both owners and tenants and involved a significant effort aimed at the immigrant community. b: Planning and implementation: The main criteria for the project were: - Maintenance of the alignment of the current streets in the construction of new buildings.

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New life for a degraded district Improvement of unsanitary housing at Philonarde, Avignon (France)

Graphical survey of the faรงades

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New life for a degraded district Improvement of unsanitary housing at Philonarde, Avignon (France)

Rehabilitated building in Rue Philonarde

- Opening up of the courtyards inside the blocks, demolishing the constructions added over time, particularly in Rue Amphoux and Rue de Four de la Terre, where a private collective space was created to the north of Rue de la Bonneterie.

- Preservation of the partition wall typology of the constructed façades. A clear example of this decision corresponded to the maintenance of an old gateway marking the old 12thcentury walls.

- Demolition of various buildings between Rue Brouette and Rue Damette in order to create a square opening up the district.

- Establishment of regulations objectively establishing the elements and values to be preserved in the buildings, and particularly on the façades.

Due to the arduous procedures to be carried out (purchasing buildings, rehousing the population, the transfer contracts outside the district and the investment programmes) the only part of the project fully implemented is the one giving its name to the article: Rue Philonarde.

The renovation of buildings The renovated homes have sought to offer all elements of comfort for modern life. Great care is also taken in the renovation of spaces, both public and private, so that they are perfectly integrated and respect the language of the area.

These objectives have required a great effort in the selection

Recovered façade

of materials, making sure they were of the same type as the originals. An attempt has also been made to respect the proportions and language of the surroundings.

- Façade with a ground-floor plinth of horizontal lines, strengthening the sensation of a base, with the rest rendered with lime mortar in horizontal strips formally separating each floor.

- The edges of openings highlighted with a frame of the same material, standing a few centimetres proud of the façade. The openings have earth-coloured outside shutters contrasting with the façades.

The incorporation of newly constructed buildings During the first phase, now completed, two new buildings have been constructed, built on others demolished due to their precarious state of preservation.

The new buildings reconstructed the volumes and existing façades, preserving the main lines of their predecessors but using more modern materials, such as concrete. Traditional proportions and elements have been respected. The façade finishes have consisted of rendering of lime mortar and fine sand, applied using traditional trowelling techniques.

By contrast, in the internal courtyards, the façades and common elements adopt a more contemporary language. The staircases are of galvanised steel and the outside wall on to Rue Bourgneuf have been carried out with exposed concrete, as a clear example of diachrony.

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New life for a degraded district Improvement of unsanitary housing at Philonarde, Avignon (France)

Picture of the inside of a cleanedup block.

Assessment of the results.

At an architectural level, the results obtained allow for optimism and deserve a positive evaluation. The great integration with the environment and improvement in the spatial quality of the district thanks to the opening up of this area should be highlighted. The buildings have managed to harmoniously combine traditional and contemporary language, firstly on an urban level and secondly on a more private scale.

The great effort carried out by those responsible for the operation not to generate social imbalances within the district should also be highlighted. However, although there are visible positive results, a greater impulse is still needed for the commercial sector of the district.

One great difficulty has still not be overcome – the lack of a public transport network communicating the district with other sectors of the city, which should help to overcome the limitations on private transport caused by the narrow streets because of the lack of parking spaces. If this limitation is not resolved, the economic revitalisation of the area compared with the rest of the city looks difficult.

The local authority currently offers incentives so that the owners of the buildings continue the dynamic that has been begun, offering residents of the area a series of tax breaks so that they will promote the renovation of the historic buildings in the district themselves.

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Reconstructed building in Rue Philonarde

Knowledge of typology as a point of departure Rehabilitation plan for the upper town (Ano Poli), Thessaloniki (Greece) Location: Ano Poli, or Upper Town, Thessaloniki Objectives: to protect the city’s historic district with its organic street layout and a large number of traditional Macedonian houses Description of the setting: high-density area with a traditional urban layout Technical team: Professor Dr N. C Moutsopoulos and a large working team in the initial phase.

Later on a committee formed by the Ministry of the Environment, Regional Planning and Public Works worked on the Upper Town, responsible architect was M. Mavromatis. Also a team from the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace worked on the planning scheme of the quarter.

Budget: the many factors to be considered in these interventions make it impossible to state an exact budget.

Surface area: the district had at the time of the survey 4000 buildings, out of which 200 should have been listed. Instead initially only 48 buildings were listed.

Later on the two above mentioned Ministries proceeded in listing additionally a certain number of buildings.

Promotor: Thessaloniki Municipality Ministry of the Environment, Regional Planning and Public Works Collaboration of “Thessaloniki 97, Cultural European Capital” Contractor: this experience centres more on urban planning than on specific tasks of rehabilitation. The work was carried out by various companies.

Date: The Urban Regulation Plan was passed in 1987. Many projects were undertaken in 1997, the year the city was named European Capital of Culture.

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Knowledge of typology as a point of departure Rehabilitation plan for the upper town (Ano Poli), Thessaloniki (Greece)

View of Thessaloniki in the 1920s

The city and its history

The Upper Town: Ano Poli

An eventful history

Thessaloniki was a walled city from its founding until 1869, when its walls were partially demolished to open up the city to the sea and inland routes. The Upper Town was left outside the walled precinct, a fact that probably saved it from the fire of 1917.

Ano Poli was predominantly Muslim and was abandoned in 1922, upon the exchange of Greek and Turkish populations.

Many of the newcomers occupied the buildings that had been abandoned by the Muslim population.

The residential needs of this period led to a building-up of the district’s urban fabric. Many small dwellings were built between the original but now run-down Ottoman homes.

Nonetheless, Ano Poli preserves its organic urban layout. This organic layout was safeguarded in the 1970s by the Byzantine Monument Service, which imposed limits on building heights and regulated the morphology of new constructions.

The district was also untouched by the tremor of 1978, thanks to its traditional construction system and the rocky ground on which it stands. In any case, this natural catastrophe marked the start of the debate about the conservation of Thessaloniki’s architectural heritage. In fact, the policies applied, based primarily on the demolition of run-down buildings, ended the hitherto dormant awareness of civil society.

To deal with the effects of the tremor, a special service was set up to assess the buildings in terms of structural condition and possible consolidation work. Quite a few buildings were damaged but without representing a structural risk that required demolition.

The city of Thessaloniki, founded in 316 bc became part of the Roman Empire in the year 146 bc. After occupation by the Arabs and Sicilians, among others, the second largest city in the Byzantine Empire was conquered in 1430 by the Ottomans, who governed it for five centuries, until 1912, when it became part of Greece as a result of the First Balkan War. During the long Ottoman period, the city was divided into districts according to religions and ethnic groups such as Muslims, Jews, Greeks and Franks.

The city centre, in 1917, was devastated by a great fire that left 70,000 inhabitants homeless. In 1922, as a result of the convulsive exchange of population between Greece and Turkey, the city received many Greek refugees from Asia Minor, who brought their cultural traditions to the city.

The magnitude of these tragedies and the need to house a new population meant that reconstruction work started immediately. This process manifested a far-reaching social, ethnic, demographic, economic and formal transformation.

Today’s city was practically rebuilt between the wars.

In the summer of 1978, another tragedy rocked the city. A major earthquake in the region of Thessaloniki caused considerable damage to important monuments and minor structures throughout the city’s historic centre.

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Knowledge of typology as a point of departure Rehabilitation plan for the upper town (Ano Poli), Thessaloniki (Greece)

Situation of Ano Poli within the city

It was also apparent that the existing buildings would not meet the growing housing and comfort requirements of the area’s increasing population. The smallness of the plots and the restrictions imposed on new construction by the Byzantine Monument Service prompted many residents to move to other neighbourhoods. They were replaced by people with fewer resources, and many buildings were completely abandoned.

The huge cost of rehabilitation was never addressed by the public administration, and the 1978 earthquake, which worsened the situation, made the rehabilitation of Ano Poli an urgent issue.

The naming of Thessaloniki as European Capital of Culture in 1997 was decisive in bringing about a change in urban planning trends and introducing in a small scale the integrated rehabilitation of the historic centre.

Views of Ano Poli from the start of the 20th century

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Knowledge of typology as a point of departure Rehabilitation plan for the upper town (Ano Poli), Thessaloniki (Greece)

A traditional house of the quarter in total disuse

The diagnosis process

Traditional constructive elements of interest

From 1978 to 1997, the period leading up to Thessaloniki’s year as European Capital of Culture, the government started to explore the district’s problems, carrying out many of the preliminary studies and analyses. In 1978, the Ministries of Culture and Urbanism launched the first Rehabilitation Programme for Ano Poli.

fabric has remained in its original state due to the nature of the district.

Neoclassical elements were integrated in the traditional morphology of the houses in the beginning if the 20th century.

The influence of the vernacular architecture of Asia Minor was incorporated in the restructuring of the façades with the arrival, in 1922, of refugees and can be seen in the small, modest dwellings that gradually filled in the original urban fabric. The urban layout also incorporated a series of important Christian, Byzantine and Ottoman monuments.

The typological study

Physical and social degradation

The Ministry of Urbanism commissioned Professor Dr N. C. Moutsopoulos and a team of specialists at the University of Thessaloniki to carry out a study of the district of Ano Poli. This extensive document was published in 1979 as a typological survey of the district’s traditional architecture heritage, making some bold proposals for the reinterpretation of this architecture in new buildings. This study swelled the existing body of information with many plans of significant traditional buildings, showing the features of their construction and creating an invaluable database for the district’s architectural heritage. Detailed plans were also made of entire streets and a colour study of the local architecture was developed.

To produce a diagnosis on the architectural scale, a description was drafted of the district’s buildings. The dwellings in the Upper Town are typical of the Macedonian tradition, as regards both type and insertion in the urban layout. The typical house varies in scale though it responds to a limited series of models and forms a remarkably unified urban complex. The urban

The main agents responsible for the physical and social degradation of the neighbourhood are as follows:

Initial interventions

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a. Lack of infrastructure of basic urban services. b. Lack of social facilities such as schools and health centres. c. Difficulty of adaptation to vehicular traffic, given its outlying situation in relation to the city, its narrow streets and its steep relief. d. The high percentage of small plots for which the prevailing planning regulations would not give planning permission. e. Large gaps in knowledge and proof of ownership of plots and buildings.

These structural shortcomings in services were the product of the district’s peculiar historic development, and irregularities in the ownership system ruled out any urban intervention that involved private property.

Knowledge of typology as a point of departure Rehabilitation plan for the upper town (Ano Poli), Thessaloniki (Greece)

Plan of the district showing its different monuments

The objectives of rehabilitation The main objective of the rehabilitation plan was twofold: to improve the district’s buildings, providing dwellings in keeping with today’s canons, and to induce economic reactivation in order to generate social revitalization and halt a degenerative trend.

The revitalization programme for Ano Poli The main lines of the programme can be summarized as follows: 1. In-depth analysis of the area.

2. Proposal of streetline and reorganization of traffic and pedestrian routes.

3. Conservation of the general urban layout and monumental buildings.

4. Evaluation of the different proposals and timeline for the implementation of the project.

The initial programme was presented to a panel of experts and the local authorities for approval. At this point, the Ministry of Culture listed 48 buildings and left the implementation of the Protection Programme to a research team of specialists from the Ministry of Public Works and the University of Thessaloniki. The listing of just 48 buildings of 200 shortlisted from a total of 4000 did not represent protection of the district’s landscape integrity.

The new plan therefore defined a street layout, drafted new building regulations for the area, proposed morphological restrictions for the new volumes and outlined basic urban

Project for the reorganization of traffic and parking

infrastructures. As the programme did not include protective measures to conserve the urban layout, specific proposals were made for the reconstruction of built sectors, thereby considerably increasing the density of the area and decreasing the percentage of private and semi-private free space in relation to the built volume.

The new streetline plan required a certain number of compulsory purchase orders and demolition work of a considerable degree of difficulty. The construction of new buildings led to the gradual disfiguration of the area. Imitations of the traditional architecture in new, poor-quality projects and changes to the relation between buildings and the adjacent private gardens significantly changed the landscape of many of the district’s picturesque routes.

The incentive of being European Capital of Culture Thessaloniki was the 1997 European Capital of Culture, and the event’s organizers drew up some important urban projects.

Ano Poli benefited from a series of interventions that had a major impact in terms of conservation. The objectives of these interventions can be grouped into three areas: 1. The conservation and promotion of the area’s cultural identity.

2. The rehabilitation of significant buildings, particularly those around the principal monuments and the sectors that represented typological and social integrity.

3. Management of the district’s car parking and traffic problems.

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Knowledge of typology as a point of departure Rehabilitation plan for the upper town (Ano Poli), Thessaloniki (Greece)

Plan of original traditional buildings

The organizers of Thessaloniki European Capital of Culture acquired 10 previously listed buildings by compulsory purchase and subsequently restored them for public use, and a further 18 were consolidated and partially restored.

Picturesque routes were laid out around the main monuments in the area. The façades of all the buildings lining these routes were rehabilitated, independently of their respective architectural importance. These public spaces were developed by private firms in collaboration with the local authorities.

Some key ideas in this respect were the reorganization of the traffic layout, the creation of parking areas for private vehicles, promotion of work to rehabilitate the district’s architectural heritage, and the creation of a series of picturesque routes to highlight singular monuments and the layout of the traditional architecture.

Interventions to private buildings took the form of one-off actions. The application of urban-scale projects was hindered by the inefficient legal framework and the absence of a coherent urban conservation policy. The few projects carried out

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highlighted the value of urban-scale conservation operations and the importance of the city’s architectural heritage in cultural, environmental and social terms.

Intervention in the buildings The proposals at the urban scale mainly involved specific buildings and small-scale urban reorganization interventions that envisaged infrastructures on public land.

In the case of buildings that were entirely rehabilitated for public use, a meticulous methodological approach was taken and the original traditional techniques and materials were applied. One example is described in the article in this publication about building experiences in Greece.

The buildings’ volumes and spaces were recovered, using the original construction techniques wherever possible and leaving contemporary techniques on view. The proposal did not address urban landscape projects.

Knowledge of typology as a point of departure Rehabilitation plan for the upper town (Ano Poli), Thessaloniki (Greece)

Colour studies of different façades

Evaluation of the results The first phase of the scheme has already produced certain results, such as the implementation of new building regulations allowing a considerably higher density than the rest of the city, helping to meet local housing needs. The state grants offered initially to local residents also served to exclude large private developers, and most of the new buildings were apartment blocks for resident families. After 1992, when the public loan system ended, private developers started to build, increasing plot density and worsening the parking and traffic problems. Finally, the attraction of some of Ano Poli’s more

New multifamily building with an reinterpretation of the traditional compositional language

picturesque spots for tourism and recreation purposes made it more urgent to find a solution to the traffic and parking problem.

The projects of the European Capital of Culture organizers were financed by public money and carried out by private firms.

Most of the firms involved did not specialise in rehabilitation, but they hired specialized artisans who were supervised by the architects and engineers who designed the projects.

Private rehabilitation work continued as the value of land in Ano Poli continued to increase. Today, few plots are available for development and the district has become one of the most popular places to live in the entire city of Thessaloniki.

Aqui falta el peu de foto Aqui falta el peu de foto

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Knowledge of typology as a point of departure Rehabilitation plan for the upper town (Ano Poli), Thessaloniki (Greece)

View of a street after rehabilitation of the façades and urban paving

Present-day views of Ano Poli

Despite its traffic and parking problems, insufficient urban infrastructures and the poor architectural quality of some recent projects, Ano Poli has managed to conserve the sense of a neighborhood.

Once again, this project has proved the potential positive acceptance by the inhabitants of a modern city of an updated, renovated traditional district and its immediate revalorization in terms of social issues and heritage, provided action is taken to protect the urban environment and reactivate its economy.

In the Upper Town, even though a very small percentage of the district’s heritage has managed to be conserved, social and economic factors have positively contributed to the overall evaluation of the area as a housing quarter.

The new architetcure also comes into the quarter with a contempory reinterpretation of the tradition

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Renewal of historic district Rehabilitation of the Yemin Moshe district, west Jerusalem (Israel) Location: A hill outside the town walls to the west of the historic centre of jerusalem.

Objective: Urban regeneration and conservation of the district.

Surface area: The intervention affects 130 singlefamily dwellings of 16.2 Dunams; paths and streets represent 9.4 Durams, public spaces 2.8 Dunams and openair parking places 1.2 Durams. The total represents a surface area of about 30 dunams. (1 Dunam = 1000 m2.)

Description of the setting: Low-density district of row housing.

Technical team: 1970-1972 Mandel, netzer, kertesz, architects 1973-1985 Mandel, netzer, kertesz, architects Present day: gabriel kertesz, architect Clients: East jerusalem development company ltd..

Contractors: Multiple contractors were involved, as each owner was responsible for his/her own project and site management. The communal spaces were managed by the east jerusalem development company.

Rehabilitation dates: 1970-Present day.

Financing: The residents provided financing in proportion with the corresponding built surface area.

Budget: As the overall project involved multiple private interventions carried out in successive phases, this information is not available.

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Renewal of historic district Rehabilitation of the Yemin Moshe district, west Jerusalem (Israel)

Map of Jerusalem in 1844. Location of the Yemin Moshe district ringed in purple

Seal showing the mill and the original vineyard

Description of the area

A complex history

Origins of the district

In 1920, due to increasing episodes of violence between the Jewish and the Arab communities, a town wall with two gateways was built to protect the district. In 1949, new emigrants from Turkey settled in the district. They repaired the buildings, and opened shops and a school. In 1950, the district was connected to the municipal water system and then to the electricity grid, but it continued without public lighting and sewerage. During the years of Jordanian sovereignty in the nearby Old City of Jerusalem, the district was almost abandoned and the Jordan-Israel border was situated just to the east of Yemin Moshe, in Hinnom valley. During this period, Yemin Moshe was within scope of snipers within the old town wall of Jerusalem and reached its lowest ebb.

After the Six-Day War (1967), the houses were expropriated by the East Jerusalem Development Company, and their residents were paid compensation and obliged to move. Years later, the district was inhabited by a group of intellectuals and artists who found in the district a perfect setting away from governmental dogmatism. With the appreciation in urban land, new residents from higher socio-economic classes moved in.

Yemin Moshe takes its name from Sir Moses Montefiore, who founded the district in 1892 as one of the first Jewish settlements outside the old town walls. This is a clear example of the philanthropic urbanism in vogue in the 19th century, promoting a return to nature, the single-family house with a garden and communal spaces to promote social wellbeing.

Yemin Moshe was established with the aim of helping to free up the congested, impoverished Jewish quarter in the old town of Jerusalem. A cholera epidemic devastated the historic district in 1861, prompting Moses Montefiore to found the new district. Thirty years later, when the dwellings were complete, financial incentives were needed to convince the first residents to move to a place that was so exposed to looting and pillage.

The district is easily recognisable by its characteristic mill, built

by Yemin Moshe in 1857, before the residential development.

This infrastructure was built to increase flour production in an attempt to bring down the price of this staple. The other farming activity planned from the outset was a vineyard, laid out on terraces.

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Renewal of historic district Rehabilitation of the Yemin Moshe district, west Jerusalem (Israel)

Recent plan of the quarter

The diagnosis process Urbanism for different inhabitants The main characteristic of the district is the fact that this is a unitary urban operation, specially designed and privately owned. It is unusual to find a complex of these characteristics in the very centre of Jerusalem. Its position outside the town walls, in the south-west sector, places it at equal distances from the historic Jaffa and Zion gateways.

The terrain slopes continuously in a crosswise direction, closing the valley. The 1892 urban development project dictated the position of the houses along four streets, with approaches to the dwellings following the directrix of the valley. The secondary streets, mainly comprising steps and landings, run perpendicular. The built complex therefore enjoys a good Eastern orientation, and the terraced layout on different levels of the plots guarantees both privacy and good visibility for all the dwellings.

The houses are built in rows and arranged irregularly, following the longitudinal road layout. Many of the plots have a gardens to the rear, enclosed by a wall.

The socio-economic profile of the inhabitants has changed completely with each historic period. The first tenants responded to the need to move beyond the town wall and start afresh, like colonizers. After the hard period of resistance came a period of decadence and, in the 1990s, attracted by a mixture of the picturesque and isolation, the first artists and bohemians moved in to give the district a new lease of life.

The non-existence of planning regulations led to the district being built up with incongruent volumes that detracted from its original nature, at the same time creating more intresting non-regular building volumes.

Also worthy of mention is the landscape proposal of the original project, which combined private gardens and trees in public space to relieve the visual impact of the buildings. Some of the trees, now hundred years old, went a long way towards ennobling the communal space.

Floor plan of the district in a map dated 1939

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Renewal of historic district Rehabilitation of the Yemin Moshe district, west Jerusalem (Israel)

General view in 1970, before the intervention

Aerial view of the district in 1970, before the intervention

Architecture and construction systems

Objectives of rehabilitation

Most of the houses have two storeys, though random threestorey volumes appear on the corners. The combination of different roofs and building heights, together with the road layout adapting to the original topography, give the complex its characteristic outline.

The original houses were built during the transition from vaulted roofing to the more modern technique of metal girders. Both types of horizontal structure are therefore found here.

The bearing walls are built of local chiseled limestone, where the stone is finely dressed and laid in regular courses. All the walls are built on bedrock, requiring no foundations. Parts of the façades were rendered, mainly leaving bare stone on view at the corners and on the ground floor.

The sloping roofs are clad with Marseilles ceramic tiles and are mostly ridge roofs. Hip roofs are used for some gable ends to highlight corners.

Entrance to the complex is via a gateway comprising a stone arch and metal railings.

As regards facilities, the district has a nursery school, two synagogues and the emblematic windmill, now set in an urban park open to the district. The famous Mishkenot Sha’ananim arts centre is also nearby for the use of local residents and the public.

By analysing construction techniques and historical photographs, it was more or less possible to deduce the various volumetric additions.

In the 1970s, an integrated rehabilitation intervention was planned in the district as a whole. The objectives were varied, including renovation of the precarious existing installations and introduction of a sewer system and public lighting. It also meant regularizing the transformations and illegal additions that had been carried out in recent decades.

The entire operation was planned with regulations to manage possible remodelling or extension work to dwellings, with the requirement that inhabitants’ living and comfort conditions should be improved to meet present-day standards and safeguard this protected area, as stipulated by the administration.

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Renewal of historic district Rehabilitation of the Yemin Moshe district, west Jerusalem (Israel)

Photograph dated 1974 showing the extent of deterioration after years of abandonment

Volumetric development proposed by the 1970 project.

Volumes requiring restoration are shown in yellow and proposed volumes are marked in brown.

Plan of action

About the project and construction work

Volumetric development proposed by the 1970 project.

Volumes requiring restoration are shown in yellow and proposed volumes are marked in brown.

In addition to drafting a map of the state of the district at the time, a precise construction study was carried out. Two sets of general regulations were drafted to provide guidelines for future interventions, stipulating the use of local stone for exterior walls and forbidding visible installations on the faรงades.

The complex urban management process Once, in 1969, the Israeli government took over the ownership of the land on which the district stands and gave it into the charge of the East Jerusalem Development Company. Publicly owned and managed land (streets, squares, steps, etc.) and private plots were then clearly delimited.

The management of this urban project was undertaken with the close collaboration of this public body and local residents, with the implicit commitment to plan, conserve and develop the district of Yemin Moshe.

Regulations were drawn up for joint management of the district by the committee and local residents. A resident wishing to obtain the necessary building permit was obliged to obtain approval from the professional committee.

The project can be divided into two separate areas: - The implantation of new infrastructures and the recovery of public space with its faรงades, furniture, gardens and paving, etc.

- The modernization and renovation of the 130 dwellings and their private gardens.

As regards the interiors of these houses, no specific protective policies were established, leaving the individual inhabitants free to carry out work according to their own criteria, preferences and needs.

As a result, all urban installations were installed below grade.

These included a new electricity grid, a sewerage and drainage system, telecommunications, cable TV and mains gas, as the old kerosene stoves were forbidden. The public lighting system was specially designed for the district.

The faรงades and pavements were restored according to the guidelines of the general project. All the new walls, including those of prefabricated blocks, were clad with local stone and the streets were paved with stone slabs.

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Renewal of historic district Rehabilitation of the Yemin Moshe district, west Jerusalem (Israel)

Cross section of the district showing the integration of the original volumes (in black) with proposed additions (in red)

Two examples of details of roofs in the district

Plan of a dwelling

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Renewal of historic district Rehabilitation of the Yemin Moshe district, west Jerusalem (Israel)

Graphic description of the proposal in the 1970 project

General view of the district

Work was also carried out to recover landscaped areas of public spaces, planting native species that evoked an original setting and guaranteed lower consumption of water.

Telecommunications, public lighting and the sewer system were distributed around the new urban layout.

One planned “improvement” that was not possible, due to the relief of the streets, was providing vehicle access to all homes.

What seemed initially to be a reduction in residents’ quality of life turned out to be benefit, conserving the pleasant preindustrial atmosphere of a human-scale district.

View of the gateway after rehabilitation (2006)

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Renewal of historic district Rehabilitation of the Yemin Moshe district, west Jerusalem (Israel)

An interior street rehabilitated

Corner of one of the side streets with the steps that communicate the different levels

Evaluation of the results All of the public space has recovered its original uniform appearance, distinct from the rest of the city.

The plan implemented by Jerusalem City Council in 1978 is still in force and no major modifications are envisaged. The objective of preservation and revitalization of this historic district has been fully and satisfactorily met.

At the end of rehabilitation work, it was seen how local residents proudly maintained the newly recovered communal spaces.

Subsequently, the social profile of inhabitants began to change due to the success of selling and renting the houses. Tenants with increased spending power and short stays are already creating a more touristic atmosphere in the human landscape.

There are several reasons for the success of Yemin Moshe. Firstly, the built complex maintains proportions on the human scale that make it particularly comfortable and appealing. Secondly, the architecture of the traditional constructions and the layout of public spaces are also attractive.

There are three car parks for all vehicles, laid out around the edge of the district. This is another advantage, as the absence of traffic inside the area allows the fortunate occupants incomparable quality of life. It is, of course, interesting to see how a district that came into being as an alternative should ultimately become a luxury neighbourhood.

Note: The information in this article is on behalf of Architect Gabriel Kertesz.

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This view of the side streets illustrates the quality of the urban space with generous landings, trees and creepers, and faรงades on the human scale

Governing the transformation of a terraced landscape Rehabilitation of National Park “Cinque Terre”, Liguria (Italy) Redaction by Luisa De Marco, Stefano F. Musso Location: Cinque Terre, eastern side of the Region of Liguria

MiBAC), Gianni Gianardi, Roberto Leone, Rita Pizzone (Soprintendenza per i Beni Architettonici e il Paesaggio della Liguria); Stelio Cioli, Massimo Pietrasanta (Regione Liguria)

Description: integrated rehabilitation of the agricultural landscape of Cinque Terre and reactivation of economic process – maintenance and recovery of rural buildings and terraces

Period of execution: Cinque Terre visitor card: 1999-2001; “Terre Incolte” Project: 2001- 2007; Guidelines for the dry-stone walls: 2001 – 2004 ; Guidelines for the rehabilitation of rural built heritage: 2001- 2004 (publication: 2006)

Promoters: Ente Parco Nazionale delle Cinque Terre (“Terre incolte” project; Cinque Terre visitor card) Direzione Regionale per i Beni Culturali e Paesaggistici della Liguria - MiBAC (Guidelines for the rehabilitation intervention of the rural built heritage of Cinque Terre National Park)

Funds: Cinque Terre visitor card: initial investment 50.00 euros; “Terre Incolte” Project: information not available; “Guidelines for the rehabilitation of rural built heritage”: 100.000 euros from the Ministry of Cultural Properties and Activities (including the publication of the Guidelines)

Technical equipe: for the “Cinque Terre visitor card”: For the “Terre Incolte” project: the local cooperative of farmers For the Guidelines for the dry-stone walls: Mariolina Besio (coordinator, Polis Dept. University of Genova), Anna Boato (DSA dept. University of Genova) Tiziano Mannoni (ISCUM), Sergio Lagomarsino, Roberto Passalacqua (DISEG dept. University of Genova) For the Guidelines for the rural built heritage: Stefano F. Musso (coordinator for DSA Dep. University of Genoa); Giovanna Franco (DiPARC, University of Genoa); Manuela Salvitti (coordinator for the Direzione Regionale - MiBAC), Luisa De Marco (Direzione Regionale

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Governing the transformation of a terraced landscape Rehabilitation of National Park“Cinque Terre”, Liguria (Italy)

Cartography of Natural park of Cinque Terre

Picture of agricol landscape in terraces

Description of the area The Cinque Terre National Park is located at the extreme eastern end of the Ligurian region: a small strip of land formed by sharp and steep hillsides, carved with deep valleys. The rugged morphology has protected the hillsides from the cold wind from the north and is the reason of the mild climate which has favoured human settlement and the spreading of vine, olive and lemon cultivation. To make this difficult land productive has required the tireless work of the inhabitants, who, along the centuries, have built a powerful system of terraces, supported by dry stone walls. Different kinds of agricultural use coexist even within small areas, according to the prevalent exposure and the nature of ground conditions. Vineyards mixed with olive and even chestnut trees show the ability of the inhabitants to use at best the features and vocations of these difficult hills. The main villages are Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore, which give name to the Cinque Terre (literally: “five lands”) where the remaining population is gathered today.

Some of the smaller settlements are still permanently inhabited, while others never hosted steady populations, and were rather intended to be used as temporary dwelling during the most intense working seasons.

The area has remained isolated since the 1970s from the major road networks thus maintaining its character much better than other coastal territories within the region: the terraced structure of the ground is still clearly legible, even if almost abandoned; the connections among villages, settlements and farms consist of mule-tracks and paths, frequently passing along the top of

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Aspect of the rural cost of Cinque Terre region

Governing the transformation of a terraced landscape Rehabilitation of National Park“Cinque Terre”, Liguria (Italy)

Aspect of one of the nucleus

terrace retaining walls, and of steep stairs, which penetrate the walls and are used to reach cultivated plots from the settlements; villages and hamlets are still distinguishable from the rural areas, while the buildings out of scale are limited to the centres of Riomaggiore and Monterosso, which have been struck more than others by tourism.

Because of its special features, in 1997 the Cinque Terre (including also the promontory and the village of Portovenere and the islands of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto) were included in the World Heritage List and in 1999 the “National Park of Cinque Terre” was established to ensure the adequate protection of the area.

View of a compact rural nucleus

Diagnosis and interpretation When Franco Bonanini, the former mayor of Riomaggiore and now the President of the National Park, convinced the locals to attract the attention of the international community on this threatened corner of the world by nominating the site for inscription in the World Heritage List, the terraced landscape was at risk of disappearing, due to the abandonment of the rural activities and to the failure of traditional modes of production, in a context of changing interests and needs. Abandonment of cultivation means lack of maintenance of the terraces and drainage system which has already caused landslides, menacing hillsides, settlements and paths, and the vegetation growing wild in several spots.

At the social level, the local population has been progressively decreasing and ageing, since the younger generations find better economic prospects in the nearby towns: not only the landscape is disappearing but also the skills that built it.

The desertion of agricultural activities and the consequent changes in the lifestyle of Cinque Terre inhabitants have been accompanied by the rise of tourism, thanks to the qualities

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Governing the transformation of a terraced landscape Rehabilitation of National Park“Cinque Terre”, Liguria (Italy)

Example of a countryside in terraces with vineyards

of the landscape. Tourism might have been a means for revitalizing these areas, but today the growing demands of this ‘industry’ are in fact contributing to the erosion of the character of this territory and to the breakdown of the culture of its population. Tourism has provoked the modification of the social and ownership profile of the region: real-estate prices have become prohibitive for most of the younger local population, while the rapid income ensured by tourism related jobs does not encourage the youngers to dedicate themselves to agriculture.

Social changes are paralleled also by character-eroding physical transformations that occurred both in the villages and rural areas, due to the introduction of alien building models and elements, imported from urban contexts or from other wellknown resorts, in the process of adapting old edifices to modern needs and uses. Besides, several temporary buildings have been often illegally erected, nominally intended to serve occasional agricultural activity, but, in fact, mostly used as second houses.

These shelters have been built with very poor technologies and recycled materials, e.g. metal meshes, corrugated iron or reinforced plastic panels, wood, fabric. After the promulgation of the law for the legalization of abusive buildings, part of these constructions have been transformed into stable edifices, using contemporary low quality technologies and materials.

As a result, now, many constructions, alien to the local context for shape and materials, are scattered on the terraced hillsides, negatively affecting the landscape with a great risk of identity loss.

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Manual cover for stone walls construction in dry availaible on the website: www.alpter.net

Objectives of the initiatives Since the moment of its establishment, the first priority of the National Park has been stopping the abandonment of the territory and recovering agricultural activities to reduce the threats caused by the lack of daily maintenance which is required by the terrace supporting dry-stone walls. Priorities related to the first one have been the proper repair of the dry- stone walls and the identification of viable and compatible modes of cultivation of traditional or new crops. A second priority has been ensuring a correct and sustainable re-use of the rural buildings, for permanent or temporary residence by residents occupied in agricultural activities or tourists, without compromising the character and the physical substance of these buildings. Finally, another priority was raising awareness among tourists on the issues at stake in the safeguard of this fragile landscape.

To this purpose, the Park has devised an integrated policy of economic development and safeguard of the territory which finds its core in the Master Plan of the Park and includes a number of actions among which the most significant are the following: - The elaboration of specific norms regulating the acquisition and use of the agricultural plots and annexed service buildings, which allow the Park to acquire plots of land for public aims within the framework of the Plan of the Park; - The development of the “Cinque Terre visitor- card”, which responds to the double objective of getting funds for the rehabilitation of terraces and recovery of agricultural activities and making visitors aware of the problems and challenges that Cinque Terre are facing in the endeavour to maintain this territory

Governing the transformation of a terraced landscape Rehabilitation of National Park“Cinque Terre”, Liguria (Italy)

Visitor card to the Natural parc Cinque Terre availaible on: www.cinqueterre.com/ita/information/card/

Others instruments accompany the above mentioned measures and help accomplish the goals of safeguarding the qualities of this remarkable landscape without preventing its use and compatible transformations. These tools consist of: - “Guidelines for the maintenance of dry-stone walls”, which have been developed within a project funded by the World Monument Fund aiming at providing the Park with a tool that could help the training of those involved in the repair and maintenance of the walls; - “Guidelines for the rehabilitation interventions of the rural built heritage”, which have been developed by the peripheral office of the Ministry of Cultural Properties and Activities with the aim of making available an instrument for the sensible and adequate rehabilitation of rural buildings to modern uses and needs while retaining their character.

View of one of the isolated buildings of dry stone

Plan of execution Cinque Terre visitor card The Cinque Terre visitor card is the tangible result of some training workshops for professionals and World Heritage sites managers organised by ICCROM at Cinque Terre since 1999. The card has been introduced in 2001 and represents an innovative form of self- funding and it also contributes to increase the awareness of the visitors. The card directly connects the presence of tourists to the recovery of the landscape, since the income of the sale of the cards is used to fund the activities of Park linked to the reclamation of the terraces, the cultivation of rehabilitated plots run by the Park itself, the maintenance of the trails and the sustainable mobility within the territory of the Park. The card allows the visitors to use the public transportation system and the most frequented trails, such as the “Via dell’Amore” or the “Sentiero Azzurro”. Through an agreement with the railway Company, a percentage of the income of the train tickets which are sold on the track comprised within the territory of Cinque Terre goes to the Park to carry out its activities. Recently the Park has revised the Cinque Terre card offer and now the card allows also to visit the museums of the Park for free and to enjoy discounts for a number of services.

“Terre incolte” project (“Uncultivated lands”) The project pursues the conservation of the built environment, the recovery and maintenance of the terraces, the reclamation of vineyards and other traditional cultivations and the rehabilitation of rural built heritage through two lines of action:

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Governing the transformation of a terraced landscape Rehabilitation of National Park“Cinque Terre”, Liguria (Italy)

Exemples of dry walls construction in the area

Constructive shemes for the rehabilitation of walls in dry stones

- Recovering abandoned terraced plots to cultivation carried out directly by the Park

“Guidelines for the repair and maintenance of dry-stone walls”

The plan of the park foresees the possibility that the Park itself or other public or private organisations activate schemes for the reclamation and the sustainable development of the territory.

The park may acquire the land necessary for its purposes through different legal mechanisms: the national law for the “terre incolte” (uncultivated land) n. 440/1978 allows the Park to take the owners’ place in the cultivation of their plots where these have remained uncultivated for more than 15 years; the park may also sign bailment contracts with the owners of terraced land through which the park may dispose for free of the land for an agreed period of time and use it directly or indirectly to recover it to cultivation and to safeguard the hydrogeological balances. In turn, the owner will not correspond to the Park any fee for the improvements when the land will be given him back.

The goal of the research was to understand the terraced system, especially the mechanisms and causes of decay and structural deficiencies. Secondly, the research aimed at providing suggestions for repairing the dry stone walls, improving the durability of traditional techniques, finding and testing building solutions alternatives to the traditional ones, but compatible with the historic structures. Intermediate outcomes of the research include an inventory of informal rules followed by masons to build a dry-stone wall; this inventory has been the base for the scientific explanation of these rules, the understanding of the most recurrent wall collapse mechanisms and the proposal of more effective construction solutions. The suggestions for the improvement of traditional techniques and the correct execution of walls have been organised in a booklet used as training aid in the dry-stone walls maintenance courses run by the Park itself.

- Connecting the possibility of the re-use of rural buildings as second houses to the reclamation of the terraces and the reactivation of agricultural activities.

“Guidelines for the rehabilitation interventions of rural built heritage of Cinque Terre National Park”

Art. 35 of the Plan of the Park allows the change of function of rural buildings from agricultural use destination to residential use, only if owners are available to make themselves responsible for the maintenance or recovery to cultivation of a plot of land whose dimensions are proportional to the ones of the building, to its location, accessibility and other parameters.

The Guidelines aim at giving concrete advice for maintenance, conservation and rehabilitation interventions, offering a wide overview on available traditional or innovative technical solutions, selecting those which can be applied within the territory of the Park. The guidelines also suggest a methodological approach to achieve effective outcomes in rehabilitation interventions,

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Governing the transformation of a terraced landscape Rehabilitation of National Park“Cinque Terre”, Liguria (Italy)

Aqui falta el peu de foto Aqui falta el peu de foto Example of the guide file with extended graphic description of the current state

based on the preliminary knowledge of the building features of the edifices, their decay or stability problems, the possible threats and needs for adaptation. Finally, they are meant to be a tool, which sustains the legal provisions envisioned by the Plan of the Park, but should not be intended as a regulation. The aspiration of the guidelines is that their daily implementation by local administrators and professionals to real cases may transform them in a ‘living’ instrument which may even be modified on the base of its application and new acquired knowledge.

A preliminary field survey allowed to identify the principal characters fo the buildings spread off in the countryside and the most recurrent problems of decay and structural deficiencies, on the base of which the following objectives of the guidelines have been identified: - improving the quality of maintenance processes and of repairing interventions and promoting a more effective safeguard of rural buildings; - raising awareness among local communities towards the values of the traditional built heritage; - providing adequate technical solution for the rehabilitation of rural structures and their adaptation to modern uses, without wasting their identity; - making explicit the criteria used by the bodies responsible for delivering building permits.

Criteria and guiding principles for the selection of adequate techniques have been developed on the base of the ‘statements

Description of various patalogies in the rural building regarding to the published manual

of significance’ issued both at national (Law n. 1497/1939) and international level (World Heritage designation). At the territorial scale, identified principles are: - respect for the panoramic views; - respect for the layout of the settlements and of their traditional character and features; - respect for the agricultural character of the landscape.

At the building scale, criteria for intervention refer to the principle of minum intervention and to the respect of the character of the buildings, which imply: - respecting the building structural and morphological conception, layout and components, the existing substance, the materials traditionally used; - using traditional but also modern techniques and materials, compatible with the existing ones; - adding new parts, rather than modifying the existing ones, respecting their architectural identity.

The guidelines are organised in technical sheets, grouped into sections, according to the technological components building (general structure, walls and masonry, roofs, floors, plasters and external surfaces, doors and windows, balconies, stairs, waterworks, electrical services,etc.). Each section comprises: - the description of the features of the building components, based on the data collected during the field survey which

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Governing the transformation of a terraced landscape Rehabilitation of National Park“Cinque Terre”, Liguria (Italy)

Technical file of the guide with plan of the floor and elevation

-

-

-

-

-

-

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provides information on recurrent morphologies, used techniques and materials and dimensional data; the description of the most frequent degradation and stability problems and of the current requested technical requirements; specific guiding principles useful to carry on respectful works on the existing building components, based on the general ones described above; Some visual examples of interventions which have been considered not compatible with the guiding principles, with short descriptions explaining the reasons for the negative judgement; two different levels of compatibility with the guiding principles and the identified values: compatible and possible under controlled conditions, not compatible), each of which including a list of related interventions and techniques; the description of the preliminary investigations necessary to identify the causes of deterioration problems and some advice for their elimination before any intervention be initiated; an inventory of the possible technical solutions, from the less to the most invasive type (from cleaning/repair to replacement). For each technique, the description of its goals, the phases of implementation, the materials that can be used and general advice regarding the best way to carry on repair works are provided.

View of a stragged restored path

Evaluation of the results The “Cinque Terre visitor card” has contributed to the realization of a number of projects activated by the Park. While the funds raised through the sale of this card are not sufficient to cover all the activities of the Park, which receives substantial funds from the Ministry of Environment for its functioning and has access to EU funding programmes, the major role played by the card is educational: through the purchase of the card, tourists and visitors learn about the activities of the Park to maintain the landscape and feel themselves part of the supporting forces that allow the Park to continue its endeavour, in this way they feel more responsible of a place they visit and responsibility contributes to create a connection between visitors and the place and visitors and local population.

Over the years, the “Terre Incolte project” has allowed the reclamation of 40 ha today cultivated with a variety of crops: vines (whose grapes is conferred to the local wine cooperative), basil and other aromatic herbs and vegetables (transformed into pesto or other sauces and preserves in the food-processing laboratory created by the Park and run by a cooperative of locals). The income coming from processing the harvest of the reclaimed terraces has not been sufficient yet to run autonomously the agricultural activity on these plots but the Park foresees that next year the initial investments will be entirely recovered and the profits of the sale of the products will sustain the cultivation of the ‘terre incolte’.

Traditional architecture as a tourist attraction Renovation of Khirbet Abu-jaber at Kan Zamman, Madaba (Jordan) Site: Kan Zamman, province of Madaba.

Objective: Adaptive reuse of a traditional village as a resort and tourist vacation village.

Environment description: Average density Architect/Planner: Said Abu Jaber Developers: “JTIC” Jordan Tourism Investment Company and the Abu Jaber family Contractors: Jordan Tourism Investment Company Implementation period: 1987-1989 Budget: 478.000.- € Area: 3,000m2

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Traditional architecture as a tourist attraction Renovation of Khirbet Abu-jaber at Kan Zamman, Madaba (Jordan)

View of the arid landscape of the area.

Some buildings in the complex before renovation.

Description of the area

Process of diagnosis

Kan Zaman village is located within the walls of an old settlement in the middle part of Jordan - Al-Yadoudeh, or Khirbet AbuJaber (15 km south of Amman). Al-Yadoudeh was founded by two merchant brothers, Saleh and Ibrahim AbuJaber, who were already established as leading figures in

The importance of tourism

their community and were renowned for their great love of lavish hospitality.

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The tourism is a sector that has been growing in importance in the Jordanian economy thanks to the political stability of the country, and particularly its natural treasures, such as the Dead Sea, Wady Rum..., and historical heritage, such as the Nabatean city of Petra, now a world heritage site, and the castles, mosaics and other monuments remaining from its long and intense history. Among these places there are also interesting traditional architectural sites with rural centres, like Danam or others with more refined architecture from the Ottoman period.

Jordanian tourism is not limited to packages organised by tour operators for international tourists, although this is important.

It is also on offer to tourists travelling in small groups seeking to enjoy and get to know a different culture and different traditions in detail. There is also a demand from domestic tourism as the inhabitants of the big city of Aman seek, in rural areas, the tranquillity of their still-not-forgotten origins.

These circumstances make it possible for the inhabitants of rural areas to transform their farms and give part of them over to tourist activities, taking advantage of the interest aroused among international and local tourists by these areas and their traditional architecture.

Traditional architecture as a tourist attraction Renovation of Khirbet Abu-jaber at Kan Zamman, Madaba (Jordan)

Ground plan of the complex before the intervention

An unusual farm A “Khirbet” is an isolated rural construction linked to a familytype arable or stock farm. The origins of the renovated complex go back to the 19th century, when the Ottomans governed the territory.

The Abu Jaber family’s Khirbet stands on top of a little hill. This set of buildings was constructed to store agricultural products from nearby fields and as a stable for plough animals. Later, due to a change in the management of the property, it was turned into a complex for welcoming and training farmworkers.

The set of buildings is a singularly unusual case in traditional Jordanian architecture. By contrast with most Jordanian rural constructions – all of them very simple and austere – these buildings have constructional features in which the quality of the stonework is outstanding, showing that they were built by specialised craftsmen with an expert knowledge of groin vaulting.

The complex consists of three well differentiated parts: the central courtyard, the great stable at the back and the entrance volume distributing small rooms connected to the courtyard.

The construction system Due to the topographical features of the land a system of slope foundations was used, when part is supported by the rock itself with solid walls built at points where there was a difference in level to absorb the differences in height.

These are buildings with a ground floor and first floor built with thick perimeter walls made of a double thickness of local stone, with the cavity filled with mixture largely of earth and

Details of the slope foundation system

rubble. Only in the centre of the great stable does the load system change to a system of pillars, on which the same type of covering rests, based on vaults. Most of the structures were in a good state of preservation.

The vaults covering the ground floor spaces are built of the same type of stone as the outside walls. The intradoses of these vaults are filled with earth, straw and other materials to form the flat roof. Despite the general good condition of the vaults, some stones had fallen because of water leaks.

The façades showed stones pointed with weak lime mortar.

The openings were made using arches, also with the same local stone. Two types could be classified: large ones to allow observation or allow in daylight and other much smaller ones at the top, ensuring cross-ventilation of the rooms. Many of the openings were covered for security reasons.

The roof consists of the covering of the vaults. This solution gives the volumes a peculiar appearance, as the curvature of the vaults shows through. The general state of the roof was good, but there were some isolated cracks, through which rainwater was leaking in, and plants were growing in these. This problem was due to zero maintenance over many years.

As it was an agricultural complex, it lacked any kind of installation, having only a system for collecting rainwater from the roofs. The finishes of the complex were also poor or practically non-existent; only the rooms had continuous flooring based on lime.

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Traditional architecture as a tourist attraction Renovation of Khirbet Abu-jaber at Kan Zamman, Madaba (Jordan)

Construction system of the vault

Original flat roof with some cracks and plants growing inside

The objectives of the renovation

Action plan

This was one of the pioneering actions in adapting a rural complex for tourist activities in order to diversify the economic activity of an increasingly marginal and problematic agricultural sector.

This project is about renovation and adaptive re-use of an old estate with the walls of a 19th century agricultural settlement, with the aim of promoting local development through tourism and the revival of traditional craftsmanship.

In the mid-eighties, a member of the family had the idea of transforming part of the complex for tourist use. It was not possible to renovate just one part without having a clear general idea of how the complex would be organised. So, first, a plan for renovating the complex was made, incorporating the new uses planned for each building. Then, the renovation of each building was planned.

The general strategy adopted to renovate this complex consisted of two differentiated phases. Firstly, an attempt was made to completely restore the pre-existing building and later subdivide the interiors or add new volumes so they could be adapted to the new use. Some volumes in the access area had to be interpreted in order to reconstruct the original building because of the lack of any graphic or written information about its original appearance.

Due to its excellent topographical location, the owner was concerned about the landscape impact of this intervention.

Because of this, all the new volumes were built with traditional techniques and the exterior spaces were dealt with by establishing gardens. Trees and hedges were also planted in the streets immediately around the complex.

In this case it was not necessary to establish any kind of town planning approach. It was a property with a single owner who, at the same time, was taking on the role of developer.

Nor was any kind of modification to the collective urban space or action involving protected heritage being proposed. Under these premises, no prior urban organisation plan was required, as the only extensions remained within the boundaries of the complex and did not affect the volumetric relationships.

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Renovation work As has been mentioned, the building was in good structural condition, and no strengthening of the existing foundations was necessary.

The existing outside walls were mechanically cleaned and the deteriorated parts were consolidated with mortar. The new walls were built with concrete blocks dressed with local stone so the unity of the complex would not be lost.

In the majority of cases, a system of round arches was used to form the lintels of the openings, except on one of the original walls, where the arches forming the openings were in poor condition and were replaced by flat arches.

The original arches were strengthened on their upper faces with reinforced concrete. In order to cover a newly-built corridor, a barrel vault based on metal sheeting was chosen.

This strange choice was due to the impossibility of supporting excess horizontal force with the new walls and the fact that the workers carrying it out were ignorant of vaulting techniques.

On the faรงades, two courses of bricks were built above the

Traditional architecture as a tourist attraction Renovation of Khirbet Abu-jaber at Kan Zamman, Madaba (Jordan)

Plan of the proposal, distinguishing the renovated part, reconstructed parts and newly built parts

original level to finish off the parapet closing off the flat roofs. After walls had been cleaned, they were repointed with cement-rich mortar.

The flat roofs were protected with a layer of asphalt-based pitch, applied hot to ensure waterproofing.

The complex was provided with new installations mainly passed through the joints in the stones, which were later covered as part of the repointing. The sewerage problem was resolved with a septic tank fitted on the property, as there was no public sewerage network. Rainwater was conducted to a cistern.

The interior flooring was carried out using slabs of polished natural stone with natural geometry grouted with cement.

Outside, pieces of artificial stone were used with exposed gravel because of its non-slip characteristics. In areas considered secondary, the flooring was a simple layer of smoothed cement.

The outsides of the building were paved with asphalt.

Details of the barrel vault made with metal sheeting

Original arches replaced by flat arches

Assessment of the results: From the description of this action, it is clear that it does not meet the international criteria for the renovation of this type of architecture. Despite this, we considered it interesting to present the intervention, as it is a pioneering action in this field in Jordan and has served to change the way many rural property owners see their architectural heritage.

We could develop a big debate on whether it would have been better not to carry out this type of action, but we believe that it must be understood that in many countries time is still required for traditional architecture to be treated as it should be, and we are at the first stage, unacceptable (but also present) in Europe, and interesting as part of an improvement process in Jordan.

We cannot forget that, for this building, this action has meant a new opportunity for it to last over time and survive as an example of rural typology. It made it possible to save the complex from oblivion, negligence and decay, and was also an example of financial investment in the existing rural heritage.

The fact that in Jordan there are no companies specialising in renovation makes it really difficult to move forward in this direction, while traditional architecture does not enjoy the protection of the country’s monumental and historic sites, where international experts are helping with their scrupulous scientific preservation.

In this case, the building firm was a small, local one with few workers who knew traditional construction techniques, making it difficult to adopt these historical techniques both in the renovated areas and extensions. For this reason, Portland cement was largely used as a construction material as it is

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Traditional architecture as a tourist attraction Renovation of Khirbet Abu-jaber at Kan Zamman, Madaba (Jordan)

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easy to get and to use. By contrast, the more compatible lime mortars and other traditional building materials are not easily available and are costly.

There have been various problems originating from these causes which have made it possible to understand how important it is to use traditional materials and follow international criteria.

For example: the use of Portland cement has led to the appearance of salts on walls and arches; Some structural cracks have appeared in the arches because of the excess concrete poured on top, as the excessive rigidity of the new material has affected the original stone fabric. The climatic behaviour of the original flat roof has worsened, due to the greater density of the concrete slab covering the whole modified roof.

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A difficult recovery in a territory in conflict Refurbishment of square, Jdeidet Marjayoun (Lebanon) Location: Jdeidet Marjayoun, caza Marjayoun, South Lebanon.

Objectives: Recovery of the facades of the city’s square, center of traditional marketplace.

Environment description: Low density. Building with party walls.

Technical team: Europtima ME Developer: Mercy Corps, Constructor: SIGMA sarl.

Execution period: started in spring 2005.

Budget: 400,000 euros.

Surface area: About 300 m3 of facades.

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A difficult recovery in a territory in conflict Refurbishment of Jdeidet Marjayoun square, Jdeidet Marjayoun (Lebanon)

Historic photo: The Town Square in 1958.

Position of the marketplace inside the town

Description of the area

Process of diagnosis

Jdeidet Marjayoun, is one of the most important towns in the state of caza Marjayoun, located in the South of Lebanon. The name of this locality comes from its large number of springs and streams, which produce small rivers which make the area very fertile. Its population is about 25,000 inhabitants, in an area which is 700 metres above sea level.

Jdeidet Marjeyoun was founded in the early 17th century

by Christian immigrants who came from Hauran, a region in Syria where a variant of Shia Islam is predominant. In 1860, the town became rich when refugees from Hasbaya arrived, and later on after the independence of Lebanon it became the administrative and commercial centre of the state of caza Marjayoun.

Its natural relationship with Palestine has gradually got worse, which has resulted in the total closing of the southern border and the loss of historically established trade and agricultural lands (Al-Houla). This increased emigration, which had begun in the early 20th century, brought with it a degradation of the urban fabric, the closing of a large number of shops and the abandonment of wealthy homes.

A complex political situation

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The political events which occurred in the last decades of the 20th century altered the structure and political stability of Lebanon and have led to a significant degradation of the living conditions of its people, which has led to enormous emigration from and an abandonment of the city. This emigration, mostly of the young population, has left an elderly population which belongs to several religions, and a co-existence which is always difficult under the present circumstances. This serious phenomenon of social breakdown inevitably leads to a degradation of building stock due to lack of maintenance and necessary improvements.

Although business activity exists, the main economic sector of the population lies in the primary sector of agriculture. There are also a number of major landowners who do not live in the town but instead in the bigger cities and who receive a large part of their income from rent paid by the farmers who work their lands.

The marketplace is an important vector in the economy, an urban space characteristic of the old Arab medinas. It is like a city inside a city. This is the most important marketplace in the city, although there are other smaller ones, such as those of the tailors, but all of them have been affected by the same problems. At the time these works were proposed, only 15% of the businesses were open to the public, while the rest were closed, a situation which accelerated their premature ageing.

International organisations that were aware of this and knew the importance of the marketplace in the development of the city promoted the recovery of the marketplace.

A difficult recovery in a territory in conflict Refurbishment of Jdeidet Marjayoun square, Jdeidet Marjayoun (Lebanon)

Previous state of the rehabilitation

The urban ensemble The marketplace is located in a central square in the town that acts as an urban centre of attraction. The plaza consists of two and maximum three-storey buildings. There are businesses on the ground floor, while the rest of the floors are used for housing.

The marketplace is relatively new, although its origin dates back to previous periods. The oldest ensemble of buildings that we can find today was built during the 19th century.

These buildings were the object of several unimportant works throughout the 20th century, which is made evident by the contemporary materials and systems used, such as concrete and steel.

Architecturally, the buildings have vertical openings which are trabeated or arched, formulated on the ground floor mostly in large portals. The openings of the upper floors are framed with another type of stone to facilitate carving works. The openings have undergone modifications throughout their lives to adapt to the needs of each moment.

Construction systems and their state of conservation.

The vertical structure of the buildings is based on a system of single thickness load bearing walls of variable widths. While the foundation reached thicknesses of 80 cm, the thickness of the upper floors is reduced to 30 cm. The walls are made of local stone, limestone that comes in two colours. The joints were deteriorated due to loss of material and strong local areas of tensions were created that led to cracking of some stones.

The horizontal structure of the ground floor is made of open vaults or wooden beams which are hidden behind a wooden false ceiling. For the most part, the structure of the roofs is

Degraded interiors

constituted by trusses, components that had rot problems derived from water leaks and in some cases caused by woodeating insects. The traditional roof, as throughout most of the rest of the country, consists of Marseille red tiles that give the town a genuine character.

The woodwork generally consists of painted wood, although some of it was replaced during the 20th century by aluminium structures on the upper floors and by metal ones in the doors of business premises. In the homes, carpentry consists of a unique place located in the intrados of the wall, which is where the panes of glass are located. On the outside there are the lampshade, which meet a need to be able to darken interior rooms, s to avoid loss of heat at night and to provide protection against intruders.

The slabs on the balconies are made of large pieces of marble and the railings are mostly made of wrought iron, although there are also some more recent examples predominated reinforced concrete.

Rainwater drains were in very bad condition and it was necessary to repair them, since they were affecting the structural condition of the rest of the buildings.

In the area around the square there are public buildings, but none of them are catalogued nor worthy of special mention other than forming part of a high quality urban ensemble that is remarkable for its harmony. Extant urban infrastructures include public lighting, the sewer system and the water and telephone networks. In the future it will be necessary to perform further work on them and to carry out a more comprehensive study of the problems to be solved. The flooring of the marketplace also merits study.

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A difficult recovery in a territory in conflict Refurbishment of Jdeidet Marjayoun square, Jdeidet Marjayoun (Lebanon)

View of the rehabilitated area

Objectives of the refurbishment The first step for the revitalisation of the area and promotion of commercial activity was the improvement of the facades in the main square. To carry out this project, there were only three months of intensive studies; nevertheless, very conclusive and significant data was obtained that were essential for the determination of the criteria for intervention. It was based on information collected and in accordance with the local authorities who established two key objectives:

2. Recovery of the facades of the marketplace and, occasionally, repairs to some deteriorated roofs and flooring structures that were on the verge of collapse. The objective is to add more attractiveness, vitality and functionality to the market so that it can resume its activity.

Up to the present action has been limited to the specific areas at the urban level and only isolated work was done on the buildings to guarantee their stability. The property owners were in charge of refurbishing the interiors.

1. Revitalisation of economic activity of the main square through the recovery of traditional offices with the aim of resolving serious problems related to the emigration of young people. The aim is to consolidate this sector of the population.

Plans for the refurbishment project.

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Repairing the walls

A difficult recovery in a territory in conflict Refurbishment of Jdeidet Marjayoun square, Jdeidet Marjayoun (Lebanon)

Photo of a building on the marketplace

Action plan Project and execution As has been noted above, most of the work centred on the outside envelope of the buildings: the facades and roofs.

The actions carried out on the solid parts of the walls consisted of firstly cleaning up the joints followed by pointing. In instances where the stones had suffered considerable deterioration, they were replaced with parts with the same characteristics, with the idea of not using any new material that could be easily seen, thus avoiding losing the harmony of the ensemble.

In the openings, the state of the woodwork was evaluated: those that were in a bad state of conservation or that had been replaced by materials such as aluminium were replaced by painted wood which went better with the nature of the building. The colours used were the original blue or green.

Other components of the facades that were repaired were the railings. For new installations, it was decided to make them of painted wood, though they were also painted grey.

Another important area of work was the roofs. After carrying out the diagnosis of the alterations and the materials used in the initial project it included three types of works:

Rehabilitated building

The wood used was Swedish pine, chosen based on economic criteria. Advantage was taken of the chance to rectify slopes and re-do parapets, but it was not possible to water-proof all of them. The issue of rainwater drainage was also addressed.

Gutters and stainless steel downpipes were installed in all of the facades for the purpose of minimising problems of infiltrations caused by inadequate collection and drainage of water. These components were painted blue, the same colour as the woodwork.

In a few cases the flooring, which was on the verge of collapse, was re-done and a ring beam was added to rigidise the four corners, which had suffered significant crumbling.

- Conservation of all components with small and mediumscale alterations - Replacement of those elements that were on the verge of collapse and whose reuse had been ruled out.

- Addition of new parts that were not already there.

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A difficult recovery in a territory in conflict Refurbishment of Jdeidet Marjayoun square, Jdeidet Marjayoun (Lebanon)

Rehabilitated building

Assessment of the results It is difficult to make a clear evaluation of the works because it is not possible to make judgements with so little temporal perspective, with such complex objectives, and with the continuous political events that alter the normal activities of the population.

The property owners began to carry out private refurbishment works, which is one of the best examples of social and commercial reactivation of the marketplace. This fact encourages emigrants to return as well as an element of attract towards embryonic tourism.

The main limitation of this project has been from the start a restricted budget, which caused the multi-disciplinary team that drafted the project, formed by an architect, a restorer and an archaeologist, were not the directors of the work, with the resulting loss of knowledge of the link that these technicians could have contributed during while the same were being carried out.

The same economic limitation meant that, in spite of the urban nature of the project, only partial works were carried out. The installations and floor coverings have been ajourned for a subsequent phase, when there will also be an analysis of the relationship between agricultural activities and the market.

It is not a matter of having a finalised project but one that is temporarily ajourned.

Also the recovery of the traditional trades will serve in the medium term to boost the market through the sale of highquality specialised products will help them to reinforce their unique character.

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After the works. Israelis bombardments destroyed improvement works to the marketplace

Unfortunately, and after some hopeful results, today we must say that the armed conflict between Israel and Hezbollah during the summer of 2006 destroyed more than 60% of the works carried out so that it is necessary to re-initiate the works.

Destroyed shop during the bombardments

A new lease of life for an old market Rehabilitation of the Souk el Ghzel, Marrakech (Morocco) Location: Souk El Ghzel, Semmarine, Medina of Marrakech.

Objectives: to curb the deterioration of the urban landscape of the souk.

Description of setting: built-up historic fabric.

Technical team: technical team of the Ministry of Culture Clients: Public and private. ARCH Foundation, City Council, RADEEMA, Chamber of Artisans and the Ministry of Habous and Islamic Affairs Contractor: Trabajos de construcci贸n SARL Period of construction: 2003 Budget: 80,000 euros Surface area: 1,200 m

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A new lease of life for an old market Rehabilitation of the Souk el Ghzel, Marrakech (Morocco)

A market with women majority

Description of the area The city of Marrakech is the product of many centuries of history.

It comprises a series of districts: the Medina, which includes the Mellah Jewish quarter, the Qasba, the Agdal gardens and Guéliz, the city’s new town (1920).

The Medina is an irregular polygon, occupying a surface area of 632 hectares. Its concentric floor plan is the product of a functional organization of space around the original nucleus.

The religious spaces occupy the centre, with a large plaza, followed by areas of artisan produce and surrounded by residential districts.

The commercial area comprises a good many souks, each specializing in different products. They are grouped in the central districts, following a line that leads from Ben Youssef mosque to Jamaâ el Fna square. There are other lines or ramifications running to the east and west. They are all situated around narrow winding streets, with austere façades that open up majestically near the market. Craftwork and trade are complementary, inseparable economic activities in the Islamic city. In Marrakech, there are also the kissariats, specializing in the sale of fabric. Altogether there are 69 souks and kissariats scattered around Marrakech.

The souk El Ghzel was established in the 16th century and was first used as a market for slaves from sub-Saharan Africa. In time, with the abolition of slavery, the market adopted a different theme: it became the women’s market, the only one where women could be stallholders. Its present-day name is “market of the gazelles”, a word Moroccan men use to refer to women.

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The market during its activities

All the market products therefore specialized in women. The same was true of the surrounding streets leading to the market, though here the stallholders were men, selling products related to magic and the esoteric, always considered a female concern.

The clients are mostly women, from the most popular social classes.

A new lease of life for an old market Rehabilitation of the Souk el Ghzel, Marrakech (Morocco)

General plan of the Market

The diagnosis process The souk consists of a plaza surrounded by two-storey buildings, with an approximate surface area of 1,200 m2, at the centre of which single-storey rectangular pavilions with arches on either side constitute the hub of everyday market life. The ground floors of the buildings are occupied by shops and the first floors do not form part of the market at all. To the market, they present blind faรงades with just small openings for ventilation.

All the roofs are flat terraces.

Entrance to the market is via a gateway just a metre and a half wide, reinforcing the sensation of space as you emerge into the square. The porch is roofed by timber beams and lightweight beam fill that provides protection from the sun while allowing the breeze through.

Observation of the souk from different viewpoints produced a series of conclusions that guided the definition of criteria for action.

From the viewpoint of architecture, the main problem lay in the series of minor interventions progressively effected throughout the life of the souk, all undertaken by users or the local government to solve specific problems, but never organized according to an overall concept. This had led to a loss of identity of the site, which had gradually moved away from its origins.

From the viewpoint of construction, it presented problems of infrastructure, which had ceased to function correctly, as well as problems of degradation in the walls and structural floors due to a complete absence of maintenance over the years.

Picture of the market before its rehabilitation

As regards the socio-economic profile, it is worth mentioning that a little over half the users of the market own their business but not the premises. Most of the premises belong to the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. This is an important detail when considering rehabilitation, as it means a noticeable decrease in the number of agents involved and a subsequent simplification of the decision-making and agreement processes.

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A new lease of life for an old market Rehabilitation of the Souk el Ghzel, Marrakech (Morocco)

Perspective of the whole area according to the project

The objectives of rehabilitation

Action plan

The objectives of rehabilitation were clearly defined from the outset, before any action was taken. They can be summarised as follows:

Citizen participation

- To improve the working conditions of the users. There was too much disorder and the installations had ceased to function correctly. This was necessary improvement work - To explain to the inhabitants of the city the value concealed behind the run-down appearance of the souk, a forgotten historical significance that residents did not value.

- To recover the market’s original image. Although not a principal objective, promoting it as a tourist attraction was also an incentive.

When outlining the criteria of intervention, particular attention was paid to the fact that Morocco still has living craft trades and the corresponding labour force. This meant that work could be carried out using traditional materials and techniques. One of the main criteria was, then, the use of traditional local materials such as lime and timber, avoiding the use of new materials such as steel, plastic and concrete.

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The project was characterized by the involvement of all parties and attempts to reach consensus between technicians and stallholders: the objective was the active participation of the majority in order to promote a feeling of belonging and consequently stimulate an interest in maintaining the buildings and rehabilitation work. Indeed, one of the conditions laid down by the bodies that provided the funding for the work was participation, which was mainly reflected in the personal work carried out.

Work was organized in various phases, starting with the drainage installations in the subsoil, continuing with the repair of roofs and reinforcement of the walls.

Work was completed in a very short period of time, despite which the everyday running of the market was not affected.

Project and implementation Public space The intervention was marked by consolidation and repair, as the souk did not present serious structural problems and most of its pathologies were caused by the absence of maintenance for many years.

Work took the form of consolidating the pilasters of the central pavilions and their arches. Missing material was replaced and some of the capitals of the pilasters had to be rebuilt, as

A new lease of life for an old market Rehabilitation of the Souk el Ghzel, Marrakech (Morocco)

View of central part with its porches

the material was seriously damaged. A similar operation was carried out to the arches, replacing material and substituting the most damaged parts. Some timber lintels that had sagged with the passing of time were also replaced, but with the same characteristics as the originals: palm trunks. The structural floors were repaired using palm trunks and branches, a raw material used in the construction of the city.

Almost all the roofs had to be built anew. As they are flat walk-on roofs with only a slight slope, any movement in the structure below produced puddles during the infrequent but torrential rains that characterize this area. The roofs were rebuilt according to the traditional system, using a mixture of lime and rammed earth. No further specific measures were needed to ensure waterproofing. The water collection channels were also repaired.

The rendering was removed from the walls, which were then coated with lime mortar to give the complex a homogenous treatment rather than the miscellany of materials employed by the various users. The chosen finish was lime wash. The same basic materials were used throughout: lime, timber and ceramics.

One of the final interventions, though very important for the complex as a whole, was the identification of the square’s original paving. Before the project, the market had presented a varied range of paving materials (stone, tiles, industrialized materials, etc.). The trenches for the drainage pipes were dug very carefully in a search for the square’s original paving, dess, which is tamped lime mortar, used throughout the marketplace.

Market after rehabilitation

Each of the premises was renovated by the stallholder who runs it. Remodelling work was carried out to the interiors and the projections at the doorways, small cedar wood structures that cover the entrances. The metal doors that some shops had installed were replaced by wooden ones.

The most ephemeral new elements were vines, reintroduced after an absence of some decades. They were incorporated in a resting place to provide protection from the sun, while allowing users to enjoy the breeze.

Infrastructures All the installations (drains, electricity) were renewed, as they had ceased to be efficient.

The drainage installation was completely renewed using ceramic elements and joined up with the city’s general sewerage system.

The overhead cables of the electrical installation, previously attached haphazardly to the market walls presenting a disorderly appearance, were made to pass under the pavement in a twofold operation of renovation and organization. The street light fittings were all replaced by a traditional format, installed at the distances marked out by the architecture of the souk, ensuring standardized mountings and other elements.

The telephone installation was the only one not modified.

Only one or two shops had a telephone, and as its blanket introduction represented problems of an administrative nature, it was decided to relocate the post in the square but not to extend the service to all shops.

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A new lease of life for an old market Rehabilitation of the Souk el Ghzel, Marrakech (Morocco)

View of the shelter to create shadow spaces

Evaluation of the results The intervention successfully met the objectives established, revitalizing the market, introducing more order and noticeably improving working conditions.

The market now receives many more visitors. Unfortunately, it is now losing its original character, as male stallholders have started trading there, though still focusing more on the esoteric and on cooking spices.

From the point of view of tourism, there has also been an improvement, as the market now receives more foreign visitors and some of the stalls are even starting to target their products at tourists.

Thanks to rehabilitation work, after years of abandonment the souk has recovered its uniform nature, and its importance as heritage is now recognised.

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Entrance to the central building after rehabilitation

Urban recovery in an occupied territory Rehabilitation plan for Hebron’s historic centre, Hebron (Palestine) Location: Historic centre of Hebron, Palestine.

Objectives: to design urban policies and guidelines which will guide heritage preservation as well as the process of socio-economic development; to define the geographical limits and planning ordinances for the protected area and priorities for intervention; to identify potentials for tourism and to train local artisans to carry out rehabilitation work.

Description of setting: intact historical urban fabric with a high density of buildings, narrow streets, public squares and courtyards, many architectural monuments, features and remains.

Technical team: A big team headed by Dr Khalid Qawasmi and Dr Nazmi Al-Jubeh.

Clients: HRC (Hebron Rehabilitation Committee) and Riwaq (Centre for Architectural Conservation) Executors: a team of researchers and engineers, a technical team and a team of consultants.

Construction period: Planning period 2002-2003 and implementation in phases of 5 or 25 years.

Budget: 175,000 Euro Surface area: 1 km2

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Urban recovery in an occupied territory Rehabilitation plan for Hebron’s historic centre, Hebron (Palestine)

Localization of Hebron in Palestine (West Bank and Gaza Strip)

Description of the area Hebron is a city situated 30 km south of Jerusalem, with a population of 133,500 inhabitants. The city of Hebron is considered the center of the Hebron district, the largest district with regard to population in the West Bank. It qualifies as one of the most important commercial and industrial centers in Palestine, in addition to Hebron’s renowned reputation in the manufacture of traditional crafts (i.e. glass, pottery making, food draining, and leather industry).

The city of Hebron, along with a few others in the Middle East, has been inhabited without interruption from the Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC) up until the present day. This continuity is attributed to the city’s sacred and holy status; it is associated with the Patriarchs (Abraham, Sarah and their sons) and then to the Prophet Muhammad Companion Tamim ad-Dari.

The present-day site of the historic city, in the Hebron valley, started to develop in the late 7th century BC around the tombs of the patriarchs; Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi; the Abraham Mosque.

It came under Greek, Roman and then Byzantine rule, and in 638 ad under Muslim rule. Between 1250 and 1516, Hebron had its golden age, “Mamluk rule”, corresponding to the Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate, which governed the territory until the Ottomans arrived in 1517.

During the Mamluk period Hebron witnessed a qualitative revival in number of institutions and in population. This era is often described as the Golden Age of Hebron. Numerous numbers of mosques, schools, zawaiyas (Sufi places), public baths and khans were established illustrating a remarkable economic and scientific prosperity.

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Sanctuary of Abraham or tomb of the Patriarches

Despite its tumultuous history, no walls were built around the city, though the houses were veritable fortresses of four storeys with great doors that can be closed at night or during periods of danger.

Between the end of World War I and until 1948, Palestine came under the British mandate. After 1948 the reaming parts of Palestine (the West Bank and Gaza Strip) came under the Jordanian rule up until the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1967.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the city underwent a large increase in population leading to intensive building and the start of the degradation and demolition of architectural heritage. After 1967 and as a result of the Israeli occupation, a great number of people left the old city and were replaced by Jewish settlers.

This change caused numerous social, economic, and political problems in the old city particularly after transferring all services such as: bus stations, markets and schools outside the old city.

Additionally, the Israeli’s government limited traffic direction and roads used.

Moreover, the city was divided into two districts due to the Hebron Agreement, resulted from Oslo Accords of 1994, and the historic center (H2 area) was kept under a full Israeli control. This division forced many people to leave the old city. Additionally, many historic buildings were destroyed by the Israelis in order to secure the movement and safe passages to settlers.

Currently, the historic center increased in density from 400 inhabitants in 1989 to over 4,500 in 2006. Most of the population living in the historic center are low income and poor population.

Urban recovery in an occupied territory Rehabilitation plan for Hebron’s historic centre, Hebron (Palestine)

Map of Hebron Treaty

View of the city of Hebron with the historic core in foreground and the new city beyond

The diagnosis process

Construction characteristics

The traditional urban fabric of the historic centre of Hebron has been relatively well conserved over the centuries. The urban configuration is the result of the relation between buildings with their inner courtyards and the network of narrow streets that form public squares and large commercial streets.

The historic city is divided into several quarters. The main quarters are Harat Al-Sheikh, Qaitun, Al-Dariya, Qazazeen, Mashariqa, Al-Qal’a.

Some 64% of the city’s valuable historic buildings (1914 historic buildings) are situated within the limits of the old town, and the rest are scattered around it. A third of these buildings in the historic centre are abandoned or underused.

The uniformity of the construction techniques used in the historic buildings of the centre of Hebron means that a diagnosis of a given case can be extrapolated to the urban whole.

The city’s historic buildings are square structures, built of limestone quarried in the nearby hills, in the form of solid walls that can be over a metre thick. This is due to the defensive nature of these buildings and also to counteract the horizontal thrust of the heavy stone vaults. The walls comprise two layers of stones, a facing and a backing, filled with a mixture of gravel, lime, ceramics, ash, earth, straw and sand. As a rule, the stone was left bare in the façade and rendered with lime mortar on the inside.

The walls of these buildings rest directly on the ground or on a foundation made of large undressed rocks, jammed with gravel and surrounded by a trench a metre deep.

The façades have few openings, though there are always small ventilation holes at the top. As a rule, the openings are larger on the inside than in the exterior. The top part of the openings is the saquf, and the sides or jambs are jawanb. Many of the different types of saquf can be seen in historic façades: straight, pointed, segmental or semicircular. Every one or two years the perimeter of the openings is whitewashed as a symbol of blessing, barakeh, and to give an appearance of purity and hygiene.

The tradition of whitewashing also has the advantage of preserving the wall, as it provides protection from damp and other atmospheric agents, creating a fine layer that gradually carbonizes and hardens.

The horizontal structure was originally made of barrel or cross vaults, a construction technique in keeping with the lack of timber. They were built of stones bonded with lime mortar following staked wooden framework as scaffoldings and then

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Urban recovery in an occupied territory Rehabilitation plan for Hebron’s historic centre, Hebron (Palestine)

Streets and house before rehabilitation

A downfall building in the middle of the town center

A calm corner of the old City

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filled in with a mass of earth, stones and poor lime mortar.

The 19th century saw the introduction of flat structural floors comprising metal I-beams and concrete slabs. The underside of this type of structural floor was finished with a mortar render coat.

The roofs were built of either domes or flat terraces. The outer face of the domes was finished with a lime rendering and then clad with irregular stones and pointed. In terms of their geometry, the domes were semi-spherical, segmented or oval depending on the span to be covered. The flat concrete roofs were laid with stone and pointed with lime mortar.

Different floorings were used in the area depending on the occupant’s financial possibilities: natural stone for wealthy families and a simple lime render for the more modest.

Urban recovery in an occupied territory Rehabilitation plan for Hebron’s historic centre, Hebron (Palestine)

Floor plans, sections and elevations of a historic building

The objectives of rehabilitation Many factors contribute to the present-day situation of the historic centre of Hebron, and the actions required are therefore different. The various challenges outlined by the Urban Rehabilitation Plan are summarised in the following eight points: 1. The Israeli occupation and Jewish settlements inside historic center 2. Lack of appropriate legislation for heritage protection.

3. Deterioration of socio-economic life of much of the local population.

4. Lack of economic investment and deactivation of the commercial fabric.

5. Abandonment of buildings and resulting deterioration due to vandalism and exposure to climate.

6. Addition of new unplanned constructions and additions inside historic center.

7. Absence of urban infrastructures (social, education, cultural and leisure facilities).

8. Many streets lack basic urban installations and infrastructure.

Having considered the peculiarities of the historic centre and its status as a cultural site worthy of protection and preservation, the Plan established the following, more specific objectives: 1. To define urban planning policies and guidelines to regulate cultural heritage, economic and social development, services (education, touristic, health and leisure services), and relationship of historic center with the surrounding environment.

2. To define bylaws to safeguard the traditional architecture of the historic centre and single historical buildings scattered around in the periphery.

3. To establish the geographical limits of the historic centre and create an inventory of significant buildings in its proximity.

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Urban recovery in an occupied territory Rehabilitation plan for Hebron’s historic centre, Hebron (Palestine)

A commercial street and historical building

4. To establish a complementary database that includes information about the physical as well as the socioeconomic environment of the territory.

5. To integrate and analyse the information collected by the GIS (Geographic Information System).

6. To define the priorities of conservation according to value and state of conservation, and to estimate the cost of future projects in rehabilitation.

7. To identify the potential and possible uses of the spaces considered.

8. To identify tourist attractions and services, and their relation with the national tourism programme.

9. To draw up a list of projects derived from the Rehabilitation Plan, to be developed in the short and the long term.

10. To educate and train local experts.

Architectonic details of great quality

The action plan A: Urban management The Rehabilitation Plan for the historic centre of Hebron was developed by local organizations HRC (Hebron Rehabilitation Committee) and Riwaq (Centre for Architectural Conservation).

This project was funded by SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency).

To implement the construction side of the project, short-term plans of five years were outlined, with 25-year periods for the multisectoral revitalization of Hebron.

In order to carry out these ambitious objectives, it was crucial to divide the project into three main phases: Phase I: Study of the area of action and collection of data from different sectoral fields to produce a “drawing” of the present-day state.

Once the information was classified and analysed, the following themes of study could be established: 1. The reality of the Jewish settlements in the area, the danger it represented and possible solutions.

2. Registration, analysis and documentation of historic buildings and their extensions.

3. Registration, analysis and documentation of new buildings and additions.

4. Registration, analysis and documentation of the social landscape of the area.

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Urban recovery in an occupied territory Rehabilitation plan for Hebron’s historic centre, Hebron (Palestine)

Proposal of touristic routes and points of interest in the studied area

Finished and future rehabilitation projects in the historic centre of Hebron

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Urban recovery in an occupied territory Rehabilitation plan for Hebron’s historic centre, Hebron (Palestine)

Reconstruction of a wall and a fallen vault

5. Registration, analysis and documentation of the current conditions of school, health, tourism and family services of the area under study and identification of future needs.

6. Documentation and assessment of infrastructures.

7. Documentation and analysis with a view to rehabilitating public squares and vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

Phase II: This phase involved a thorough investigation of the different sectors of the historic centre (dwellings, shops, open spaces, infrastructures, tourism potential, traffic and parking problems, social and cultural services, etc.), producing a list of challenges: 1. Conservation and rehabilitation of the historic centre (buildings, infrastructures, services and open spaces).

2. Economic development of the area.

3. Education, cultural, health and social services.

4. The historic centre as a living place.

5. Tourism and leisure industry.

Phase III: This phase involved the coordination of the overseas and the local teams, and the examination of other experiences of revitalization of historic centres. Various workshops were organized to review similar projects and discuss the proposal in greater depth.

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RĂŠhabilitation works

B: The project and its implementation The uniformity of construction of all the restored buildings meant that it was feasible to describe, with precision, the different interventions in each element of construction.

The cracks and distortions in foundations detected during excavation were addressed using two methods. The first involved injecting a mixture of hydraulic lime and materials to prevent retraction and produce an improved support for bearing walls. The second, more traditional method consisted of filling in the damaged parts with similar rocks, thereby reconstructing the foundations using original techniques.

The walls, too, presented two types of damage: nonstructural, as caused by the loss of stones, which was solved by reconstruction using lime mortar and similar stones, and structural, which was addressed by the injection of a mixture of lime with non-retractable material to stabilize the infill.

In cases of sagging, a further-reaching intervention was called for: sections of walls were demolished and rebuilt. To ensure the structural connection of the different walls and to stabilize possible deviations, braces and ties were implemented in the upper sections to fix the outer walls.

Various types of damage were observed in vaults. In some cases, loose stones, cracks and hollows were found. The gaps were filled in with similar types of stone and then lime mortar was injected into the space. If the damage affected the stability of the vault, it was reconstructed using concrete.

Structural floors were reinforced with a reinforced compression slab. Rusting metal girders were treated with anti-rust paint to protect them for a longer period of time.

Urban recovery in an occupied territory Rehabilitation plan for Hebron’s historic centre, Hebron (Palestine)

A public space before and after rehabilitation

There were three elements to be checked in the stone façades: stones, joints and openings. The stones were mostly washed with water and soft brushes, though in some cases metal brushes were needed, and some very damaged stones were replaced.

The joints were checked and any damaged mortar was removed and repointed using a similar mortar. Vegetation growing between the joints was sprayed with herbicide.

The damaged parts of the openings were replaced. In some cases, new openings were constructed using traditional materials, though they were identified as modern by means of the type of stone, the style or the position of the opening in relation to the façade, etc.

There were two variables to be considered when rehabilitating roofs: waterproofing and conservation of the original form. The domes were cleaned of earth to reveal the constituent stones, the vault was rebuilt and the earth replaced. They were then painted with three coats of lime mortar and white asphalt. The damaged stone slabs in roofs were replaced and completely repointed using lime mortar.

The concrete flat roofs were cleaned, cracks repaired and new stone slabs were laid for protection. In all cases, a slight slope was maintained and the drains were connected to galvanized steel drainpipes.

All the installations had to be replaced. Water is still collected from the roof and channelled through drainpipes to numerous courtyards where it is kept in a traditional well system. Excess water is drained from the courtyards and narrow streets via grilles connected to the drainage network, leading to the valleys and gardens beyond.

The street and courtyard lighting is a new infrastructure: an underground electricity grid has been installed to supply the houses and the streets. Street lighting has been installed near historic buildings and, in some cases, directly on the façade, if the street was narrow. Both public safety and maintenance were taken into account when positioning the new luminaires.

Another new infrastructure in the historic centre is the system of fire hydrants for the fire brigade. This system is connected to the general water supply network.

The indoor floors were laid using lime mortar and traditional stone slabs. Some rooms were given floors of traditional tiles with traditional patterns and colours from the early 20th century. Cement tiles were laid in bathrooms and kitchens.

The rooms were whitewashed using original pigments and new light fittings were installed. The exterior spaces were paved with stone slabs.

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Urban recovery in an occupied territory Rehabilitation plan for Hebron’s historic centre, Hebron (Palestine)

Various pictures of the quarter rehabilited yet

Evaluation of the results Since it was set up in 1996, the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee (HRC) has restored almost half the traditional buildings in the historic centre, involving a total of 750 dwellings, 250 shops and 4 open spaces.

Conservation work was continually monitored by a supervising engineer to guarantee the implementation of the project.

The projects were also formally evaluated by the technical committee.

The Committee inspected the result in detail with the contractor, examining the quality of the work and possible improvements. A year later, the same Committee once again evaluated the projects to check the durability and quality of the materials and techniques used. The Committee also spoke to the buildings’ tenants to ensure they were satisfied with the work carried out, writing its findings into reports that may be of assistance in future projects.

Part of the historic centre of Hebron after rehabilitation

House in the historic centre, before and after rehabilitation

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Improving public space to improve quality of life Rehabilitation of Qinnisreen street, Aleppo (Syria) Location: northern sector of Qinnisreen Street, Jalloum district, historic centre of Aleppo.

Objectives: to draft and create a model of urban improvement that could be applied in other parts of the historic centre.

Description of setting: grouped dwellings with inner courtyards. Average density.

Technical team: Planning Team supervised by the architect Abdul Aziz Hallaj.

Clients: DOC (Directorate of the Old City) of Aleppo City Council.

Contractor: Pier & George Zerez (company); coordinated by the engineer Nadeem Rahmoun.

Implementation period: November 1998 (Project).

Rehabilitation work started in May and ended in September 1999.

Budget: 27,000 â‚Ź Surface area: 900 m2

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Improving public space to improve quality of life Rehabilitation of Qinnisreen street, Aleppo (Syria)

Historic centre of Aleppo

Description of the setting

A monumental district with thriving activity

A city with a long history

This sector of the historic centre is one of the city’s oldest, an area of relative wealth between the 16th and 18th centuries, inhabited by merchants and important families. The traditional urban fabric responds to the Mamluk period, with narrow, cobbled semi-private streets, some covered, blind alleys and courtyard houses mixed with public buildings. This structure has been conserved intact and is the district’s principal physical characteristic.

The studied area is situated in the southwest sector of the walled historic centre, a few metres from Aleppo’s famous traditional bazaar. This district is called Dakhel Bab Qinnisreen (inside Bab Qinnisreen), due to the proximity of one of the nine gateways in the town wall, Bab Qinnisreen. Moreover, the presence of three major monuments dating back to the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries in the area makes it a major tourist attraction in the historic district.

Starting at the gate of Bab Qinnisreen, Qinnisreen Street, the main commercial street that leads to the bazaar, divides the district in two. The view of this axis is limited by an archway over the street that marks the end of the development area. The rest of the street comprises residential fabric, three blind alleys or haras and a small square on the northern side, opposite an old soap factory. The façades of these different buildings are characterized by a series of important architectural elements such as kishks (typical timber-built balconies), wooden doorways, carved stone openings, etc.

The city of Aleppo is situated in the north of Syria, near the Turkish border. It has a population of 3.7 million inhabitants and is the country’s second city after the capital, Damascus.

Between the Mediterranean and Mesopotamia, between the rivers Orontes and Euphrates, Aleppo stands in the north of the “fertile crescent”, 350 km north of Damascus on the western end of the Silk Route, formerly an important crossroads of caravans.

Aleppo has existed as a city at least since 1800 bc. For over 20 centuries, it was subject to a whole range of invaders (Hittites, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Mongols, Mamluks and Ottomans). On the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the region became a French protectorate until finally it became part of the modern state of Syria. Today, Aleppo is the treasure house of the legacies of all the cultures that have passed through one of the oldest cities to have been constantly inhabited.

By virtue of its history, in 1986 the old town was declared UNESCO World Heritage and in 2006 the city of Aleppo was named Capital of Islamic Culture by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO). The historic centre of Aleppo occupies some 350 hectares of traditional urban layout; it accommodates 110,000 inhabitants and is a work place for about 35,000 employees.

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Improving public space to improve quality of life Rehabilitation of Qinnisreen street, Aleppo (Syria)

Delimitation of the development area and urban analysis

The diagnosis process Abandonment and overcrowding As in so many other Mediterranean historic centres, it is now some decades since the wealthier families moved out to more modern outlying districts in search of a new lifestyle and a new city. This emigration led to the progressive abandonment of many homes and their inhabitants were gradually replaced by a more modest population with fewer economic resources, the resulting increase in density and the subdivision of the large original The residents are district shopkeepers and artisans, with lower than average incomes for the city. As a result, they are unable to undertake minimum maintenance work on the buildings, as a result of which many houses are very run-down and most of the installations urgently need renewing.

In the 20th century, the rapid expansion of commerce throughout the historic centre witnessed the transformation of many of the district’s old dwellings for commercial use. These premises (60 shops, 40 workshops and 20 warehouses) are scattered around the area. Today there is a mix of residential use (60%) and small commercial activities (40%). These activities go unseen from the street, as they mostly take place in the interiors of the buildings.

The centre’s population has been stable over the last 20 years, with the better-off families being replaced by other original residents. Most of the residents have lived in their houses for over 20 years and few of the inhabitants of the historic centre are from the country or other cities. With the arrival of new

members, many families are interested in moving out of the district looking for better living conditions, as the combination of generations leads to overcrowding. It is quite normal to find families of over 10 members and two or three generations.

The physical degradation of buildings This area comprises 144 buildings, most of them with a central courtyard, and only eight are recent constructions. A third of these houses have remained intact since their construction, some have been restored and many others subdivided as independent dwellings with serious problems of space and ventilation. The buildings are privately owned except a few belonging to the Ministry of the Waqf or the Directorate of Antiquities. Of all these buildings, 18 have been declared monuments and over 20 contain heritage elements of great value.

Most of the façades are damaged due partly to the absence of maintenance and to recent interventions, such as the use of incompatible building materials, the construction of extensions using cement blocks for the roofs and the installation of electricity cables and water pipes that are left visible.

Most of the monuments and the historic residential buildings were in a poor state of conservation, with some extremely inappropriate repair work. Many were in a critical state, having been turned into workshops or industrial premises with no regard for their historical and architectural values. Major changes had been made to the original structures, such as covering over courtyards with metal roofs and propping up bearing walls.

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Improving public space to improve quality of life Rehabilitation of Qinnisreen street, Aleppo (Syria)

The initial state of a flat roof and of a wooden door

The adaptation of these historic dwellings to new uses, along with the use of heavy machinery, high levels of vibration, aggressive chemical products and dangerous residues, has seriously compromised their structures.

The quality of the groundwater still used in some houses was very poor, due to leakage in the sewerage network. Moreover, many houses were not connected to the drainage network and disposed of their wastewater inappropriately, contributing further to the problem. This represented a serious health risk, particularly as the groundwater is still drawn from the wells in the inner courtyards.

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Deplorable state of a façade due to blocked gargoyles and the chaotic state of urban installations

The objectives of rehabilitation Multiple objectives The revitalization of this historic urban sector involved various different objectives. The first was to dignify the public space, enabling it to recover its capacity to accommodate activities that will improve social cohesion and offer an incentive to reactivate local trade.

Another aim was to physically improve the buildings that make up this part of the city. This involved not only correcting the process of deterioration but also eliminating incompatible recent additions and new, illegally added volumes with no attempt at integration. Another central aim was to completely renew the existing urban utilities. The water network and sewage system were in a critical condition. The electricity and telephone cables that hung chaotically from the façades had to be reorganized to comply with present-day safety regulations.

Integrated rehabilitation work necessarily involves social objectives. This called for a social intervention programme that implemented participatory meetings to outline local residents’ needs and see how their proposals could improve the urban environment.

To summarize, the objectives of the project sought to improve the living conditions of local residents and users of the district.

In the development area, the technical aspects of proposals to rehabilitate various façades had to be compared to demonstrate their feasibility, as the aim was also to find a prototype system that could be applied in future development areas.

Improving public space to improve quality of life Rehabilitation of Qinnisreen street, Aleppo (Syria)

Elevations of the street before the intervention

This rehabilitation work also serves as a visible example of the potential of recuperating the image of buildings on a commercial street, highlighting traditional architectural characteristics such as kishks, ornamentation, doorways, cornices, gargoyles, and other significant elements.

This approach to urban rehabilitation also served to improve the street’s economic activity and create a touristic trail of architectural values that could indirectly diversify commercial possibilities.

A singular element

The kishk often has decorated wooden panels. The windows are set into the finely-carved double wooden skins attached to its wooden structure. These openings are differently shaped in keeping with the styles of each period. They are generally divided into two parts: the main window, which mostly has coloured glass at the top, and the slatted wooden shutters with their finely carved upper area.

The kishks are currently in a very poor state of repair due to exposure to the elements and lack of maintenance. Most damage is to the outer timber panels, though in some cases it has reached the structure. Timely correction of the pathologies would save far more costly restoration work in the mid-term.

A characteristic element of the traditional architecture of Aleppo is the kishk. Aleppo has many types that were built during the Ottoman period. The kishk served to ensure the inhabitants’ privacy, at the same time allowing them to observe passers-by. It is a roofed wooden balcony that projects from the stone façade, enclosed on all three sides. The structure is supported by stone corbels with wooden cushion beams inserted into the façade wall; these elements support the long wooden floor beams. In some cases, these supporting elements have been recently replaced by steel I beams. The walls are built of a timber structure of horizontal and vertical elements clad with boards in the façades and with horizontal closely-spaced sticks inside the room that provide a support for the traditional mortar. The small roof has its own wooden structure (to ensure the required slope), clad with boards and metal sheet; the whole structure is supported by the main wooden beams in the ceiling.

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Improving public space to improve quality of life Rehabilitation of Qinnisreen street, Aleppo (Syria)

Initial state of a kishk with concrete crown and metal corbels

Commercial activity in public space and a painted historic doorway with metal door and frame

Plan of action Management of the intervention The rehabilitation of Aleppo’s entire historic centre is promoted by the Directorate of the Old City and regulated by the Guidelines for the Restoration and Renovation of the Old City.

This project was financed by GTZ, the German Agency for Technical Cooperation, active in the world of development cooperation since 1975.

Here, rehabilitation work centred on the development of an Action Zone, forming part of the comprehensive planning area of the Dakhel Bab Qinnisreen quarter. This is a mechanism that the Rehabilitation Project of the Old City has adopted to demonstrate the positive effects and benefits of this type of intervention to potential investors as well as to users and beneficiaries. This procedure serves to set interventions within the overall objectives of the Rehabilitation Project of the Old City and reinforce the adopted principles of urban planning.

The first step is to list the objectives and establish an order of priorities. In the first phase, improvements were limited to urgent structural interventions and the restoration of façades and public spaces. It was planned to address the buildings’ interiors in subsequent rehabilitation campaigns.

Constructive detail for the reconstruction of a Kishk

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Improving public space to improve quality of life Rehabilitation of Qinnisreen street, Aleppo (Syria)

Restoring the stones in the façade

Reconstruction of a kishk (traditional wooden balcony)

The project and its implementation The intervention focused mainly on the façades of the buildings lining the street. The first task was to clean the façades, eliminating the vegetation that was growing in the walls as well as the synthetic paint covering them. This phase also involved replacing the metal chimneypots, eliminating modern repair work that used cement, opening up windows and doors that had been bricked in and eliminating the illegal constructions built on some roofs.

Once the façades were cleaned, the next step was to repair cracks, re-point the joints and rough-plaster some stretches of wall not built with façade stones. All of these interventions were carried out using a special mortar that was compatible with the old one.

The roofs above the street façades were restored and waterproofed. In addition, to improve the channelling of rainwater, down pipes were installed and the original stone gargoyles were restored.

Metal door and window frames were replaced by wood in keeping with the local building tradition, and the metal mesh covering some windows was removed. The great wooden doorways were restored and the damaged frames built into the walls were replaced. The traditional kishks were completely restored and, in some cases, had to be completely rebuilt. The traditional wooden awnings partly covering the street above the commercial façades were also renovated.

Improvements to the urban installations consisted in reorganizing telephone and electricity cables, and installing

new cable distribution boxes. New corbel-type street lighting was also fixed on facades. Work on the sewerage system has been left for the next phase, to be carried out alongside general infrastructure works in the quarter.

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Improving public space to improve quality of life Rehabilitation of Qinnisreen street, Aleppo (Syria)

Rehabilitated part before and after intervention

View of the street with its newly installed wooden awnings

Evaluation of the results The success of the project lies principally in halting the process of degradation of the area’s buildings and generating awareness on the part of the residents of the value and importance of the historic centre. Despite the limited budget and modest ambitions, the project was a model of physical and social revitalization that can be applied to various parts of Aleppo’s historic centre.

The finished project has made a far-reaching impact and consolidated the interest of the Directorate of the Old City in rehabilitating the surrounding area.

The improvements to Qinnisreen Street have led to its reintegration in the urban fabric of the historic centre. These interventions have not only improved the quality of life of inhabitants but also the working conditions of traders. However, they have led to an upsurge in the local property market and indirectly consolidated the original families’ attachment to their neighbourhood.

The street has found again its commercial activity

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The street as an element of citizen identity The rehabilitation of a heritage route in the medina, Kairouan (Tunisia) Location: Kairouan, Tunisia

Surface area: 15,000 m2 along an itinerary of 800 m

Objectives: to preserve the local architecture of Kairouan; encourage cultural tourism by promoting routes around the medina; improve the living conditions of inhabitants of the medina, and introduce schemes to improve the faรงades of dwellings and public buildings.

Description of setting: built-up historic fabric with grouped buildings between party walls.

Technical team: Project Director: Rammah Mourad (archaeologist and conservator of the Medina) Clients: Ministry of Culture and heritage preservation, INP (Heritage National Institut), ONAS (National Office for sanitary decontamination of Tunisia), ANEP (National Agency for highlightment and heritage explotation), Tunisia TELECOM , STEG (Tunisian Firm for gaz and electricity), SONEDE (National society for water explotation and distribution), Governing Council and the municipality of Kairouan Supervisor: Azaiez Trabelsi Construction period: 1995-2000 Budget: 800,000 euros

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The street as an element of citizen identity The rehabilitation of a heritage route in the medina, Kairouan (Tunisia)

Jraba Plaza

Description of the area Kairouan is situated in the central part of Tunisia, in the Low Steppe Region. Founded 14 centuries ago, it is known as North Africa’s most important holy city. The city was at the height of its fame at the half of 11th Century before Hilalian invasion devastated it. As it was built and rebuilt, few monuments compose the city, giving it a characteristic wealth of Islamic architecture. Its medina has been UNESCO World Heritage since 1988.

The territory is a large flat depression crossed by three wadies composed by hidraulic dams. These wadies, which constitute one of the characteristics of North Africa relief, have a very irregular hydrological regime, with spectacular spates that can modify their beds, producing marshes in the vicinity.

The area presents a semi-arid climate with a wide temperature range, dry summers, wet winters and very irregular rainfall, though the most intense rain falls around the autumn equinox.

Annual pluviometric average is about 290mm, which is concentrated mainly during automn and spring seasons.

The economy of the area depends largely on the primary sector (stock-keeping and farming), though there are a series of curbs on its development due to low plant cover, inappropriate use of farmland, the salinization of the soil and erosion.

Map of the medina of Kairouan and itinerary carried out

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The street as an element of citizen identity The rehabilitation of a heritage route in the medina, Kairouan (Tunisia)

Double arches

Minaret with a square floor plan

The diagnosis process Urban History The city of Kairouan was founded in the year 670. It served as a base for the conquest of the Maghreb and Spain, and remained the political, economic and spiritual capital of Ifriqiya (Tunisia) for over four centuries. The city developed in a very hostile natural setting, devoid of defensive features and with farming resources at the mercy of harsh climatic conditions.

During this period, the town developed a school of architecture that spread throughout the Maghreb. Despite its decline after the Hilalian invasions in the mid-11th century, the town perpetuated an architectural model that defied time and survived without major changes or damage until the middle of the last century.

This specificity architecture justifies the listing of Kairouan’s Medina as UNESCO World Heritage in 1989. Like all AraboMuslim traditional urban fabrics, the Medina of Kairouan is characterized by the specificity of its urban and functional layout, the relation between public and private space, and its typomorphological characteristics.

The medina of Kairouan is a trapezoid urban complex covering a surface area of 54 hectares, approximately 1000 m long and 500 metres wide. The first wall was built around the medina in 762 bc, though much of it has been demolished and reconstructed. The historic centre has some 20 souks, 25 mausoleums, 30 mosques and 6 madrasas, and a register of 105 historic monuments in its suburbs, of which 22 are listed.

Kairouan has preserved the authenticity of its urban fabric and

A meshrebeeyeh

contains several monuments that are references in Muslim art, such as the Great Mosque, the Aghlabite pools and the Mosque of the Three Doors. Sidi Okba Mosque has always impressed foreign visitors, painter and writers.

The west of the Medina is crossed by a north-south axis, 7 de Novembre Street, joining the city’s two main gateways and leading to the souks at the heart of the urban fabric. The main streets branch off, many ending in narrow alleyways with no systematic hierarchy in the layout.

The urban relation within the very built-up fabric of Kairouan’s medina presents a predominance of full over empty spaces. The empty spaces are provided by courtyards, streets, alleyways and small squares. The courtyards are relatively large and represent the most visible open areas, whereas the public spaces are rather small. Just one plaza can be made out at the heart of the Medina, Jraba Square, set amid the fabric of the souks.

The house, its architecture and construction The houses are all constructed in the same way, without reference to the socio-economic class of the occupants: they give onto a square inner courtyard, the site of most family activities, with a rainwater cistern in the corner. The most characteristic element of the traditional house in Kairouan as compared to the Tunisian house in general is the food storehouse, characterized by specific architectural elements.

The only visible element on the ground floor of the street façade is the large doorway richly decorated with a stone arch, with two doors studded with big black nails to denote the family’s social status. The doorway was only fully opened in the

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The street as an element of citizen identity The rehabilitation of a heritage route in the medina, Kairouan (Tunisia)

A sabbat

event of a big social event in the family. The right leaf generally contains a smaller door for everyday use. Between the inner and the outer worlds there are one, two or three elements that act as buffers, creating a measured route that responds to the characteristics of the Arabic house.

Significant elements in the architectural repertoire of Kairouan are horseshoe and pointed arches, minarets with square floor plans, sabbats or covered alleys, octagonal domes, timberbeam structural floors, the meshrebeeyeh, and groin and barrel vaults.

The main openings in the exterior of the dwelling are normally situated on the first floor. They comprise wooden lattices that filter the light and allow inhabitants to look out without being seen. They are sometimes also accompanied by wooden projections that have the dual function of providing solar protection and keeping water out. Many of them were rotten and in a very poor state of conservation.

The foundations stand on a mixture of broken brick, sand and tamped lime. The walls are built of two withes of fired bricks and lime mortar, which may be as thick as 110 cm to guarantee soundproofing and insulation. The structural floors comprise painted tree trunks running in one direction and sculpted plaster, with varying degrees of elaboration. There are two main types: built of cedar branches measuring 6-15 cm in diameter with a span of no more than 3 m, or timbers of rectangular section arranged at regular intervals and clad with timber boards and painted decorative elements.

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Disturbing interventions for the neighbours

Degradation of heritage Traditional constructions require ongoing maintenance of the roofs and lime-washing of the faรงades, and the use in the mortar of materials such as clay, more susceptible to capillarity on the ground floors.

The passing of time and the poor adaptation of the traditional architecture to new uses and circumstances are the cause of deterioration of the historic centre. Between the 1970s and 1990s, the medinas all over the country presented the same trends and problems: an exodus of prosperous families, replaced by families from rural origins, densification, degradation, poverty and crisis in the artisan class. It reached the point that the madrasas ceased to be schools and became dilapidated houses.

From an architectural viewpoint, total deterioration is noticed: a jumble of overhead electricity cables hanging from buildings, aged faรงades with lifeless, washed-out colours, and particularly deteriorated wall bases lacking rendering and even missing bricks. Another problem in the faรงades was disfiguration due to repair work carried out by the occupants using presentday materials such as cement, which is incompatible with the original materials, producing a run-down, patched-up appearance.

The paving of the medina was in a similar state to the faรงades, either very dilapidated or asphalted over, and in some cases there simply was no paving.

The public buildings revealed the same problems of abandonment and lack of care as the rest of the medina. All of this contributed to a devaluation of medina authenticity and the lost of its traditional urban structure.

The street as an element of citizen identity The rehabilitation of a heritage route in the medina, Kairouan (Tunisia)

Rehabilitation work on a dwelling

Before and after of a façade

Objectives of rehabilitation Kairouan was taken as a pilot project and as an example to follow for other Tunisian medinas and it might be included into the rehabilitation plan implemented by World Bank in order to showcase Tunisia’s architectural heritage.

The specific analysis of this part of the medina of Kairouan took a global approach to its elements, studying and ordering them individually, and then establishing interrelations. The diagnosis of the problem in the medina served to establish the objectives of the intervention. First, an area of intervention was defined, centring on the main street through the medina, as the busiest and most important itinerary. This route leads from 7 de Novembre Street to Sidi Okba mosque, known as the Great Mosque.

roofs that affected habitability and threatened structural repercussions, modifying the compositional characteristics of certain façades to adapt them to the architectural environment of the medina. Replacing ironworks (windows) and woodwork (doors, shutters…) following the traditional patterns. d. Restoration of the main religious buildings and monuments along the route.

Reasonable criteria The main objective was to overcome the abandonment of the historic centre and, at the same time, reactivate cultural tourism. A complementary objective was to improve residents’ living conditions.

This idea informed the following interventions: a. Improvement of urban infrastructures. Provision of water, electricity and telephone installations. Flush fitting in the walls of telephonic and power line that were previously suspended through the streets of the medina. b. Rendering run-down façades with lime mortar, replacing damaged wooden projections and recovering the original street paving. c. Restoration of some private houses, with the cooperation of their owners or occupiers. This involved repairing leaking

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The street as an element of citizen identity The rehabilitation of a heritage route in the medina, Kairouan (Tunisia)

Narrow street in the medina of Kairouan

Electric installation builds in

Plan of action Work was organized into areas of intervention under the supervision of the site manager. Depending on the rate of work and the needs of each area, a timeline was established for each area.

Project and execution: The common denominator of all interventions was the use of local materials, avoiding the incorporation of industrialized materials. Traditional kilns were used to make bricks. The traditional techniques were of course maintained and, whenever possible, more contemporary construction systems were replaced by others, more in keeping with the traditional systems.

Public space The asphalt and other damaged paving were replaced with small tiles, which were simply laid over the existing paving, thereby ensuring a solid surface for vehicles, despite the loss of the drainage capacity of the original.

The coloured tiles were laid out geometrically, incorporating motifs inspired of arabo-muslim decorative repertory to highlight the linearity of a street or the peace and tranquillity of a square. They were created using a mixture of large brick blocks laid on sand and lime, tamped down using a tree trunk.

Consolidation work was carried out to the walls after repairing walls parts near from the floor, replacing material missing from

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New streetlights

The work of the carftsman was essential

their bases, and repointing and rendering the entire surface with the traditional lime mortar and sand.

Timber projections in a poor state of repair were replaced by juniper wood elements.

In keeping with the colour study, the rehabilitated faรงades were whitewash and the door and window frames were painted different shades of blue and, in some cases, white.

Religious buildings, with their bare stone faรงades, were left bare, and door and window frames were painted the original characteristic green.

Private space The consolidation of the main route through the medina also called for a financial effort on the part of the owners or occupants of the dwellings. Improvements were carried out inside the dwellings, transforming spaces previously used as warehouses or granaries into inhabitable spaces in an effort to adapt to new times and lifestyles.

Unfinished dwellings also received the necessary motivation to complete work according to the architectural characteristics of the setting. In some cases, this meant the demolition of concrete structures to adapt it in traditional architectural style.

Roof repairs were carried out in accordance with the traditional technique based on earth covering using on which it applies another brick shard covering and lime without the use of roofing felt. This was possible thanks to the proven ability of the builders who still work with this technique.

The street as an element of citizen identity The rehabilitation of a heritage route in the medina, Kairouan (Tunisia)

Comparing of two buildings, before and after the rehabilitation of the faรงade

Infrastructures Intervention to public infrastructures involved some very important work for the revitalization of the medina and for its inhabitants: the drainage and water supply networks were fully renovated, as were the telephone and electricity installations.

All the new installations were laid beneath the paving or in chasing in the walls, thereby eliminating the cables that had previously marred the medina landscape.

The number of street lamps was increased to ensure sufficient night-time lighting. The existing street lamps were put back, with particular care to prevent light pollution. The model of street lamp used was modified depending on its location.

Evaluation of the results

The intervention in the historic centre, involving the recovery of paving, the elimination of overhead installations, faรงade rehabilitation and the introduction of water, telephone and electricity installations, prompted numerous owners to improve their houses, thereby consolidating rehabilitation work promoted by government agencies. The success of the intervention will serve as an example for other cities in Tunisia and the Maghreb as a whole.

The main difficulty was finding people to coordinate work by liaising with all the agents, government bodies and owners, and obey the criteria of intervention. Some areas were not included precisely because of this difficulty.

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The street as an element of citizen identity The rehabilitation of a heritage route in the medina, Kairouan (Tunisia)

General views of the finished operation

Thanks to the work carried out, the madrasas have recovered their institutional function. The temporary occupants were found improved living conditions in other districts outside the medina.

In general, the intervention was carried out using coherent materials for the context, thanks to the creation of a team of 150 artisans and stonemasons who have preserved their traditional know-how and carefully applied it to the rehabilitation of the medina of Kairouan.

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Adapting to new times and new requirements Plan to protect the historic centre, Safranbolu (Turkey) Site: Safranbolu, Karab端k, Turkey.

Objectives: Protection of an urban environment.

Environment description: Average density. Historic urban fabric.

Technical team: Architect in charge: Ismet Okyay. Three architects and a draughtsman also took part.

Developers: Safranbolu Town Centre Constructor: As it is a protection plan, not specific works, it is not possible to name a company that carried out the work.

Schedule for the operation: Determined by two decrees issued in 1976 and 1985.

Budget: --Area: historic centre: 185 hectares Natural environment: 130 hectares

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Adapting to new times and new requirements Plan to protect the historic centre, Safranbolu (Turkey)

Town plan. Location of the districts arranged according to the courses of the rivers.

Description of the area Safranbolu is a town in the province of Karabük, located in the western Black Sea region of Turkey.

The geological formation of the town is very interesting, as it is located where mountains and valleys meet. In the town itself we can find differences of 200 metres altitude and, on a regional scale, differences of 1,500 metres. Located along a canyon, Safranbolu has a large variety of caves and streams, which cross and run down the hills surrounding the valley. The districts making up the town stand on the slopes of the three valleys.

The historic districts The climate of Safranbolu is characteristic of the transition from the Black Sea to the central area of Anatolia, with hot summers, cold winters and springs and summers that are warm and cold at the same time, and quite long.

This climate, together with the geographical peculiarity, conditioned the character of the three historic districts of the town: 1 .“Çarsi” also known as “The Hole” is located in the lower part of the town and, at its centre, is the market, small traditional businesses, craftspeople and monumental buildings, such as the Ottoman mosques. It is bounded by the confluence of the two rivers, which mark its triangular perimeter.

2. “Kiranköy”, separated from the first district by the valley, is the old Christian district. It originally had a socio-architectural

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View of the traditional market

configuration similar to that of European cities of the same period. The ground floors of the houses was occupied by workshops and the craftspeople and sellers lived on the first floor.

In these two districts, the streets are narrow and winding, with a central channel for collecting surface water.

3. “Baglar”, located higher up, is characterised by traditional detached houses, surrounded by gardens and fruit trees.

It is more open to the wind, and is a place that is colder in summer and snowy in winter. Because of this, summer homes used to be located here. In fact almost all the inhabitants used to have a winter house in the lower part of the town and another in the higher part, where they used to move during the summer.

Adapting to new times and new requirements Plan to protect the historic centre, Safranbolu (Turkey)

Old photo of the Baglar district.

Process of diagnosis A historical approach Safranbolu has been inhabited since prehistory, as shown by the evidence of the tombs dug into the rocks of the area. There are also remains of the coming of the Romans, shown by the Roman temple on the outskirts.

The current structure originates from after the Turkish conquest in the 11th century, when it became a commercial centre. By the 13th century, Safranbolu had become an important stopping point for the caravans taking the east-west commercial route.

Among the buildings from this period are the mosque, the old baths and the Madrasah of Gazi Suleyman Pacha; all built in the same year, 1322.

The caravan trade reached its peak in the 17th century, when the central market was extended in order to meet the needs of travellers, as well as the needs of the local population. A large number of buildings remain from this period, such as the Cinci inn, the Kopruluy mosque, the Izzet Pacha mosque and many shops, stables and baths.

In the 19th century, Safranbolu continued at its peak and wealthy citizens made donations to the town, providing it with many fountains, the Kayak and Hamadiye mosques, the Ali Baba convent and the hospital.

But this long and fruitful period of prosperity reached its end at the beginning of the 20th century, largely for two reasons: changing economic structures and access to the railway.

The inhabitants did not want to carry out the works and

Example of traditional house without renovation.

compulsory purchases necessary to bring the train to the town and nowadays the nearest station is at KarabĂźk, eight kilometres away. This meant the end of economic progress, and the golden age ended. But, on the other hand, due to this decision Safranbolu is a town that has preserved its values and has come down to our time quite intact.

The configuration of the traditional Safranbolu house is largely determined by three factors: the size of families, the rainy climate and financial and cultural wealth.

There is great respect for the environment and for neighbourly relations, as no house visually invades the neighbouring property, although that does not prevent all of them from sharing views of the landscape. Private life was also jealously guarded and there was a clear division within the houses between men and women, a custom that in some cases takes the form of two access doors.

The ground floor was given over to stables, cellars and other agricultural activities. Daily life took place on the upper floor, which had the advantage of being easier to heat. This was where the kitchen and living room were located, accessed via wooden staircases, which were normally carefully crafted. On the top floor were the bedrooms, each one housing a nuclear family.

The characteristic façades correspond to structural conditional factors. The ground floor is resolved with stone masonry and solid walls with openings predominate, while the other floors are built using perimeter structures of wood modulated by pillars and diagonal braces, determining the type and position of the gaps. This construction characteristic marks a very repetitive

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Adapting to new times and new requirements Plan to protect the historic centre, Safranbolu (Turkey)

Example of a traditional Safranbolu house.

series for all the openings in the façade and gives the town a harmonious image. The intermediate space between pillars is filled with clay, bricks or small stones. Also characteristic of the upper floors are wooden projections propped up by diagonal braces supported on the lower floors.

The ceilings, like the vertical structure of the upper floors, are resolved using wooden structures. Many ceilings are magnificently worked and painted. .

The upper floors are marked with many elongated openings with outside shutters of unpainted wood and wooden grilles called “musabaks”. The outdoor wall covering is lime and earth rendering painted with whitewash.

The monumental buildings, both religious and civil, are built based on greyish coloured cut stone.

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Example of a traditional Safranbolu house.

The objectives of the renovation Nowadays, as it is a town that is very well preserved as a whole, and as it has belonged to UNESCO’s world heritage list since 1995, it has become a sight not to be missed by tourists and the district has adapted to the requirements of the new times.

The objectives of the protection plan were: 1. To surround the urban area with a protective belt, sometimes taking the form of creating natural buffers and, in other cases, allowing the construction of new buildings with densities similar to those in the historic areas.

2. To maintain aesthetic criteria in the town, shown in the maintenance of urban dimensions and the prevention of any kind of expansion to facilitate wheeled transport.

To take care of vegetation established in public areas and ensure that the materials used on façades are of local origin.

To maintain the pedestrian nature of certain streets.

3. To establish strict regulations to ensure compliance with the architectural requirements for preserving monumental buildings and giving them public functions. Firstly, the demolition of traditional buildings was prohibited and, for those of more contemporary construction, a series of criteria for action were established to adapt them to the traditional environment. In addition, town planning parameters were established to fix limits for plots within each district, regulation heights, building rights, occupation, boundaries with neighbours and streets and all parameters ensuring appropriate action. To provide a response to the need for

Adapting to new times and new requirements Plan to protect the historic centre, Safranbolu (Turkey)

Interior of a rehabilitated house converted into a restaurant

“Sofa� area of a traditional house rehabilitated

new building, greater freedom of action was allowed in the newly created peripheral district.

4. To carry out street paving works using local stone and expanding public infrastructures, fitting more street lamps, benches and street furniture.

5. Various social actions to promote greater cultural and tourist development of the town. In accordance with this aim, the Safranbolu cultural week was established.

The children go to school through rehabilitated streets

The new constructions try to follow traditional patterns

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Adapting to new times and new requirements Plan to protect the historic centre, Safranbolu (Turkey)

Rehabilitated traditional house as hotel before and after

Assessment of the results By missing the train to modernity and rapid communications the town has kept itself apart from the bustle of industrial cities and has come down to our times more or less intact. Its history is easily recognisable through reading its urban structure. It now wants its housing stock to meet contemporary standards of comfort and features, so that tourists can enjoy this traditional cultural environment forged coherently over history.

This updating of the buildings and of the town itself could not be done anarchically, and the Plan has served to establish reasonable criteria for this transformation. Today, a large number of owners have invested in their homes and adapted them for new uses, mainly tourism. The larger ones have been renovated by big companies.

The great economic activity bringing tourism with it represents two sides of the same coin: on one hand it is an economic driving force enlivening the area and making better use of its features and, on the other, it means that, through this sector, the town is becoming less and less authentic. In these cases, a well-managed transformation is essential.

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Traditional house after rehabilitation.

Rehabilitation experiences. Buildings

The transformation of a large complex of buildings into a museum Renovation of the Hadj Ahmed Bey, Constantine (Algeria) Site: Commander Si Haouas Square (historic centre), Constantine, Algeria.

Objectives: Renovation of the Hadj Ahmed Bey palace to turn it into a museum.

Environment description: Dense historic fabric Technical team: Stanislaw Habowski, renovation project (1982), chief architect from the PKZ partnership (Warsaw, Poland) and Abdelaziz Badjadja, project manager (June 2003) and site manager.

Developers: Ministry of Culture (delegation of Directorate of Town Planning and Construction) and National Archaeology Agency Constructor: EC Mila (1991), ETP Lahmar (2002) and various small companies between 1995 and 1998 Date: Project, 1981/82; completion of preliminary studies, 1986; temporary consolidation and urgent measures, 1988; beginning of restoration work, 1991.

Budget: 3,000,000 euros Area: 2,915m2 renovated, 1840m2 gardens.

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The transformation of a large complex of buildings into a museum Renovation of the Hadj Ahmed Bey, Constantine (Algeria)

Historic photo of the galleries

Concerning the environment and background to the intervention Located in the north-east of Algeria, about 80 kilometres from the coast, Constantine is considered the capital of eastern Algeria. It is the country’s third city, with more than two million inhabitants.

Due to its excellent defensive position, the land on which Constantine stands has been land permanently occupied for more than 2500 years. A spectacular looking deep ravine surrounds the city, with various bridges and a viaduct crossing it.

It was founded three centuries before Christ, it has been a settlement of various civilisations and, in antiquity, it was known by the name of Cirta. It was rebuilt by the Emperor Constantine, from whom it takes the name by which it is known today.

During the 18th century, Constantine had a Bey who raised the city to the level of capital, providing it with very beautiful buildings, such as the mosque and the Madrassah. In the 19th century came the French occupation of Algeria, a time when Constantine took a position against French domination.

This point coincided with the construction of the renovated building.

The social situation of the district where the palace is located does not show significant problems, as it is an administrative zone from the French period, with an average/high economic level.

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Model of the palace

Description of the building The renovated palace is located in the historic centre of the city of Constantine and was built (from 1826 to 1835) by the last Bey of Constantine, El Hadj Ahmed Bey Mohamed Cherif (1789-1848).

A pre-existing building belonging to the king’s mother marked the initial pattern. It was transformed into a whole complex formed by gardens and courtyards, whose various bodies are largely open towards the interior, creating a real protective citadel.

The complex, located in the historic centre of the city, was surrounded by dense streets and alleyways overlooking an important square that highlighted the building’s main façade.

The palace is made up of 27 galleries, raised on columns of marble originating from all over the Mediterranean, giving access to 121 rooms. There are two main gardens binding the whole complex together: the orange tree garden and the great garden, as well as other courtyards and exterior courtyards helping to organise the whole complex. Water elements, such as ponds, appear in these.

The various bodies of buildings are linked by galleries as elements of transition from one body to another. The massive volumes are organised around the courtyards, marking the whole block with a clear defensive purpose. They are largely bodies with a ground floor and upper floor, although there are also volumes with a ground floor and two upper floors, as can be seen on the main façade.

The transformation of a large complex of buildings into a museum Renovation of the Hadj Ahmed Bey, Constantine (Algeria)

Polychrome features of the building.

File photo

Process of diagnosis

Architectural analysis

Concerning historical-archaeological values

The main architectural problem was the damage to the spaces under the rule of the various governments. The diagnosis studies consisted of determining the historical period to which the building should be taken back and historical period to which each action belonged.

The conclusion of the ideas of the project, beyond purely technical variables, was strongly politicised.

The rich polychrome murals should be highlighted as evidence of the different events of the Ottoman and French periods in the 19th century.

Before independence, the building was used as a seat of government, in the Ottoman period as a government palace (beylik) and when Constantine fell into the hands of the French, as a palace of the French armed division.

During the colonial period the town planning of the immediate surroundings was transformed. In order to eliminate a large number of difficult-to-control alleyways, work was undertaken to provide new urban alignments. Perimeter volumes of the palace were removed to provide wider surrounding streets and visual control. This planning operation also involved the disappearance of the open channels in these alleys.

After 1962, the palace took on a more cultural role, with temporary exhibitions and shows, without any permanent museum programme. It also included the caretaker’s house and a block given over to administrative functions.

Specific study of the colour Colour studies were carried out throughout the building, involving complex teamwork with experts analysing the numerous and elaborate polychrome features. The colours of the façade had changed over time and none has been defined that conclusively characterises the building.

The work to recover the interior polychrome features has not yet begun, and is awaiting the completion of the structural consolidation work.

Current state of the constructive elements Assessment of the structure The foundations consist of blocks of worked stone of various sizes extracted from quarries near the palace. They have undergone a process of degradation due to the poor state of the sewerage network which had altered the ground conditions and affected the stability of the subsoil. Differential settlement has been generated that is clearly visible through vertical cracks in the walls.

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The transformation of a large complex of buildings into a museum Renovation of the Hadj Ahmed Bey, Constantine (Algeria)

State of the gallery pillars

Existing ceramic slabs

The walls were of masonry and the horseshoe arches of the galleries manufactured with solid brick. The first courses of some walls were reused pieces from older buildings that were used as a base.

It was determined that the walls were in good general condition, except for certain points where they had fallen slightly. The most degraded areas corresponded to the pillars of the arcades which, as they were made up of bricks and masonry, had lost material from the joints and were subject to tensions at certain points that caused cracks and ruptured pieces.

The ceilings were largely of wooden beams throughout the building and the material between the beams consisted of boards, also of wood. They were normally hidden under a very valuable polychromed false ceiling.

The structural state of preservation of the ceilings did not make it possible to guarantee the additional load involved in the use the building was intended for, and this led to structural uncertainty.

Assessment of the envelope As is characteristic of Arab types of palace, the openings to the outside are small and discreet, with little decoration of the faรงade. Only at the main access point through a marble doorway from the French period in the 19th century and on the upper floor, with some windows arranged with triple-lobed arches, can the more elaborate work on the outer faรงade be seen. The rest is rendered.

By contrast, the inside is much richer and more elaborate; on the ground floor the outstanding features are the ceramic rails and mortar skimming as a base for the polychrome features.

The roofs are pitched, with one, two or four surfaces. The tiles covering the roofs during the initial Ottoman period were green Arab tiles. During the French period they were replaced with flat pink tiles from Marseille.

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The state prior to the intervention showed that the roof drainage was working poorly due to the lack of maintenance, as the downpipes were not working properly. There were many points where water had entered inside, considerably affecting the ceilings immediately below.

Degree of obsolescence of the installations.

All the installations were obsolete, particularly the drainage network, which had water leak problems that had come to affect the subsoil and, as a result, the whole building because of the problems involved with an unstable subsoil.

Decoration and finishes Few finishes had come down to us in good condition and, in fact, a great deal of the palace lacked flooring. Only the galleries and entrances preserved the marble slabs and the rooms maintained the original ceramic flooring. It must be pointed out that four rooms belonging to the King and his family had preserved ceramic elements on their walls and historic motifs.

The transformation of a large complex of buildings into a museum Renovation of the Hadj Ahmed Bey, Constantine (Algeria)

New pillar

Strengthening of ceilings

Renovation scheme Under the mandate of the public authorities in 1981, the main concept of the project consisted of recovering the palace back to the Ottoman period and eliminating any trace or vestige reminiscent of the colonial period. This idea involved demolishing all partition walls subdividing the spaces as initially designed, recovering original materials and eliminating all carpentry from the 19th and 20th centuries fitted in the galleries, leaving them clean and uncluttered, as they had been initially designed.

Because of the various interruptions during the progress of the work, there was time for further reflection on the initial directives and the criteria for the works were softened, valuing the historical stratification making it possible to read the historical stages experienced by the building.

The recovery of the gardens was also very important. After diagnosis work, a group of experts drew up a landscaping scheme for the gardens to restore them as they had been designed.

Description of the work Actions on the structure The technical monitoring body managing the work considered it necessary to consolidate the ground and foundations with injections of cement.

The walls followed the same consolidation criteria as the foundations through the addition of contemporary materials, such as steel. Its introduction into the building went against the original structural concept, as beams were fitted on the gallery arcades to ensure that the horseshoe arches did not twist, while the opportunity was taken to tie them to other transversal beams to eliminate the risk of the walls falling down.

Metal beams ensuring the walls remain vertical and establishing a new load system

Something similar happened with the wooden beams, which were replaced by metal ones covered with false ceiling wood.

A large proportion of the existing wooden ceilings were replaced with new ceilings made up of IPN metal beams with concrete in between. Where there were false ceilings of polychromed wood these were preserved and, in some cases, this was used as a permanent framework when it came to making the reinforced ceilings using compressed layers of concrete with electro-welded mesh.

Actions on the envelope All the faรงade coverings were chipped off and the joints cleaned up. They were replaced using similar historic construction materials and techniques.

The roofs were strengthened as all the wooden components were greatly deteriorated, making it necessary to reconstruct them. The opportunity was taken to replace the existing colonial period tiles with Arab tiles of the original green colour.

Renewal of installations All the new installations have been put in channelled into the walls, except in cases where it was possible to pass them through the new reinforcing ceilings.

The water for washing and fire protection installations were passed through the attics as all are accessible ensuring the proper design of the network and easy periodic monitoring.

Recovery of finishes The criterion used for the finishes was to return them to their original state. Fortunately the majority could be recovered.

Concerning flooring, the most important element is the recovery of the pond and courtyard using pieces of marble alternating square and hexagonal geometry.

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The transformation of a large complex of buildings into a museum Renovation of the Hadj Ahmed Bey, Constantine (Algeria)

Internal garden after the intervention

Roof after the intervention

Assessment of the results This work has been a new experience in Algeria, as renovation is a concept that has hardly been introduced, even in the university or public bodies. Up until 1998, renovation had been ignored, so this has been a pioneering enterprise and a great example for future actions in the country.

It has been necessary to fight against regulations designed only from the point of view of numerically quantifiable materials for new works. This left those responsible for the project with a difficult task of reconciling legal requirements with not compromising the historical construction techniques used to put up the building.

Political events have also marked the development of the works and even conditioned the project criteria of wiping any French colonial reference from the skin of the building. This involved eliminating a period the building had been through, and, to a point, its value as evidence of what happened at a particular historical period that left an indelible mark on the collective memory of Algerian society.

View of the renovated building

Patio galleries after the intervention

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Attention to the spaces and materiality of traditional architecture Rehabilitation of Annic de Rochefort house, Lefkara (Cyprus) Location: Pano Lefkara.

Objectives: To rehabilitate a single-family house to meet present-day requirements.

Description of the setting: high-density historic fabric.

Technical team: Diomedes Myrianthefs, architect; George Demetriades, civil engineer.

Client: Annic de Rochefort, owner of the building.

Contractor: Kasopeios LTD. Date: 2001-2003.

Budget: 343,200 euros (including tax, with a Government subsidy of 61,175 euros).

Surface area: 493 m2

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Attention to the spaces and materiality of traditional architecture Rehabilitation of Annic de Rochefort house, Lefkara (Cyprus)

Lefkara women employed in the centuries-old tradition of embroidery

About the setting. Background to the intervention The rehabilitated house is located in the historic centre of Lefkara, not far from its main church of Timios Stavros (Holly Cross). Situated in the semi-mountainous region of Larnaka, the village is characterized by the white of its siliceous and limestone rocks, from which it takes its name, Lefkara, from the Greek Lefka-ori, white mountains.

Equidistant from Nicosia, the Cypriot capital, Larnaka the regional town, and Limassol, the island’s main port, the village has been inhabited without interruption for centuries. It formed part of the Byzantine Empire, succeeded by the Frankish and Venetian periods (1193-1473), and in the 16th century Lefkara was the largest small town in Cyprus. From 1571 to 1870, it was occupied by the Turks and it was in this period that the typical house was defined: bare stone construction, few openings onto the street, interior distribution around a courtyard and flat roofs.

In 1878 Cyprus became a British colony, during which period the commercialization of its fantastic embroidery on the European market generated spectacular economic growth. The sloping tiled roof, long balconies and façades of neo-classical inspiration are characteristic of this period.

World War II interrupted the trade in embroidery, which never fully recovered. Finally, in 1960 Cyprus achieved independence, even if unemployment led to forced emigration and by the 1960s half the village stood empty. Tourism in the 1970s saved Lefkara from economic disaster. The intact traditional architecture, the embroidery and artisan silverwork attracted tourists. This new

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Image of a Lefkara street, pre-1950

lease of economic life also saw the appearance of numerous modern constructions and a large number of abandoned traditional houses.

The district is currently recovering the local traditional architecture which has, for the most part, survived intact.

After some fragmentation of the traditional social fabric due to the impact of tourism, there is now an effort to recover local values, from artisan work to vernacular architecture. This period of recuperation included the project to rehabilitate this house.

The site itself had been inhabited for several centuries. The house was occupied by various families, the last occupant being a major landowner and wine producer. In recent years, the house has stood empty. The current owner and client is a foreign national who plans to make it home and become part of the Lefkara community.

Description of the building The building comprises of two volumes. The first, three-storey part plays the role of portal, leading from the street to the interior with its courtyard. Next comes the courtyard and at the back side the main volume of the house, built completely on a ground floor, with a first floor that occupies just the central bay.

This singular volume provides the first floor with all-round ventilation without any loss of privacy.

Attention to the spaces and materiality of traditional architecture Rehabilitation of Annic de Rochefort house, Lefkara (Cyprus)

Location of the house (in red) in the immediate urban setting

The diagnosis process Historical and archaeological values Though this site was probably previously occupied by other constructions, the building in question dates from the early 19th century. The house was built in various phases during a period of over a century and became one of the village’s largest properties.

In the 1950s, the built volume as it now exists, was completed.

The oldest part is the ground floor in the street volume, where the upper floor of the entire house dates from the early 20th century. The newest part of the building is the second floor of the entrance volume.

The building is a B-listed ancient monument.

Architectural analysis The present-day building is the result of numerous extensions to meet previous owners needs. The combination of two volumes and the empty spaces generate a very interesting layout. The courtyard contains two outdoor stairways that lead to the upper floors of the two volumes, leading from the centre to the opposite corners of the upper floor.

Each of the different construction phases reflects the architectural style of its time. In the main building, of the plot, the two floors have covered galleries called iliakos, very widespread in the area, whose arches are the house’s two most characteristic architectural elements. The annexed spaces on the ground floor were used as a winepress, storeroom and cellar.

The house before the intervention

Colour study In the street space, colour is limited to the small stretch of bare stone. A pigmented lime wash called loulaki provides the colour on the inside. On the upper floors, the chromatic sobriety of the stone is replaced by a white lime render.

Under this heading, the vegetation introduces a touch of colour that changes with the seasons. Despite being abandoned, the plants were very healthy.

Present state of the elements of the building Evaluation of the structure The foundations were formed by the masonry wall built into the ground to a depth of 60 cm which did not present pathologies.

The walls of the house are probably built on old demolished buildings.

All the walls on the ground floor are built of undressed local stone. The masonry combines medium-sized stones with smaller ones that fill in the joints. The voussoirs, lintels, jambs and dripstones are also built with undressed stone.

On the upper floor, the construction system varies and some walls comprise timber infill, with timber rises and crosspieces filled in with brick and finished with a plaster render coat. In general, the stone walls had some minor cracks but there was sagging in some sectors of the upper floor.

The building’s floor structures comprised of timber beams, volitzia, on top of which smaller branches were laid very close together and above them soil was laid. As a result of abandonment, many of the floor structures had started to sag and others were in a poor state of preservation. In some floor

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La atención por los espacios y la materialidad de la arquitectura tradicional Rehabilitación de la casa Annic de Rochefort, Lefkara (Chipre)

The interior before the intervention

Degraded coating

structures, the span was subdivided by a main timber beam with a rounded section. Steel beams were used to reinforce other areas.

Evaluation of the envelope The courtyard façades reflect the building’s different periods of construction. On the ground floor, the windows and doors were small, while on the upper floor they are larger.

On the ground floor, bare stone is omnipresent, whereas on the upper floors it is combined with lime renders. The main elements in the façades are the covered galleries known as iliakos. The large pointed arches on the ground floor are other important features. Apart from these elements, the façades are not highly decorated.

The main ridge roof, with its tile cladding and projections, is clearly representative of the colonial period. The structure is formed by timber rafters and boarding to which the roof tiles are directly attached. There was no kind of insulation, and rainwater was drained via guttering and drainpipes in the façade. Due to lack of maintenance, the roof was in an advanced state of deterioration.

The flat roofs comprised layers of rammed earth. Some had been covered with concrete in the 1950s.

Degree of obsolescence of the installations None of the old installations could be reused. Even the water installation was removed, as it had been unused for years.

Ornamentation and finishes A few spaces were decorated with a pigmented lime paint known as loulaki.

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Succesives layers of roof finded

The rehabilitation project The aim of intervention was to rehabilitate the built complex, as far as possible respecting the authentic nature and original materials. The traditional construction techniques and original materials were combined as necessary with modern construction elements. The parts of the building to be most changed by the intervention were the installations. The owner decided to incorporate a whole series of fittings to meet present-day comfort requirements: bathrooms, central heating, electricity, etc. However, this did not change the original spaces.

The ground floor even retains the wine-production installations as a reminder of the house’s agricultural origins.

Two factors are clearly recognisable after the intervention: the creation of an internal stairway in the main volume and the adaptation of rooms to accommodate bathrooms and a kitchen.

A comparison of the general volume before and after the intervention shows that the house remains essentially unaltered.

Description of construction work Interventions in the structure After testing, the foundations proved to be in good condition.

As the intervention did not represent a variation in the original loads, there was no need for reinforcement. Few parts in the wall structure that seemed likely to collapse were demolished and rebuilt using the same stones and technique.

The cracks were reinforced by pointing using a lime mortar similar to the original. The most representative structural

La atenci贸n por los espacios y la materialidad de la arquitectura tradicional Rehabilitaci贸n de la casa Annic de Rochefort, Lefkara (Chipre)

Longitudinal section before the intervention

First floor before the intervention

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La atenci贸n por los espacios y la materialidad de la arquitectura tradicional Rehabilitaci贸n de la casa Annic de Rochefort, Lefkara (Chipre)

Section as envisioned by the project

First floor as envisioned by the project

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La atención por los espacios y la materialidad de la arquitectura tradicional Rehabilitación de la casa Annic de Rochefort, Lefkara (Chipre)

Structural consolidation during the construction phase

intervention was the correction of a sagging wall, using stainless steel cables. This delicate operation served to return the wall to the vertical and redress the load transmission.

The cables were then embedded inside the walls at different heights to continue their bracing function. On the first floor, the wooden infilling was removed to allow protective priming of the timber-frame elements that were then filled in with bricks.

Most of the floor structures had to be rebuilt. Wherever possible, the original beams were reused otherwise they were replaced by new with circular section similar to the original. Some of the main beams were also replaced, in this case using rectangular sections, as large enough beams with a circular section could not be found.

Interventions in the envelope The narrow street façade, the bare party walls and the courtyard façades, whether restored or newly constructed walls, were all built of bare local stone. All the timber elements that formed part of the façade were treated with colourless open-pore varnish. The railings of the balconies and stairways were completed with black-painted metal bars, and galvanized steel guttering and drainpipes were installed.

All the roofs were rebuilt, combining original tiles and similar new ones. The appearance of the underside was identical to before the intervention.

Renovation of installations All the installations are new but, at the owner’s request, care was taken to ensure that the pipes and wiring did not represent a major impact. Particular attention was paid to the rational installation of guttering and drainpipes.

Restoration of finishes The interiors of the iliakos galleries were finished using the local pigmentation technique, loulaki, a very old tradition of Greek origin that had fallen into disuse. The raw material was imported from Greece, where they still produce this pigment, a blue mineral powder that is mixed with water and lime, and applied directly onto bare stone walls or a fine coat of plaster.

Although blue is the most usual colour, tones of ochre, red, pink and white were also used.

The rest of the volume was predefined by the bare stone walls and the roofing tiles. The wooden elements were left bare with their original colour and treated with an open-poor varnish.

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La atenci贸n por los espacios y la materialidad de la arquitectura tradicional Rehabilitaci贸n de la casa Annic de Rochefort, Lefkara (Chipre)

Cable bracing to correct subsidence

Intervention on the cribwork wall of wood

Evaluation of the results Traditional techniques were used throughout. This was the first time the loulaki technique has been recovered in this country.

No major modifications were made, the project being based largely on pre-existing features. Although rehabilitation work was delayed for several months, relations between the owner and the contractor were very good, based on mutual respect.

The result will serve as a model for future projects. Lefkara can look forward to an increasing trend in the recuperation of traditional houses in the near future, and cases like this one will proliferate.

Rehabilitated roof

Colour test on the loulaki technique

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Terrace on the upper floor

La atenci贸n por los espacios y la materialidad de la arquitectura tradicional Rehabilitaci贸n de la casa Annic de Rochefort, Lefkara (Chipre)

Street fa莽ade

Bedroom in the upper floor

Central courtyard

Archway on the courtyard

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Recovering architectural heritage, recovering craft skills Renovation of Bayt El Suhaymi, Cairo (Egypt) Site: El-Darb El-Asfar, an alley off El-Moez Street. In the Gamaliya district. Historic centre of Cairo.

Objectives: Converting an Ottoman mansion into a cultural centre Environment description: High density historic fabric Technical team: Nabil Saleh, Reem Ahmed Wafay, Asaad Nadim, architects and AFESD. Developers: AFESD, Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.

Constructor: --Date: 1994-2000 Budget: 2,100,000 euros, including tax.

Area: 2,000m2 of constructed area 1,800m2 useful.

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Recovering architectural heritage, recovering craft skills Renovation of Bayt El Suhaymi, Cairo (Egypt)

Location of the Ottoman house in the medieval urban street plan

View of the buildings complex from the street el Moez

Concerning the environment and background to the intervention After its foundation, the Fatimid city of Al-Qahira (969 AD), today known as Cairo, became a fortified city of medieval Islam, which has grown with successive expansions. The central spine of the city is El-Moez Street, running north-south. In this district, the oldest in the city, the residential areas, made up of large and small houses with central courtyards (the dars), are mixed together, forming dense neighbourhoods called muhallas.

The mansions are among the most important examples of traditional architecture in Cairo. Some of these houses still survive, providing us with valuable information about the nature of traditional Cairo architecture and its building techniques.

Bayt El Suhaymi, the house under renovation, stands on the eastern side of El Moez Street, near the northern gate of Bab al-Futuh.

During the 19th century, in the reign of Mohammed Ali, Egypt underwent a period of modernisation affecting all aspects of life. Egyptian society gradually moved from a traditional lifestyle to a more modern one. The Egyptians forgot many aspects of their traditional ways, adopting more Western ones in their place. Architecture clearly did not escape this impact.

This transformation process was developed to its maximum level in the 1960s, under Nasser.

In general, this district, called Gamaliya, had its period of greatest splendour between its foundation and the Ottoman period and the 19th century. It then went into a period of decline, and the majority of the elite moved to other districts outside the wall. Shortly after it was bought by the administration in 1931,

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Ground floor of the El Suhaymi house and transversal section with the combination of the main courtyard and other secondary ones

Recovering architectural heritage, recovering craft skills Renovation of Bayt El Suhaymi, Cairo (Egypt)

View of the main courtyard from the access from the street

View of the central courtyard from the “takhtabosh”, looking towards the access from the street

the El Suhaymi house was lived in only by the caretaker of the property and his family.

Various campaigns to renovate the historic district in general, and the mansion in particular, have succeeded one another.

For several decades the district has been recovering its vitality, partly thanks to the increase in tourism.

Sistem of lighting and zenithal ventilation

Description of the building The mansion is developed in the middle of a dense urban block and a series of volumes are distributed around two courtyards, one more ostentatious and the other functional and private, with the main access on the south side. Bayt El Suhaymi is a worthy example of a mansion from the Ottoman period. From the street, a set back access leads indirectly to the first courtyard, thereby ensuring privacy between the house and the public space. Once inside, a takhtabosh (reception portico for male visitors in the summer) can be seen at the back of the central courtyard, the most representative one. On the left we can see a qa’a (lounge) behind a wooden screen.

The main qa’a is in the centre of the courtyard but to get into it the doors on either side of the screens must be used. We can guess where two more qa’as were on the eastern side of the courtyard, four qa’as and a hall on the first floor and, finally, another on the second floor. On the roof we can find six lanterns, a device for capturing the wind, a room and several terraces at different levels. All these elaborate architectural elements appear majestic from inside the courtyard, which is undoubtedly the most ostentatious.

Continuing the route towards the inside, another courtyard appears with a big garden and service annexes, a wheel for raising water from the well (sakieh) and a mill. These different volumes, together with the corresponding courtyard, complete the building.

A total of 115 rooms and distribution areas are spread over five floors. The meticulous distribution and carefully worked out routes meet the requirements of privacy between genders and

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Recovering architectural heritage, recovering craft skills Renovation of Bayt El Suhaymi, Cairo (Egypt)

View of the covered of the whole before rehabilitation

between visitors and residents. It has all the components of a traditional Cairo house and it is in the courtyard where the architectural quality of the site can be best appreciated. As Hassan Fathy wrote: “For the Arabs, the courtyard is something more than an architectural resource for achieving privacy and protection. It is like a dome - part of a microcosm reflecting the order of the universe itself.”

Details of the degradation of walls and lattices

Process of diagnosis Concerning historical-archaeological values This huge house, which was built in the mid-18th century by a sheikh, was extended over a period of several years. At the end of the 19th century it was lived in by a professor at the famous Al-Azhar university of Koranic studies, called Amin El Suhaymi, and it took its modern name from him.

Like all the Ottoman houses, El Suhaymi was built on the site of previous constructions. This house appears to be on the site of the old public slaughterhouse of the Fatimid period.

The oldest part of the building is in the extreme south-east, constructed by Sheikh Abd al-Wahab al-Tablawi in 1648. The second phase was developed by Haj Ismael Shalabi in 1699, including the maqaad (entrance lounge) on the ground floor. Later extensions were made in 1730 and 1796. The last important additions were made at the end of the 19th century, and, in 1890, the Committee for the Preservation of Monuments of Arab Art listed the house.

Architectural analysis The combination of the internal courtyards with the different bodies of buildings very delicately describes the transition between the exterior and the interior. Although it is the result of many extensions, the group of buildings appears as a unit.

This fantastic example of Ottoman urban house has all the elements characteristic of this architectural language: Qa’a: main room of the house for use only by men

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Recovering architectural heritage, recovering craft skills Renovation of Bayt El Suhaymi, Cairo (Egypt)

Exterior view before and after rehabilitation

Takhtaboosh: annexe to the courtyard for receiving visitors in summer Maqaad: A covered balcony overlooking the courtyard to receive cool breezes from the north Malqaf: a peculiar mechanism on the roof for capturing the breeze and bringing it inside.

Mucharabis: screens of turned wood providing the interior with intimacy and light Specific study of the colour The painstaking recovery of elements on the façade ensured the best possible chromatic integration of the intervention.

Lime rendering, finely carved wood and elements of worked stone delicately combine their brown and ochre tones, only interrupted as a counterpoint by the refreshing green of the garden.

Current state of the constructive elements Assessment of the structure The house is built on top of Fatimid walls. The foundations are no more than the continuation of the stone load-bearing walls, but they are wider and denser. Most of the foundations are built on top of old buildings. 28 test pits were dug to inspect the foundations, and it was found that their depth varied between a maximum of five metres and a minimum of three with respect to the level of the flooring on the ground floor, which shows the many layers of buildings over the site’s long history.

Due to rising damp, a large number of the stone walls show efflorescence of salts on their surfaces. A traditional preservative

factory to the northeast of the property used to tip its waste into the drain network and this crossed the site of the mansion.

The very poor state of the installation led to a constant high level of damp in the soil and affected the foundations.

The walls are built of ashlar blocks on the ground floor and of mud walling from the first floor upwards. They were still in reasonable condition despite the problems due to leaks, the defective drainage system, rising damp and damaging previous repairs.

About six hundred cracks were counted in the walls, some of them running right through. These cracks, due to settlement, seismic movements and nil maintenance, did not involve any risk for the stability of the building, as this type of wall is very elastic.

The original ceilings were made of wooden beams, many of which showed important cracks and breaks due to fungi, woodworm and termites. Damage was also found in the marble and natural stone flooring.

Assessment of the envelope The street and courtyard façades were developed differently.

While in the public space the elevations are very austere, with a very thick looking ground floor wall; by contrast, all the elements that the rich Arab architectural language has available to it are concentrated in the courtyard: qaas, takhtaboosh, maqaad, mucharabis, etc. Although they showed some damage, their general condition made it possible to recover the original façades without the need for risky interpretations.

The different roofs, consisting of a group of accessible terraces, were situated at different levels. This landscape of terraces is interrupted only by a series of lanterns and the spectacular device for capturing the wind called a malqaf. As dictated by

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Recovering architectural heritage, recovering craft skills Renovation of Bayt El Suhaymi, Cairo (Egypt)

Sewing of fissures in walls and arcs, with pieces of wood

tradition, it lacked any kind of specific waterproofing and was based on constant maintenance. Its abandonment had led to leaks, eroding the building on the floors immediately below.

This arrangement of many small volumes is also for climatic reasons, as it reduces the surface exposed to the sun because of the many shadows cast.

Degree of the installations obsolescence There were few installations and they were in a precarious state.

The biggest problem was due to the poor state of the sewer and the main drain from the neighbouring houses. Of course, the building lacked a suitable electrical installation.

Decoration and finishes In this building, the finishes were particularly important.

Laboriously made screens of turned wood, false ceilings of polychromed wood, richly carved doors and cupboards, marble flooring of delicately combined colours and walls with finely carved stone could all be observed. A degree of deterioration affected all the finishes described and recovering them demanded certain urgency in the action before some examples of craftsmanship with high artistic value were lost. In any case, the quality of the materials originally used meant they had stood up to the long periods of abandonment without too many problems.

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Renovation scheme The renovation and preservation of El Suhaymi for future generations have used an integral academic methodology and the basic principles of restoration were applied to preserve genuine historic elements, allowing replacement only when absolutely necessary and when there is no alternative. In such exceptional cases, materials similar to the originals were used and all controls possible were applied to ensure the future of the monument.

Before the rehabilitation, it was necessary to direct a series of studies and documents including all the damage to the building, and to create a complete file on the current state of the house, so the experts responsible for the scheme in the future would have enough basic information. All recommendations for restoration, suggestions and decisions were recorded, as well as detailed documentation of all activities, step by step.

In addition, during the renovation of the building itself, the scheme established the obligation to maintain a daily order book to document the experiment for future reference.

A group of experts and scientific institutions in various fields had to work together for the investigation in a positive atmosphere of co-ordination. This teamwork has made possible a series of reports documenting and providing advice on the real situation at El Suhaymi, as well as the formulation of the principles and solutions for the renovation. The reports were completed with photographs and drawings and everything was classified on computer to manage the works and for future reference and publication. The collection of data during 1994 and 1995 provided a large quantity of valuable scientific information. It would undoubtedly have been impossible to start the renovation work without this prior step. In 1996, the

Recovering architectural heritage, recovering craft skills Renovation of Bayt El Suhaymi, Cairo (Egypt)

Works of restauration of the great panels of “moucharabieh�

works on El Suhaymi began under the protocol described in the preparatory studies and the operations to be carried out to ensure the best solution was practised were assessed at every step.

All this recovery effort was made with the main ideal of preserving the heritage asset, leaving the importance of the proposed programme for the renovation product at a second level. In this case, the use it was adapted for was an art gallery, function room and cultural centre.

Description of the work Actions on the structure The sewerage network was redistributed in such a way that the drains affecting the house were removed, and, once this had been resolved, no important interventions were required in the foundations of the mansion. In the load-bearing walls, the cracks were treated by cleaning up each one and then filling it in, using the same material based on pieces of man-made ceramic with mortar, according to the specifications obtained through analysis of the pre-existing ones. Wooden beams and stainless steel profiles were used to join the new material to the old, thereby unifying the structural behaviour. To clean the salts from the stone walls, loam and sand patches were used. Once dry they were removed, taking the salts with them.

The wooden structure of the ceilings was treated with pesticides using spray, fumigation and direct injection. In the few cases where it was necessary, deteriorated beams were removed and replaced by similar new wooden ones with the correct hygrometric conditions for preventing subsequent movement.

Actions on the envelope Action was taken with the same traditional techniques used to construct the building. The original rendering provided the guidelines for making a new one with the same characteristics, which could therefore be applied everywhere. Expert local craftsmen were able to replace a whole series of wooden items that had deteriorated.

After restoring the roofs affected by damp, the perimeter walls were rebuilt and drainage slopes were formed. To prevent excess weight, light lime mortar was chosen to form these slopes. In some cases, wooden boards were used as a structural solution in order to distribute specific loads from the beams over a greater area of the walls.

Renewal of installations As installations had to be replaced or new ones introduced in order to avoid excessive channelling into load-bearing walls, the lower layer of the flooring on the ground floor was used.

Recovery of finishes As we have highlighted, many of the finishes were very refined and of great value and, thanks to the fact that the capacity of local craftsmen is still alive, it has been largely been possible to recover the splendour of the original Ottoman house.

Laboriously turned wood, fine marble carving and brilliant lime stuccoes have topped off this painstaking architectural renovation and have given this mansion a renewed splendour.

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Recovering architectural heritage, recovering craft skills Renovation of Bayt El Suhaymi, Cairo (Egypt)

Mosaic of pictures of various details showing the quality of decorative elements and the fine work of the craftsmen in their restauration

Assessment of the results This was one of the first buildings renovated in this historic Muslim district and set the pattern for similar future interventions. For the moment, no defects have been noticed since it was opened, and the adapted programme has proved appropriate. In contrast with other heritage renovations, the success of this operation is perceived more from the inside than from the public space.

The renovation of Bayt El Suhaymi has represented the recovery of part of the historic urban landscape while it also highlights certain traditional building techniques that are now very underused. The fact that it meets social functions means the number of local and foreign visitors is very high and, consequently, guarantees its educational role as an example.

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General view of the patio after rehabilitation

Creation of private housing in a district which is being renovated Refurbishment of three buildings on Carrer Carders, Barcelona (Spain) Location: Carders, 43-45-47, Barcelona.

Objectives: Refurbishment of three buildings in the historic centre for 25 new apartments.

Environment description: Dense historical fabric Technical team: Oriol Rosell贸, architect; Jos茅 Antonio Guisado, technical architect Developers: Isard, S.A., Barcelona Constructor: Construcciones Villa-Reyes, Barcelona Date: 1999-2001 project, 2001-2004 execution of works Budget: 2,000.000 euros Surface area: 2,400 m2 rehabilitated, 205 m2 new building.

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Creation of private housing in a district which is being renovated Refurbishment of three buildings on Carrer Carders, Barcelona (Spain)

Site in the Sant Pere district.

Concerning the environment and background to the intervention

The three sections where intervention will occur: A, façade section; B, interior section; C, back section.

Process of diagnosis About the historical-archaeological values

The refurbished buildings are in Carrer Carders in the Sant Pere district in the eastern part of the old historic centre of Barcelona.

The Sant Pere district was created as a suburban agglomeration of Barcelona in the 11th century. Starting in the 12th century, Barcelona went through a period as a thriving city which began to wane at the end of the 15th century. At the end of the 18th century industrialisation began and the first factories began to spring up between the orchards, convents and trade organisation buildings that up to that time had characterised the district. By the start of the 20th century it was a markedly working-class district and in the 1980s new social changes appeared: an aging indigenous population and a growing number of non-European and relatively poor immigrants.

At present it is a district that is undergoing a process of social transformation. Since the 1980s, the government has backed a far-reaching policy of urban rehabilitation. As a result, in the 1990s property prices began to rise in the historic centre of Barcelona.

This real estate success has now exceeded all expectations.

Description of the building The project involved refurbishing three houses with party walls whose ground floors were business premises and the rest of the floors were for residential use. One of the three buildings was much bigger than the others and had three sections: one on a main street, the other in the interior and the third in the street behind.

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The origins of the three buildings go back a long way. In the 18th century they were part of a unique ensemble where an entire ground floor block plus flat housed the wool combers’ association, from which the name Carders is taken.

The ground floor consists of open spaces created by means of an irregular grid of arches. The current appearance and general volumetrics of the building started to take shape in the 18th century, a period during which commercial ground floor use was combined with a hostel, and in the 1970s the building was finally abandoned.

Architectural analysis The multiplicity of properties generated problems of lack of connection and architectural incongruence. Different vertical cores, different clear heights between floor and ceiling on the same floors and unnecessarily complicated routes.

Exceptionally on the main and third floor of the interior structure, there were still spacious areas with suggestive proportions while in the rest of the building spaces were very restricted.

The ventilation and quality of the natural interior lighting of the buildings were very deficient.

The type of elevation of the facades overlooking the street followed independent composition features, vertically proportioned openings and a higher percentage of solid walling than openings.

The three buildings are clearly differentiated looking from the street with different heights, colours and compositions.

Creation of private housing in a district which is being renovated Refurbishment of three buildings on Carrer Carders, Barcelona (Spain)

Colour study included in the initial scheme.

Specific study on colour The colours of the buildings during the last few years of their useful life were very easy to discover, as they were only hidden by a layer of dirt and became clearly visible after scraping.

In house A, the rendering dated from the 19th century and samples were taken from the two existing strips: on the one hand a rough brown finish and on the other the reddish coloured stuccoed fake open brickwork strips.

In houses B and C, the process was similar; one was bonecoloured and the other light brown. The only parts without plaster were the worked stone of the openings of these two buildings and the ground floors on the two streets.

Current state of the construction elements Assessment of the structure The foundations consisted of a prolongation of the load bearing walls albeit with a greater width, and after a series of test bores and a visual inspection of the three buildings, no pathologies derived from defects in them was detected.

The vertical structure on the ground floor consisted of a section of arches that formed the original support for the whole block.

The upper floors were constructed on load-bearing walls; at lower levels these consisted of mixed masonry between 50 and 60 cm thick, while higher up they were solid ceramic which was 30 or 15 cm thick. On the first floor of the interior

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Creation of private housing in a district which is being renovated Refurbishment of three buildings on Carrer Carders, Barcelona (Spain)

Original condition of the façade of house A.

structure there was only and adobe wall, with wall joints and compression strips every 10 cm.

In general the structural state of the walls was good and they did not require significant interventions. Only in house A did the walls on the top floor have a tendency to slump towards the street.

The flooring structures were made of wooden beams throughout the building and the differences lay in the type of beam spacing; on the lower floors they were wooden and on the upper ones followed by brick slabs and finally on the top floors tiles with battens. In general the state of structural conservation was good except for the flooring structures on the upper floors which had been affected mostly by incoming water, undoubtedly caused by the lack of any maintenance of the whole ensemble especially in the rain downpipes.

Assessment of the envelope Because the buildings were separate, each property had a façade that was different to that of neighbouring buildings although the base material of the coverings was always the same: lime mortar.

The horizontal lintels and jambs were ceramic or made from a local stone called Montjuïc. In house C the balconies were made of natural stone slabs with carved fittings, while the rest were made of metal sections and ceramic flooring.

The three facades were crowned by a number of cornices made of projecting ceramic courses and mortar moulding.

The cornice of house stands out because of its size and careful workmanship; however it also provided the biggest problem as rusting of its metal components meant it was on the verge of collapse.

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The façades on Carrer Carders and the subsequent ones were in good condition and it was possible to recover their original appearance without too many technical problems.

The roofs were flat with a ventilated air chamber and none of them had heat insulation. The lack of maintenance had caused damp to appear mainly where they came into contact with the drains.

Level of obsolescence of the installations The water system functioned through accumulation in cisterns and subsequent distribution by the force of gravity; this technique is no longer used as its hygiene cannot be controlled. The precarious electrical installation was not even useful for lighting preparatory work. In general we could not reuse any of the installations.

Decoration and finish The interior walls were plastered and painted or covered with wallpaper.

The only noteworthy features are a sgraffito and a semicircular arch doorway polychrome.

The flooring on the upper floors dated from the 1970s or later and were remarkable attractive. The main floor of the interior section was surfaced with hydraulic paving.

With respect to the interior woodwork, it is worth pointing out the existence of a series of elegant frames for the creation of bedrooms located on the main floor of house B.

Creation of private housing in a district which is being renovated Refurbishment of three buildings on Carrer Carders, Barcelona (Spain)

Comparison of the longitudinal section between the original state and the proposal.

Rehabilitation scheme The intervention challenge consisted of making two objectives compatible: on the one hand, safeguarding as much as possible the techniques and traditional materials as well as the original spaces, and on the other hand, distributing the largest number of homes possible. 25 apartments were created with a functional programme for a couple and with an average area of approximately 60 m2.

The main idea was to maintain and point out the historic elements that characterise each one of the buildings. Thus preexisting ones were studied from three viewpoints: - Classification of the sections into those suitable to be refurbished, those to be torn down and new works.

- Taking maximum advantage of pre-existing conditions.

From the construction, historic and compositional points of view.

- Guarantee minimum bio-climatic concepts which are characteristic of traditional indigenous architecture.

Structurally, although the addition of new materials was necessary, reinforcement was chosen ahead of substitution.

A primordial concept was the recovery of the original patio of the main building, leaving only the section of 17th century stairway, and tearing down recent additions, which freed up the interior facades and gave them a permeable character.

There was also a patio created by tearing down subsequent sections of smaller buildings and reducing the density of the block.

Comparison of the main floor between the original state and the proposal.

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Creation of private housing in a district which is being renovated Refurbishment of three buildings on Carrer Carders, Barcelona (Spain)

List of the relationship between the woodwork and the opening.

Another important concept concerned the location of the vertical core that distributes the different apartments. It was necessary to clean the floors and provide them with a single route for the three buildings, and to find the medium to unify the access to the varied heights of the floors of the three buildings that caused level conflicts.

In the section that opens to the Carrer Carders house B was increased by one floor. This levelling of heights did not entail homogenisation since the initial plurality was conserved both in terms of covering as well as proportions.

In the case of the later new section the same type of opening proportion was used, as were the same clear heights between floor and ceiling and an identical finish as the original buildings.

The aim was to guarantee a proper fit of the final ensemble.

Schematic of the pillar openings for the entrance of installations of the stairway for residents.

rest of the stairway for residents that provided access between floors was resolved through the recovery of a first section of bricked vault stairways located in a central position of the collection of the three buildings and the rest of the sections were done in steel. Utility openings were also included in the structure.

The extant wooden beams in the flooring were reinforced by increasing inertia using metallic connectors on the upper parts of the beams and installing cement compression layers. The final result did not affect the original appearance of the floor and ensured compliance with prevailing regulations.

The newly created floors that were carried out in the new section on the street behind were carried out through board beams and ceramic beam spacing with the idea of achieving a similar effect once painted to those which have been refurbished.

Description of the works Actions on the structure Works on the foundations were not necessary, nor was there any need to propose any type of support since the project did not involve work on the subsoil nor did it entail significant changes to the distribution of effort.

As was commented in the diagnosis phase, the supporting vertical structure consisted of load bearing walls, thus the best option for repair of the central building was without a doubt to maintain the same structural system. In the new sections interior insulated load-bearing walls, a ventilated chamber and a second exterior ventilated wall were built.

The ground floor route for the first floor was carried out by recovering the 17th century stairway of the main patio. The

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Work on the envelope In Carrer Carders, the original plaster was recovered based on the colour study. The only parts that would be left uncovered would be the horizontal lintels and jambs and the totality of the ground floor portals.

With respect to the new section in Carrer Pou de la Figuera similar criteria were followed but with an attempt to achieve a more subtle beige colour that doesn’t compete against the previously described historic facades.

Woodwork was installed with double frames, one for mounting and the other just before rendering.

The flat roof is sub-divided into small terraces for private use which can be accessed from each apartment through light stairs.

Creation of private housing in a district which is being renovated Refurbishment of three buildings on Carrer Carders, Barcelona (Spain)

Interior facilities of each home.

Details and mounting of mounting of metallic starways to access the private terraces.

The roof has been totally re-done by placing the beams at a 5% slope, creating the floor structure, insulation with high density expanded polystyrene panels, a layer of protective mortar mix, a butyl layer as water-proofing, a cladding tile casing and finally semi-manual rustic ceramic floor covering.

Refurbishment of the installations The rain downpipe was resolved in a way that maintained the initial logic of the original building, using zinc pipes and downpipes on the facades without a connection to the city’s general sewer system.

As has been previously commented, the introduction of a set of installations that guarantee the level of comfort required in a premium quality development was necessary.

The installation that had the highest level of complexity was that of climate control, as in required false roofs to be installed to hide the interior units and the creation of false beams with built-in louvres to silence their presence.

Recovery of finishes In the stairways and common spaces the flooring used was artificial yellowish stone. The only place where natural stone slabs were used was in the Carrer Carders lobby. In the apartments the floor covering used was floating parquet.

The walls were rendered with lime mortar with fine granulometry and moist rooms with a calcium stucco and with a final waxing, the climate control drywall cabinets were painted with pigmented lime and marble chips. And the interior doors were made of painted wood fibre panelling (DM).

All of the metallic elements were protected by a matte varnish over the rust and the paint used for the exterior woodwork was open pore, which allows the wood to breathe and does not hide its texture.

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Creation of private housing in a district which is being renovated Refurbishment of three buildings on Carrer Carders, Barcelona (Spain)

Interior views of the refurbished homes.

Access patio: original state and proposal.

Assessment of the results The main patio provides a meeting point for residents and visual enjoyment for passers-by in Carrer Carders. It also provides heat control as it allows for air circulation.

With respect to the landscape impact of the intervention, in Carrer Carders there has been a notable integration partly due to the planning criteria described and also because of the recovery of daily elements such as the wood roll-up blinds and the flower pots hung from the railing of the balconies.

With respect to the rear new section located on Carrer Pou de la Figuera, the new structure both delimits an interior of the block and defines the corner of the street with the adjoining square.

Given that it is a private development which has had to obey market forces, it is a conceptually accurate refurbishment.

Curiously this integrity in the refurbishment of the ensemble was one of the added values which most contributed to the commercial success of the project.

The traditional technical knowledge of the construction workers was essential for suitable execution of the works.

The visits to the works became a hotbed of shared ideas from operators and technicians which was used to achieve the best results. The level of involvement was high on the part of all, and they all felt, to a greater or lesser extent, like authors of the final product The fact that the construction phase lasted more than three years and that continuous onsite surprises experienced by operators and technicians meant that the conclusion of the project was greeted with an air of relief mixed with nostalgia.

In the inauguration party, the team that executed the works enjoyed deserved prominence.

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Comparative photograph between the original state and the finished work of the new Pou de la Figuera section.

Creation of 5 apartments as part of an overall urban revitalization operation in the historic centre Rehabilitation of an apartment building in Rue Pomme de Pin, Toulon (France) Location: Rue Pomme de Pin, 20, Toulon Objectives: Rehabilitation of a building to create five dwellings Description of the setting: built-up historic fabric. Historic urban sector Technical team: Cabinet Fevrier-Giauffret, Nice Client: --Contractor: SAEM Date: 1998 Budget: 350,000 euros Surface area: 300 m2

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Creación de 5 apartamentos en una operación global de revitalización urbana Rehabilitación de un edificio de viviendas en Toulon (Francia)

Typical floor plan

Typical floor plan showing ties introduced to ensure the interlocking of the walls

About the setting. Background to the intervention Toulon is the capital of the department of Var, in the ProvenceAlpes-Côte d’Azur region. Situated on the Mediterranean coast, Toulon’s history has been influenced by its proximity to the sea, making it an important meeting point at various times over the centuries thanks to its port.

The building is located in the city’s historic centre and is the result of a major rehabilitation scheme promoted by the local government to revitalize the old town.

Before rehabilitation work began, the district was in a state of progressive degradation, illustrated by the loss of 30% of its population over the last decade. Most homes were occupied by a single person, mostly elderly, and 31% were empty due to the insalubrious state of the flats.

The inhabitants’ working situation was very precarious, with an unemployment rate of 44%. Commercial activity was marked by the same profile: 24% of the ground-floor shops were unoccupied. Since this is a historic centre, cars are not free to move around it and parking is a problem, which is an obstacle to the district’s economic expansion.

In short, the prevailing atmosphere of the district was one of insecurity, dirtiness and abandonment.

Description of the building The rehabilitated building comprises six storeys, with a ground floor plan of about 50 m2. The stairway, of two flights with winder, is situated on the right at the rear of the building’s floor plan, and was lit via a skylight.

The interior was only ventilated through the 5-metre-wide main façade, comprised on all floors by two vertically aligned windows of similar proportions.

The top penthouse floor is slightly smaller in surface area than the rest as it is drawn back from the main façade. The shed roof slopes down towards the street in front.

The diagnosis process Historical and archaeological values The building was constructed before the 19th century for residential use. It provided this function continuously until a few years ago when it was abandoned, when the state of deterioration became more marked.

The building’s general physiognomy was formed in a single construction process, reflected in the uniformity of detail.

Architectural analysis Each floor covers a built surface area of approximately 50 m2, including the area occupied by the floor plan of the stairway.

This limitation called for the implementation of a design process to make the most of its potential.

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Main façade of the street Pomme de Pin and section before the intervention

In addition to its smallness, the surface area was completely subdivided by partition walls into tiny spaces that offered unhealthy conditions and prevented natural lighting and ventilation of all points.

The composition of the street façades followed the same rules on all floors with vertically proportioned openings, except on the penthouse floor where the proportions are more horizontal.

Colour study The building had a lime mortar render. The original colour of the façade was concealed by deposits of dirt, though it was not difficult to discern the colour after scraping away a little of the surface layers of dirt.

Attention was also paid to the texture of the material used to make it as like the original as possible.

Present state of the elements of the building Evaluation of the structure The foundations were built of continuous footing of irregular coursed masonry, forming a prolongation of the bearing walls.

The building’s vertical structure comprised two party walls of random-rubble masonry, about 50 cm thick with a lime-mortar finish to help bond and protect the masonry.

The state of the building called for a detailed study of cracks.

The conclusions can be summarised as follows: - The cracks were mostly found in the walls beneath the windows, pointing to a problem in the substratum.

- The main façade presented a slight sag in the upper floors, a

loss of verticality that was, obviously, most visible higher up in the building.

The structural floors, like the beam fill, were built of timber throughout. In general, the state of conservation of the horizontal structure was rather poor due mainly to the fact that the heads of the timber beams were rotten, requiring intervention to stabilize them.

One problem detected was the excess of dead load that had accumulated with time, caused by new floors being laid over the old ones. Together with the excessive compartmentalization, this had produced a state of limit load for the correct use of the structural floors.

Evaluation of the envelope This structural problem obviously affected the façade and, therefore, its finishes, which, like the rest of the building, needed refurbishing. The render coats had come away and no longer provided waterproof protection for the wall.

Lintels and jambs framed the windows on each floor, and the penthouse floor had no decorative elements.

The timber in the door and window frames was in a similar state of deterioration to that in the rest of the building. The windows did not close correctly and did not keep water out, and smaller fittings such as drip moulding and beading were missing or no longer provided their original function. The outside of the building also had the typical Mediterranean louvered shutters to control sunlighting and provide privacy.

The sloping roof was built of timber rafters and beam fill, finished with channel tiles and no insulation. Damp spots coinciding

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Main façade of the street Pomme de Pin and section after the intervention mainly with drainage points had affected the structure, causing rot in parts of the beams.

The rehabilitation project There were two main objectives of rehabilitation:

Degree of obsolescence of the installations Both the water and the drainage systems were connected to the national grid, but were in an overall precarious state and did not meet today’s minimum requirements. The electricity installation also needed completely replacing.

Ornamentation and finishes The interior divisions consisted mainly of plastered brick partition walls, either painted or wallpapered.

The floor coverings, mostly tiling, dated from the 1960s or later.

The interior doors and windows mostly comprised painted wood and single glazing.

- To give the building a new lease of life, refurbishing the dwellings and adapting them to present-day comfort requirements.

- To repair the building’s construction problems, with the priority of replacing specific elements rather than demolishing them.

In architectural terms, the building presented very few possible variations on the original layout. Improved habitability took the form of new installations and larger spaces.

The suggested functional programme was five studio apartments for couples, with open-plan spaces to provide the very small surface areas with light and spatial quality. Excessive compartmentalization had prevented sunlight, which only entered from the street façade, to reach the innermost parts of the apartments. The second reason was the need to minimize the dead loads that had led to the deterioration of the structural floors. The existing vertical nucleus was maintained although, like the whole building, it needed reinforcing to ensure continued use.

Description of construction work Interventions in the structure Though several of the problems detected in the building may have been due to a problem in the subsoil it was decided not

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Constructive details of the reinforcement of the roof

to intervene, as the solution would require major investment.

The general conclusion was that the site and foundations had settled and that there would be no more future movement.

The walls and staircase were the elements requiring most intervention. First, the cracks were closed by introducing a mesh reinforcement and steel bars to draw the two sides together, like staples, principally in the façades. The original staircase was kept, though it was consolidated by a compression slab.

The sagging in the upper floors of the façade was addressed at the same time as the structural floors. The criterion was to make the structural floors and the walls act together by introducing metal elements that joined diagonally opposite walls to ensure they interlock, minimizing movement and stabilizing the perimeter of each structural floor.

The structural floors of timber beams were reinforced by increasing inertia using metal connectors on the upper face of the beams to make them work in conjunction with the newly introduced compression slab. Damaged beams were replaced.

The result did not affect the original appearance of the structural floor but it did ensure compliance with regulations.

Interventions in the envelope The lime render coat of the façade was completely replaced after removing all the damaged material, and the original colour was restored.

Wooden door and window frames were fitted like those the building would have originally had, and all attempts were made to ensure the appropriate finished appearance of the building, avoiding the introduction of new generation materials that were not used in the architecture of the 19th century, when

the building was constructed.

The roof was completely rebuilt, as it was one of the elements to have suffered most from abandonment where the timber beams had rotted. The roof was built of prefabricated sheet, solving the problems of waterproofing and insulation, and channel tiles, similar to the originals, were directly laid to complete the construction section. In the stair opening, the leaks around the skylight were repaired.

Renovation of installations Rainwater drainage was addressed in keeping with the building’s original logic, with guttering and drainpipes that were visible in the façade.

All of the existing installations (water, plumbing and electricity) were removed and refitted. Electric fires were installed for heating which, though not recommended from the viewpoint of efficiency or sustainability, was the simplest option. The metres were centralized in communal space on the ground floor.

Restoration of finishes Particular care was taken with the selection of lightweight finishes that would add little extra weight to the structure of the building. The floors were therefore laid directly onto the compression slab of the structural floors and the partition walls forming the bathrooms were built using plasterboard.

In the interior, the structure was left on view except in the bathrooms where false ceilings were put up.

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Creaci贸n de 5 apartamentos en una operaci贸n global de revitalizaci贸n urbana Rehabilitaci贸n de un edificio de viviendas en Toulon (Francia)

Exterior views of the rehabilitated building

Evaluation of the results The rehabilitated building adapted very well to requirements, since no change in use was involved. Seven years after the completion of work, no lesions have been detected which would point to incorrect intervention or mistaken decisions as to the criteria applied in the building. As regards the landscape impact of the intervention, the building is well integrated into its setting.

Together with other interventions in the centre of Toulon, this project served to attract the population and revitalize a district of great historic value that had stood abandoned for decades.

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Visibility of new techniques and attention to traditional features Rehabilitation of a house in Ano Poli, Thessaloniki (Greece) Location: Epimenidou Street, Thessaloniki.

Objectives: to rehabilitate a building in the upper town of Thessaloniki for use as the headquarters of the Thessaloniki Architects’ Association.

Description of the setting: built-up urban environment.

Technical team: Manos Anagnostidis, Maria Dousi and Olympia Hatzopoulou (architects); M. Nomikos (consultant).

Clients: Evi Mavrodi, architect of the Ministry of Culture, Fourth Ephorate for the Surveillance of Recent Monuments.

Contractor: EVO plc Site management: Municipality of Thessaloniki Date: 1997 Budget: 700.000,00 euros Surface area: 610 m2

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Visibility of new techniques and attention to traditional features Rehabilitation of a house in Ano Poli, Thessaloniki (Greece)

Location of the upper town in relation to the city of Thessaloniki

About the setting. Background to the intervention This building is situated in the upper town of Thessaloniki, Ano Poli, delimited by a 19th-century town wall, which retains its original organic urban layout. The constructions, mostly dwellings, are morphologically a combination of traditional Macedonian architecture with traces of the neo-classical architecture in vogue in the 19th century.

Initially, a new street layout had been designed for this urban complex, which, together with the application of strict building regulations, had wiped out the historic district. Fortunately, this urban setting remains, with the original Macedonian features and local colour.

Thanks to the nomination of Thessaloniki as European Capital of Culture 1997, many projects were carried out to restore heritage, including the Protection Plan for the Upper Town of Thessaloniki. Of the 4,000 buildings that make up this exceptional site, some 200 were listed, of which 48 have been rehabilitated by the Ministry of Culture.

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The immediate setting of the building

Description of the building The building comprises a ground and a first floor on the corner of a crossroads. The street layout slopes steeply due to the topography, giving the building a visual protagonism that makes it a landmark.

The main faรงade on Epimenidou Street faces south, and the secondary west- and east-facing faรงades are gable ends that project beyond the general street alignment. At its rear, the building occupies a single floor due to the big difference in ground level. The north faรงade overlooks a landscaped courtyard enclosed by a wall, a space with a secondary entrance from the street to the rear. It could be said to be a building with almost four faรงades, though the north-west corner means that it is regarded as being between party walls.

Visibility of new techniques and attention to traditional features Rehabilitation of a house in Ano Poli, Thessaloniki (Greece)

View of the house from the south-west corner before intervention

The diagnosis process Historical and archaeological values The building was constructed in the early 19th century over a pre-existing construction. In the first century of its existence, no major modifications were made, and it continued the residential function for which it was designed. In 1922, in a second phase, the house suffered the consequences of the large waves of refugees after the Greco-Turkish War. In the face of this sudden need, the building underwent a major transformation and was subdivided.

This period ended with the definitive abandonment of the house in the mid-1970s with the consequent deterioration that continued until recently.

The foundations are the only remains of any real antiquity. The remainder is a clear expression of 19th-century Macedonian architecture. It can be considered a unitary building, constructed in a single phase, though with subsequent modifications as regards internal distribution.

Architectural analysis The building occupies approximately the southern half of the plot. The ground floor has a main entrance situated approximately in the centre of the south façade and a secondary entrance in the east-facing gable end. The ground floor level coincides with the level of the secondary entrance and is a metre above the main street, allowing the rooms that overlook the street a high degree of privacy. The only stairway that joins

Grafic documentation for chromatic study

the ground and the upper floor is situated opposite the main entrance. The three remaining bays are free of circulation and generously ventilated via the outer perimeter.

The first floor, curiously, is much more spacious due to the progression from thick stone walls to a slimmer timber-frame structure and the generous projection in the south façade.

The stairway leads to the centre of the rear façade, with seven rooms laid out around it that all overlook the street.

A volume built against the north façade corresponds to an extension from the 1920s that does not follow the construction lines of the original house. The arrangement of openings in the façade differs a great deal according to the floor. The first level features a predominance of the solid over the few small openings, whereas on the upper floor the openings shape most of the elevation. The hip roof with flat tiles is very usual in the area.

Colour study The urban plan for Ano Polis includes a detailed colour study.

The original complex has its own very specific colouring. The combination of façades in pastel tones and the multicoloured door and window frames betray its Balkan origins. These colour combinations stand out even further against the neutral treatment of the urban pavement of grey granitic setts.

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Visibility of new techniques and attention to traditional features Rehabilitation of a house in Ano Poli, Thessaloniki (Greece)

Present state of the elements of the building

Planta piso antes de la intervenci贸n.

Plans of the initial state of the building

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Evaluation of the structure The foundations, as explained above, are just a series of masonry walls belonging to previous buildings. Since the house was very solid, there were no foundation problems. Nor was rising damp a major problem, as the flooring of the lowest level was raised approximately a metre, allowing plenty of ventilation.

The vertical structure is totally different on the ground and first floors.

On the lower floor, the masonry walls are some 80 cm thick. The masonry comprised flat stones laid in strictly regular courses.

Halfway up, between the base of the wall and the ground floor paving, a bracing system comprises three horizontal timber elements embedded in the wall to tie the perimeter walls and prevent possible displacement of the building as a result of the steep slope of the terrain.

This elaborate perimeter wall of masonry, together with three bracing walls, supports the ground-floor volume. In a lengthwise direction, however, a portico comprising pillars and timber beams divides the floor plan into two bays. This structural element serves to support the timber-frame structure on the floor above. This construction method of timber struts, crosspieces and braces produce facings that are just 20 cm thick, with the resulting increase in useful floor area and a much more flexible distribution of openings. The facing was completed by a cladding of wooden laths that received a uniform render coat.

The structure also included the delicate projection of two glazed balconies in the main fa莽ade. The stone wall was generally in a good state of repair, though some cracks in the

Visibility of new techniques and attention to traditional features Rehabilitation of a house in Ano Poli, Thessaloniki (Greece)

masonry needed consolidating and strengthening. The timber infill on the first floor called for some intervention, but the vertical wooden structure was in a reasonable state of repair.

The structural floor comprised wooden beams, rafters and floorboards. A sleeper was inserted at the point of engagement of the timber structure with the stone wall to prevent embedding beams directly into the masonry.

Due to the house’s state of abandonment and numerous leaks, many of the beams and most of the floorboards had to be replaced.

Evaluation of the envelope The original cladding consisted of lime and clay mortars that were then painted. The treatment of the façade made no distinction between the two floors. The corners and the timber structural floor were only apparent in the two glazed balconies on the first floor. There was no distinct base, though the level of the structural floor was marked in the street façade by a slight ornamental border in the render.

All of the door and window frames were painted wood. The upper floor had sash windows and there were casements on the ground floor. The general state of the façade was deficient, particularly on the ground floor, where the render coat was coming away from the base.

The roof was raised on timber trusses forming a hip roof with flat roofing tiles attached to battens. The roof drained by means of a small cornice around the edge, but there were no drainpipes to channel the water. The roof structure was concealed behind a false ceiling of painted wooden. The roof was dilapidated and the many leaks had seriously affected the house’s structure.

Plans of the intervention project

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Visibility of new techniques and attention to traditional features Rehabilitation of a house in Ano Poli, Thessaloniki (Greece)

Constructive detail

Degree of obsolescence of the installations The existing installations were in a deplorable state and could not be used in the future rehabilitation.

Ornamentation and finishes The finishes of the vertical interior facings were similar to those in the façade. On both floors, a false ceiling of painted wood concealed the timber structure. The two floors were paved with marble slabs.

Despite being in an advanced state of deterioration, most of the finishes gave some indication as to the original appearance.

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Definition of the windows of new wood

The rehabilitation project The project set out to recover the building’s initial, most significant phase, the 19th century. The renovated building was to house the new offices of the Thessaloniki Architects’ Association, so the original typology underwent modifications.

A whole series of new installations had to be introduced: hot and cold water, electricity, plumbing, heating, a security system, telecommunications, etc.

The implantation of the headquarters of the architects’ association meant partially eliminating the structural floor and leaving the bedrock on view. A new stairway was built to join the three new levels: basement space, ground floor (now a mezzanine) and first floor. A new semi-basement volume was also added at the rear of the mezzanine to house services and machinery.

On the upper floor, the volume in the façade overlooking the courtyard was removed to improve the visual relation with the new garden. The old layout of eight rooms was transformed into a more spacious entrance with just four of the original rooms. In general, adaptation to the new programme only modified two aspects of the original building: the uncovering of the space beneath the bottom structural floor and the new internal subdivision.

The rear courtyard acquired greater importance in the proposal, as it is interpreted as an exterior continuation of the main house and creates new entrances to the building. Rehabilitation work did not change the exterior appearance of the volume and its integration into the urban landscape.

Visibility of new techniques and attention to traditional features Rehabilitation of a house in Ano Poli, Thessaloniki (Greece)

The house during conservation of the timber structure

Description of construction work Interventions in the structure At some points, the recovery of the space beneath the suspended structural floor required some underpinning of the foundations. The only new volume was built using reinforced concrete slab connected to the outer wall, with prefabricated reinforced mortar blocks. The introduction of drainpipes and the reinstatement of the inner courtyard improved the initial conditions and reduced damp.

Cracks in the masonry wall on the ground floor were repaired and consolidated. To guarantee the engagement of the structural floors and the walls, strapping was implemented around the top. On the first floor, all the wooden infilling had to be removed to check the condition of the many timber structural elements. Damaged pieces were replaced, and new reinforcement columns were introduced in the form of metal bars. The entire timber structure, original and new, was treated for protection from termites, woodworm and fungi.

The horizontal structure was reinforced by steel bars that were left on view to differentiate the original from the new.

Two types of reinforcement were made to the structural floors.

In some cases, it was limited to the introduction of new steel girders while in others composite sheet flooring was used to replace an entire bay. Once reinforced, the floor frame was given a concrete compression slab, with metal ties to the timber elements. The construction of the new stairway also involved the combination of metal and timber structures.

Metalic strengthening of the original roof leaving visible

Interventions in the envelope After removing the original render and replacing the infill in the timber frames on the first floor, the surfaces were re-rendered with the initial lime and clay mortar coat. On the upper floor, three coats of increasingly fine render were applied to the timber frames.

All the door and window frames were replaced according to the same criteria as the originals, with the exception of the use of double glazing. The finished faรงade presents just three slight modifications: the addition of guttering and drainpipes, the elimination of the ornamental border on the ground floor, and the borders around the doors and windows.

The roof was almost completely rebuilt. The flat tiles were attached to wooden battens and insulation was inserted above the restored suspended ceiling. The space produced between the roof and the suspended ceiling also served to house the new installations.

Renovation of installations It was possible to house some installations in the thick masonry walls on the ground floor, and in the space between the roof and the false ceiling. The only sector where the installations presented difficulties was on the first floor, where the idea was to leave the structural floor on show and the vertical facings were thinner. Most of the installations were therefore housed above the compression slab of the structural floor and below the final flooring.

As work on the building coincided with the redevelopment of surrounding streets, it was possible to renovate the consumer supply lines and prevent them being visible in the faรงade.

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Visibility of new techniques and attention to traditional features Rehabilitation of a house in Ano Poli, Thessaloniki (Greece)

View of the house after rehabilitation

Restoration of finishes The original marble slabs of both floors were laid on the lower level. In the other spaces, a cement floor of similar colour was laid. The floors of the mezzanine and upper level were built using wooden floorboards of the same type as those used to construct the stairway. The interior walls were plastered with lime mortar, so a skirting board was not necessary. At chosen points, the masonry was left bare. A false ceiling was not built as the restored structural floor presented a suitable finish. The visible structural steel elements were painted dark grey to make them stand out from the original structure. The metal railing was painted a suitable shade of yellow to blend in with the floorboards.

Photos of the rehabilitated interior

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Evaluation of the results The redevelopment of the surrounding streets served to improve the integration of the rehabilitated building into the urban setting. The use of traditional construction materials and techniques was another decisive factor for optimum integration. Another two bodies were added to the initial programme to house the offices of the Thessaloniki Architects’ Association: the Greek Union of Prototypes and Standards and the ICOMOS. The fact that the traditional techniques were left on view and that the building’s users are architects makes the building informative as well as functional.

Despite a few specific modifications to the interior of the house, particularly the new stairway and the improved relation with the courtyard, the original residential typology is still apparent.

Since the building was inaugurated, no further repairs or restoration have been necessary. If we take into account the fact that the intervention is set in a wider framework of local building rehabilitation, we see to what extent the district is slowly recovering without losing its particular essence.

Reconstructing the facades as part of district renovation project Renovation of the Afifi house, Acre (Israel) Site: Ha’Haganna St. 10/50 Old Acre.

Objectives: Reconstruction and renovation of a residential building from the Ottoman period in the historic centre of Acre.

Environment description: High density.

Technical team: Ram Shoeff, architect ; Yardena Etgar, engineer.

Developers: Israel Land Administration; Old Acre Development Company Ltd.; Israel Antiquities Authority.

Constructor: A.L.I.R Ofek Ltd. Date: 2005-2006 Budget: 232,000 euros Area: 600m2

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Reconstructing the facades as part of district renovation project Renovation of the Afifi house, Acre (Israel)

The historic centre of Acre

Concerning the environment and background to the intervention Acre is a coastal city on the shore of the Mediterranean near the bay of Haifa. It is in the Northern District of Israel. The morphology of its historic wall-city as we know it today began to be shaped following the urban reforms carried out during the reign of Dhaher El-Omar in the 18th century, when the city was rebuilt on the remains of the medieval city from the period of the Crusades. The city he and his successors, AlJazar, Suleiman and Abdullah, built was devastated twice: in the siege of 1831-1832 by the Egyptian sultan Ibrahim Pasha and during the campaign of 1840 when it was bombarded by British, Austrian and French naval squadrons. In the mid-19th century, the devastated city was restored by the Turks.

The buildings of Acre are built of chalky sandstone (Kurkar).

Many of the houses were built on the remains of the medieval city and they even reused old installations, such as water cisterns and septic tanks. Many of these urban infrastructures are not documented because of their inaccessibility and the majority are full of earth, rubble and water.

The “Borgus Novus” medieval district was called “Block 10” during the British protectorate. This district of lines of houses was probably built on the initiative of the general administration of the city on both sides of an internal alleyway. During the reign of Dhaher El-Omar in the 18th century, the city began a farreaching renovation. Finally, in the mid-19th century, wealthy residents built their houses along the streets of the city, and the building in question is one of these.

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District of Acre indicating the renovated building in red (sector 10, house 50)

Description of the building Building 50 of block 10, known as the Afifi house, is located in the half of Ha’Haganna St. bounding the city to the west. The building has views of the Mediterranean, to the west, and of the bay of Haifa, with Mount Carmel, to the south-west.

The western facade that gave on to the street was undoubtedly one of the most splendid built in the city during the Ottoman and the British Mandate periods.

During the second half of the 20th century, various changes were made to the structure of the buildings to meet the needs of the tenants. These interventions were carried out without any thought for pre-existing features and caused damage to the architectural characteristics of the building. For unknown reasons, part of the western façade was demolished.

In the construction tradition of Acre, basements and ground floors were covered with vaults built on thick walls of three lines of material, while the upper floors were covered using wooden beams held up by walls of only a single line of material. Most of the roofs were flat, although some pitched ones can be found with ceramic tiles. The inside walls were plastered and, in some cases, the outside ones were too.

Reconstructing the facades as part of district renovation project Renovation of the Afifi house, Acre (Israel)

Use of period photos for the historical analysis of the building, where the different transformations undergone in 1935, 1944 and 2000 can be seen

Process of diagnosis

Architectural analysis

Concerning historical-archaeological values

The building, like many others from the same period, was grouped with others to form a collective internal courtyard which is nowadays unrecognisable. The type of dwelling with a central lounge on the first floor is normally known as a “Lebanese house�. It can be found all over the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, and its name is due to the fact that Lebanon is the place where it is most commonly found. The appearance of the house with the central lounge arrived in Acre with the Ottoman modernisation and the socio-economic development of the middle class in the area, which transformed traditional spatial organisation. These houses belonged to the social elite during the hundred years from the middle of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century.

This building has its origins as a bourgeois house from the middle of the 19th century. A century later, the building went into a decline.

In 1998 the architectural conservator Yael F. Na’aman and the engineer Ofer Cohen inspected the building to draw up an architectural and constructional evaluation study of the property. This study defined the main values and greatest problems, providing the basis for the proposed conservation and reconstruction process.

Plan of the condition of the main floor prior to the intervention

Details of the original decorated cement tiles flooring

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Reconstructing the facades as part of district renovation project Renovation of the Afifi house, Acre (Israel)

Plans of the project

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Reconstructing the facades as part of district renovation project Renovation of the Afifi house, Acre (Israel)

Section terrace before and after

Over the last decades, the ground floor and two upper storeys were arranged into four independent apartments. Originally, the ground floor was used as a storage or shop and the upper floors were for residential use. A large opening with three arches was situated in the middle of the façade, marking the central lounge which extended between the two opposite façades and was flanked by bedrooms at both ends. Thanks to the characteristic triforium on the main façade, the “Lebanese house” type is easily recognisable from the outside at first glance. Characteristic wooden doors and windows separated the central lounge from the other rooms.

Although this country type of building originally had a pitched roof with ceramic tiles, widespread imported from Marseille, the majority of buildings in Acre with a central lounge have flat roofs.

Specific study of the colour Concerning the painting of the wooden items making up the openings, frames, internal shutters, shutters, solid wood doors, etc., no overall logic could be found to serve as a pattern for subsequent criteria.

Reconstruction of the three arches on the western façade

Assessment of the structure The existing floors stood on the remains of earlier buildings from the period of the Crusades. No damage could be seen due to the original foundations.

To build the walls, the material used was “Kurkar” – a sandstone that is easy to handle. This type of rock can be found on the coastal platform and is characteristically extremely porous. It should just be mentioned that for specific elements on the façade, such as arches, lintels and steps, limestone of greater density and load-bearing capability was used.

On the ground floor, the walls are made up of three lines of material and the spaces are covered with vaults. Meanwhile, on the upper floors, the walls are of a single line of material.

The state of the walls was fairly good, as they had not been too badly affected by the characteristic erosion that this kind of stone can come to suffer due to urban pollution or the crystallisation of salts because of the misuse of cement-rich mortars.

The other floors were covered with ceilings based on finely carved and coloured wooden beams. Their conservation state was reasonable. In the ceiling of the second floor were structural deficiencies observed due to water leaks from the flat roof.

Current state of the constructive elements It must be highlighted in this section that the construction condition of building was acceptable, both in terms of the structure and of waterproofing.

Assessment of the envelope The state of preservation of the Kurkar stone of the main façade was quite good, despite poor level of maintenance. In the area of the ground floor, there was some cement mortar rendering covering the original ashlar blocks. The tenants had plastered the Kurkar blocks on various areas of the façade, also with cement mortar.

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Reconstructing the facades as part of district renovation project Renovation of the Afifi house, Acre (Israel)

Photograph of the works, with the gallery now reconstructed

Photograph of the restored western faรงade

The most remarkable thing about the faรงade was the elimination of the characteristic first-floor gallery and threearch gallery on the second floor through the second half of the 20th century. Some openings on the ground floor and all the circular openings at the top that facilitated cross ventilation inside had also been filled in.

The roof is flat and signifies a local variation of the central lounge type of Lebanese house.

The state of preservation was acceptable since some of the tenants had taken care to maintain it. The water collected on the roof was conducted to the street level by old pipes.

Renovation scheme

Degree of obsolescence of the installations.

The original installations needed updating in order to serve the four apartments effectively and safely. It should be highlighted that the oldest installations were the septic tank and rain water cistern.

- Marking the main directives on drawings, according to the conclusions obtained in the preliminary study.

- Making the technical drawings and defining the project.

- Signing on an agreement document between the management company and the tenants.

- Bidding for the renovation work.

- Reconstruction work.

Decoration and finishes The internal coverings were lime mortar rendering, although some of the rooms had been tiled to meet specific needs in bathrooms or kitchens. Much of the original flooring had been replaced.

The interior design is distinguished by painted wood ceilings in the main lounge and ceilings with wooden beams in the residential bedrooms.

The main rooms have light grey marble slab flooring mixed with strips of black marble or black slate. The flooring in the bedrooms was of coloured cement tiled and, in later phases, a hydraulic mosaic (terrazzo) and other modern tiles. False ceilings had been installed in most rooms, which prevented the deterioration of the original polychromed ceilings.

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The renovation scheme for the building formed part of a large pilot project for the whole district. The management of this renovation process was the result of a reconnaissance study that identified historic photos from the beginning of the 20th century.

One of the conclusions of this study was that there was enough information to reconstruct the parts of the building described that had been lost.

The reconstruction scheme was carried out in five phases:

From the beginning it was understood that the recovery of the lost image had to be compatible with the current use made of the building by four families. For this reason, the programme of the residential units existing prior to the intervention was not altered.

The building had to be renovated to recover lost architectural values, but, at the same time, it was essential to adapt it to the demands of current life style.

Reconstructing the facades as part of district renovation project Renovation of the Afifi house, Acre (Israel)

Interior view of the rehabilitated house

Description of the work Actions on the structure No action was taken on the original foundations as no significant alteration in the state of their loads was proposed. Nor was any strengthening of the load-bearing walls required. The filled in openings were recovered.

The most important intervention on the walls was the recovery of the western faรงade according to the original design. Ashlar blocks, worked depending on their position in the arches, were used. Only few metal anchors was installed and the fixing mortar was based on lime. The natural types of stone described for the prior state of the building were chosen.

No action was required on the original vaults as they were in good condition. It was necessary to replace some beams in the first floor ceilings. On the second floor, because of the general poor state of the ceilings, the entire structure was replaced and it was rebuilt with new wooden beams based on steel ones.

This made it possible to avoid over-dimensioning the beams according to the criteria in the regulations, thereby maintaining the original proportions.

Actions on the envelope The reconstruction of the gallery on the first floor and the opening of the triple arch on the second floor were achieved using traditional techniques. Arches and pillars were constructed with ashlar blocks, while the pillars were marble monoliths.

All cement rendering was removed, the stone was washed and a lime mortar rendering was applied to the whole volume. All carpentry was wooden.

The original roof was tidied up, but no new architectural elements were included.

Renewal of installations One of the main requirements for meeting current requirements was the complete renewal of the installations. Rainwater was conducted using exposed downpipes on the faรงade. New sewerage and drinking water networks were installed. New electricity, telecommunication and satellite systems were installed to update the level of comfort in the flats.

Recovery of finishes The polychromed ceilings were recovered once the false ceilings had been removed and the original ones restored. A sky blue characteristic of the area was chosen for all wooden items on the faรงade, contrasting with the general stone tone of the volume.

Assessment of the results The recovery of the original gallery and triple arch has ensured good integration into the nearby urban space.

The works lasted longer than planned in the scheme because some of the elements to be restored were in worse condition than the studies previously carried out.

In the social sphere, there had been no significant changes because the tenants occupying the four original apartments have been maintained. The former occupants returned as soon as the works had finished.

Note: The information in this article is on behalf of Israel Antiquities Authority, Conservation department.

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Tradition and the contemporaneity of new uses: library and municipal services Rehabilitation of Corda House, Serrenti (Italy) Location: Serrenti, Sardinia Objectives: to convert a manor house and farm complex into a library and arts centre Description of the setting: lowdensity historic fabric with noble rural buildings and small palaces Technical team: Antonello Sanna (head architect); Alessio Bellu (planning architect), and Sebastiano Bitti and Roberta Porcu (consultants).

Client: Serrenti Town Hall Contractor: Caboi, Construction company Date: 1999-2003 Budget: Public space: 213,746 euros; Library: 496,327 euros Surface area: Public space: 1,413 m2; Library: 469 m2

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Tradition and the contemporaneity of new uses: library and municipal services Rehabilitation of Corda House, Serrenti (Italy)

Façade of the building from the street

A period photograph of the complex

About the setting. Background to the intervention The village of Serrenti is in the south of Sardinia, about 40 kilometres north of Calgary, the capital of this Italian island. It is situated on flat land amid the hills that delimit the province of Medio Campidano to the east.

Corda House stands on the Cagliari-Sassari-Porto Torres trunk road, ratified by King Carlo Felice in the Carta Reale of 27 November 1821 and the most important event in 19th-century Sardinia. Initially the house stood on the outskirts of the village, but with time the urban centre has expanded towards it.

Since the late 1960s, many local communities have undergone a period of changes in values. From a world governed by tradition and the continuity of a fundamentally agricultural history, they have crossed over extremely quickly to today’s post-industrial modernization.

Most of the values we consider to be intrinsic in historic centres, old houses and urban fabrics were immediately hit by a crisis of identity that in many cases has had a fatal effect on the historic rural landscape. In some cases, the public administration has contributed to this breakdown by applying construction and planning criteria that negatively modify these elements and far outweigh the ability of families and individuals to make a choice.

There has been a fairly frequent policy of purchase by local councils of historic constructions to house services for the community, invariably involving the demolition of the original and replacement by a new, unregulated layout.

The 1990s saw a turnaround in this trend, and in a climate of greater attention to historical identity, Serrenti formulated a working hypothesis based on the recovery of Corda House.

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Description of the building Corda House is a 19th-century complex of buildings standing beside the Strada Reale Carlo Felice national trunk road.

The architectural complex is defined by its built volumes and fenced-in outdoor spaces. Its architecture combines the agricultural facet, with the parametric layout of various volumes, and references to a more representative urban architectural language. The main two-level building has a rectangular floor plan, the longest side presenting a street façade. The volume is topped by a ridge roof sloping down towards the street, and a ground-floor porch protects the south-facing inner façade and supports a first-floor terrace.

Corda House comprises this main building and annexed volumes situated on the perimeter of the plot around a large courtyard, covering a total of 1,400 m2.

Tradition and the contemporaneity of new uses: library and municipal services Rehabilitation of Corda House, Serrenti (Italy)

View of the faรงade overlooking the farmyard before intervention

The diagnosis process Historical and archaeological values In 1932, a wealthy landowner began building the house for his eldest son. The chosen plot was situated apart from the village but very close to the road, the Carlo Felice, that was becoming increasingly important to the urban centre.

Its prestigious position and the size of the plot (about 2,000 m2) produced a typical manor farmhouse with a large, important building and a spacious farmyard where the various farm activities could be carried out.

In 1952, there was a major change in use when part of the farmyard was turned into a space for shows, principally the screening of films on a large wall that served as a screen. This use continued during the years of economic boom, until in 1958 the premise were closed down and abandoned until the present day.

Since then, only the main building has been occupied by various tenants, while the complex as a whole caught the attention of the local administration for its potential public role and the architectural value of the buildings.

Architectural analysis The building belongs to a habitual typology of the time: the inward-looking house overlooking the farmyard, presenting to the exterior the faรงades of the urban palazzotto characteristic of the Cagliari area.

It brings together the two symbols representing the landowning middle classes living in a manor house with farmyard: the large portal and porch. As compared to the previous typology, in which the porch plays the role of distributor, here its function is

Axonometric study of Corda House

transformed practically into an element in the faรงade. Generally speaking, its typological clarity presents a very ordered layout of the various spaces in the main building.

East of the building that was the main dwelling stand other annexed volumes with simple roofs and a building to store forage that was later used as a bar and projection room for the open-air cinema.

Colour study The point at which most colour was used is the entrance porch, where a lime rendering in two colours picks out the various architectural elements. This is where the aesthetic potential of lime rendering is best exploited and where colour acquires the greatest protagonism.

In the street faรงade, conversely, the colour is mostly provided by the original building material. Here, the colours are a combination of the greyish tones of the masonry, the earthy colour of the clay products and the pale nuances of the lime mortar used to point the various forms of masonry.

Present state of the elements of the building Evaluation of the structure The only foundations were the masonry walls, perhaps slightly thicker, set into the homogeneous ground. The behaviour of the foundations was correct.

The walls were built of irregular coursed masonry, comprising two carefully pointed facings of trachyte and an infill of gravel, stones and earth mortar. The total thickness of the wall was approximately 50 cm. The result is proof of good technical knowhow using stone construction, combining various traditional materials with others that were quite modern at the time.

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Tradition and the contemporaneity of new uses: library and municipal services Rehabilitation of Corda House, Serrenti (Italy)

Detail of the constructive system of the masonry walls

Indeed, Corda House includes a vast repertoire of building materials and systems. Bearing walls of stone combine with others, both bearing and bracing, of adobe, and walls of fired brick to form the arches in the portico.

The layout of the various rooms is strictly dictated by the structural and spatial distribution of the floor plan. A central wall divides the building lengthwise in two, acting as a support for the structural floors of the upper level. Two adobe walls perpendicular to the central wall divide the floor plan into six squares and provide a support for the roofing beams. The wall structure did not present serious structural problems, as the roof had remained functional with no major leaks that might have affected the walls or led to movement in the subsoil.

The intermediate structural floors comprised timber beams and floorboards. Only some of the beams could be reused, as the floorboards and other small-sectioned elements were very poorly preserved. Here again, many different systems had been used, including reinforced concrete in the structural floor of the portico, a very new material for the time.

Modern materials such as steel and concrete had been used to meet specific structural requirements. One example is the metal ties joining the two adobe walls on the ground floor to the outer stone walls. A reinforced concrete beam was also used at the top of the central wall at the level of the structural floor.

Evidently, when the original house was built, the combination of traditional techniques with other more modern ones to achieve the desired end was not considered a problem.

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Ground floor of the complex as envisioned by the project

Evaluation of the envelope Inside the house, the porch incorporated all the characteristic decorations of the small palace typology, as the most representative part of the building with the best finishes. It is a single-storey volume with three centred arches, though only the middle arch is actually an entrance, as the two side arches have masonry parapets. This delicate construction is completed by solid sides and a masonry parapet around the top, indicating the entrance with brickwork tracery.

The street faรงade is far more sober and incomplete. It comprises a stone wall and openings framed with masonry and is crowned by ceramic guttering to collect rainwater.

The composition is based on a strict repetition of the typical window which also translates the interior volumetric structure to the faรงade.

The rendering was mostly in a poor state of conservation but samples were taken to reproduce the original mortar.

The main building is topped by a single ridge roof that slopes down towards the street and the farmyard. The side walls shape the slopes and a timber framework formalized the two ceramictiled slopes. A generous rainwater duct and an unconcealed down pipe ensured that the roof did not suffer too much during the period of abandonment.

The terrace above the porch is paved with ceramic tiles and slopes slightly to channel rainwater to gargoyles at either side of the faรงade.

Tradition and the contemporaneity of new uses: library and municipal services Rehabilitation of Corda House, Serrenti (Italy)

Central stretch of the street faรงade after restoration

Detail of the construction of the windows with brick

Degree of obsolescence of the installations There were no installations worthy of mention, and the precarious state of repair of those existing made them unsuitable for reuse. This was the area that most illustrated the passage of time.

Ornamentation and finishes The building freely combined traditional techniques and others that were modern at the time. For example, the floor was laid with encaustic tiles, whereas the windowsills were built using artificial stone.

Traditional finishes were also used in the interior (render, lime wash and stucco).

Construction of a typical window as envisioned by the project.

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Tradition and the contemporaneity of new uses: library and municipal services Rehabilitation of Corda House, Serrenti (Italy)

View of the roof during restoration work

Rehabilitation project The rehabilitation project addressed two integrated aims: 1. To construct a historical landmark in the old centre of Serrenti, applying a principle of architectural conservation that shuns the logic of replacement hitherto applied. This would give the public administration an exemplary role in the eyes of the community with regard to historical memory and protection of architectural heritage.

2. To use the existing spaces in a way that was sustainable and compatible with new functions. The farmyard was formalized as a space for performances and the great manor house with its annexes is now reused, after a minimum of intervention, as a municipal library and centre.

The idea, then, was to reuse a complex, historic traditional space, comprising buildings and open spaces of equal importance, by reinterpreting the architecture to adapt it to its new purpose.

The intervention consisted firstly of enhancing an urban area that has gradually come to be the village’s main focal point, including the Post Office and the former barracks of the Carabinieri (the Italian military police), now used for civic and commercial purposes and also as the town hall.

Overall, the project set out to produce a homogeneous, functional space by means of the following considerations: a) The recovery of Corda House as a municipal centre for services, the arts and tourism.

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Restoration of the outer walls

b) The organization of the house’s exterior space as an area for open-air performances. c) Partial redevelopment of surrounding streets to enhance the urban environment.

The heart of the project is Corda House, with its architectural and spatial characteristics, its physical components and, most of all, its history. Restoration took the form of conserving the architectural object with all its components and limiting intervention to a minimum while meeting functional needs and regulatory accessibility. Traditional techniques and materials were therefore used to reproduce or consolidated degraded features alongside markedly contemporary interventions to insert new elements that were not part of the original built complex. Perhaps the new element that most affected the foundations and structure was the lift.

Description of construction work Interventions in the structure The sound state of the foundations and negligible changes in load-bearing made intervention in this point unnecessary.

Only the lift base and the new drainage system required limited intervention in the subsoil.

Intervention to the vertical structure could be classified as “ordinary and extraordinary” maintenance, which merely involved updating the building’s original functionality by scrupulously following the original layout.

Perhaps the principal aim here was to recover the masonry walls.

The new project respected the difference between rendered

Tradition and the contemporaneity of new uses: library and municipal services Rehabilitation of Corda House, Serrenti (Italy)

Redevelopment of the surrounding streets

Finished paving of the street

and bare stone walls. The original render was consolidated and reapplied where necessary, and the masonry was repointed with lime mortar and small chocks to conserve the historical image.

For the former farmyard, the project proposes a lightweight structure of steel columns and chestnut beams to delimit the area for future open-air performances.

The horizontal structure was renewed at those points where the beams were in an advanced state of deterioration. This new public building had to meet structural requisites to comply with current regulations. New structural floors were not built in the recovered volumes.

Interventions in the envelope The street elevation is the representative image of this public building. The rendering was incomplete in this façade at the points where the various construction elements marked out the distribution. Scrupulous repair of the openings and the guttering were sufficient to preserve the original architectural identity.

Only the stretch of wall beneath the central window on the first floor was rendered in two colours in the street façade to create a point of reference to the inner portico.

In the porch volume, conversely, which was totally rendered and had survived relatively untouched, the entire original twocolour render coat was recovered.

The entire original timber framework in the roof had to be replaced in compliance with present-day requirements of fire protection and insulation, though this did not alter the appearance. Many of the original tiles were reused once the

new timber structure was complete, and the guttering and drainpipes were repaired.

Renovation of installations All the components of the new system of installations (lighting, heating/cooling, lift, etc.) could be introduced individually without standing out unnecessarily from the original.

Intervention involving those elements that respond strictly to new functional criteria of comfort and compliance with regulations was therefore contemporary.

Restoration of finishes It was possible to recover the various original finishes without too many problems of availability or incompatibility. Evidently, the same criteria of harmonious contemporaneity were applied to the new services.

Perhaps where the issue of design is most evident in the finishes is in the paving of both the former farmyard and the adjacent street. The same local stone used in the house’s street façade is used for the paving, combined in places with basalt that provides an interesting counterpoint. The design combines different forms of paving, such as opus incertum, tozzetto and strips to delimit traffic areas.

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Tradition and the contemporaneity of new uses: library and municipal services Rehabilitation of Corda House, Serrenti (Italy)

The street faรงade after completion of work

Evaluation of the results This project of architectural restoration was addressed throughout as a more general, possibly model intervention.

This is, perhaps, the kind of case where the Administration can help to turn around the process of abandonment of built heritage by its occupants.

It is perhaps still too early to see the influence of this project on private interventions.

Apart from the importance of recovering historical and architectural legacy, the project has been a success in terms of citizen participation in the various activities organized at the arts centre.

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Aspect of the portico in faรงade to the courtyard after restauration

The successive uses of an Ottoman school Renovation of the Al-Judah building, Irbid (Jordan) Site: Historic centre of Irbid, on the southeastern end of the Tell hill.

Objectives: Adaptation of a traditional Ottoman school.

Environment description: Average density urban fabric.

Technical team: Ati-Bani-Hani, architect.

Developers: Ministry of Education.

Constructor: Abo Ahmad Al-Shani.

Date: Plan 1970, work 1984.

Budget: 40,000 euros.

Area: 1,500m2 built.

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The successive uses of an Ottoman school Renovation of the Al-Judah building, Irbid (Jordan)

Irbid in the ‘50s

Concerning the environment and background to the intervention Irbid, known in ancient times as Arabella, is a city in Jordan located about 70Â km north of Amman, the Jordanian capital.

It is the second biggest city in Jordan and has a population of approximately 900,000 inhabitants.

Archaeological evidences found in the the area show that Irbid has been inhabited since the Bronze Age. Before the advent of Islam, the city was known as Arabella and was famous for producing some of the best wines in the ancient world. The area in the region had extremely fertile soil, with the moderate climate allowing the growing of high quality grapes.

In the Hellenistic period, it was a major trade center and during the Roman time it became a member of the Decapolis, a famous league of Greek cities which enjoyed autonomy under the Roman Rule.

After the introduction of Islam, the city became known as Irbid, and moved from wine to olive oil production. Wheat was also an important product in the area.

The city of Irbid is notable for being close to the site of the Battle of Yarmouk, a decisive battle across the banks of the Yarmouk River, roughly 30 kilometers north of the city. The battle was waged between the Arabs and the Roman Empire. It set the stage for the departure of Roman armies from Greater Syria and the beginning of the expansion of the Muslim rule.

After the Ottoman period, at the beginning of the 20th century, Irbid changed from being a small county town with a marked agricultural character to become a large industrial and commercial city.

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Situation of the renovated building

The historic centre of the city lies all around a hill of great archaeological value called the Tell. The building discussed in this article that was subjected to the renovation is located very near to the archaeological Tell.

The district where the building is located used to enjoy great commercial vitality until quite recently when most commercial activities moved to other parts of the city encouraged by modern urbanization and establishment of Yarmouk University in the southern district of the city.

The successive uses of an Ottoman school Renovation of the Al-Judah building, Irbid (Jordan)

Original 1900 floor plan

Later extension in 1922

Description of the building

Process of diagnosis

The ground plan of the school building corresponds to a U-shape facing east, with a single storey and a flat roof. The courtyard was fully paved with two large trees that were planted during the construction of the building.

The main entrance was located on the western faรงade and it is appeared well marked thanks to steps resolving a difference in height of approximately a metre between the street and the inside of the building. Each parallelpiped making up the building appeared divided by transversal walls making up the different classrooms accessed from the courtyard. The southern section has a small room used for meeting and other functions.

Although the building was constructed at the beginning of the 20th century using historic construction techniques, many of the historical elements were replaced with modern ones at different occasions.

Concerning historical-archaeological values The building, which is dated to the beginning of the 20th century, was constructed after the demolition of some kind of older structure. Some archaepological surveying was done at the site with some test digging. However no full archaeological excavation was done at the site due to technical and legal reasons.

Concerning the historical transformation of the building itself, three main phases can be differentiated. The first phase was dated to 1900. The building at this phase was consisted of a rectangular plan arranged longitudinally following the NorthSouth axis, with a main access faรงade in the west and an eastern faรงade looking on to the courtyard. The building consisted of just six classrooms at this phase. The building at this phase was a typical example of an Ottoman school building. Later on in 1922, the two wings closing off the courtyard were added accompanied by slight architectural modifications such as the pointed arches of the openings that replaced the round arches in the older phase. The third phase is very recent when a small service volume was built at the end of the southern volume using contemporary construction techniques that are completely different from those used in the other two phases.

Architectural analysis Based on architectural and functional analysis one can easily conclude that the building was initially built to serve as a main school for Irbid City. However at the beginning of the 20th

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The successive uses of an Ottoman school Renovation of the Al-Judah building, Irbid (Jordan)

Example of a triple window of the building

century the building was restructured to serve a new function which was a hotel and a place for commercial transactions.

During the eighties of the last century the original function of the building as a school was restored and continued to serve this function until it was abandoned by the end of the century due to structural problems.

From an architectural point of view, the most dramatic change to the building occurred in the eighties of the last century when the exterior space was reduced and the courtyard was divided and the the original vegetation was eliminated. This made it very difficult to recover the essence of the building and its environmental context.

The modifications, changes and transformations occurred at different times especially the replacement of traditional elements by other more modern ones made it difficult to fully read and understand the original building and initial building techniques used.

Specific study of the colour The façade was in ashlar blocks of limestone that have the natural stone colours. The typical Ottoman colour patterns that were based on the combination of two-coloured horizontal strips, playing with the different natural pigmentation, appears only in the volumes of the extensions built in 1922. These combine black and beige strips while the edges of the openings are in finely-cut grey stone. Some localized discoloration occurred due to water leakages and blackening caused by pollution emitted by cars.

The metal closure elements are painted white and the grilles black, without any apparent projection.

The new concrete volume built in the eighties was rendered with cement mortar, without any kind of subsequent painting.

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Dimensions of the triple windows

Current state of the constructive elements Assessment of the structure Like other buildings of the same age, the foundation system of the examined building was based on buried walls. Foundations were built after the digging of a trench approximately one metre wide and two metres deep. It was later filled with stones mixed with clay mortar. It was then completed with a levelling layer, and the base of the building’s load-bearing wall was then constructed. No damage in the subsoil or foundations was detected.

The building technique used to construct the walls of the volumes established in the years 1900 and 1922 involved a triple thickness; the outside wall was worked to face on the façade of the building while the inside face was rendered and the intermediate thickness consisted of a mixture of earth, gravel and a little lime. Stone blocks were used to combine the outside and inside walls to make them act as an integral unit.

The structure has suffered considerable damage and deterioration due to various factors. The construction of a new school adjacent to the old building by the Ministry of Education in 1980 caused a great deal of damage and cracking generated by vibration from the heaving machinery. Water leaked through these cracks and the mortar inside gradually disintegrated.

Water leakage and high humidity encourage the growth of micro-organisms on the outer faces of the walls. In addition salt efflorescence and growth of small plants between the ashlar blocks of the walls contribute to disrupting the transmission of loads and leading to tensions at specific points, causing the appearance of more cracks in the stones. Major discoloration of the outer walls has been caused by air pollution.

The successive uses of an Ottoman school Renovation of the Al-Judah building, Irbid (Jordan)

Section showing the construction of the foundations

Successive renovation works done at the building contribute to its damage and deterioration. Prefabricated concrete block walls rendered with cement were added and caused a great deal of aesthetic and structural damage. The original ceiling of the two ground-floor volumes which was constructed with wooden beams was replaced in the seventies with a concrete ceiling made of IPN metal beams with a fifteen-centimetrethick layer of reinforced concrete with electro-welded mesh.

Assessment of the envelope The faรงades were formed by the ashlar blocks of the loadbearing wall, with a coarser grained texture in the solid part and a finer one for the edges of the openings.

The original pointing of the ashlar blocks was done with lime mortar, without deepening the cavities, giving the stone faรงade a characteristic appearance. However, this composition of faรงades was only carried out on the main longitudinal faรงades facing the street and those overlooking the courtyard.

By contrast, the intermediate ones were left without any kind of decoration or care, even though the original building was designed as an isolated one.

The traditional original roof was totally removed and replaced with a metal and concrete one. The existing metal ceiling was covered by a second layer of concrete, forming the slopes for evacuating water. There was no thermal insulation of any kind nor any water proof cover. The system used clearly led to severe dampness due to leaks which caused salts crystallization and micro-organisms growth.

Degree of obsolescence of the installations.

The building did not have modern installations for water supply or drainage. The water supply is based on collection of rain water and no drainage network is found.

Volume built with concrete blocks rendered with unpainted cement mortar

Decoration and finishes The interiors were rendered with three layers of cement by recent interventions which wiped out the original lime finishes.

The flooring was covered with successive layers of pigmented lime mortar. However, these layers were in very poor conditions due to dampness and lack of maintenance.

While little damage have occurred to the original elements of the building, the latter additions suffered the most damage and deterioration. This indicates the big difference in the quality of the original materials used when compared the added elements.

Renovation scheme The school was abandoned when the construction of the new adjacent school started. The building was totally neglected and left without any sort of maintenance.

The purpose of renovation plan was to halt the rapid deterioration of the building and to restore the building to the nearest of its original Ottoman style. The approach proposed included the repair of damages sustained. It was also proposed to reuse the building as a school again with some modifications to comply with new developments.

Description of the work Actions on the structure As there has been no serious problem related to the foundations intervention in these structural elements proved unnecessary.

Only in the courtyard some concrete foundations were constructed for building the perimeter porch that was added

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The successive uses of an Ottoman school Renovation of the Al-Judah building, Irbid (Jordan)

Details of the ceiling of the building

Main faรงade before and after the intervention

Floor plan after the intervention

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Type of ceiling existing throughout the building

for certain functionality. Rectangular reinforced concrete pillars were built for that purpose.

The main conservation works done on the outside walls consisted of cleaning the masonry to remove weathering alterations. Presurised water and mechanical brushing were the main cleaning techniques used. Broken and degraded elements of the walls were replaced with compatible new stones. Cracks were repaired by filling them with cement mortar followed by repointing them with pigmented mortar.

The existing roof was consolidated with minor replacement of a small area at the south-eastern corner. The existing roof was strengthened with a second layer of reinforced concrete with the cleaning up of the the rusted beams. The perimeter ceiling covering the porch was done with metal beams and then a 15cm thick concrete slab. The joints between these beams and the outside face of the original wall were strengthened by setting the beams into the wall.

The works carried out did not alter the load of the ceiling, therefore no reinforcement was considered.

Actions on the envelope The openings did not require any restoration works, as they were in good condition. Stones used as jambs, arches and for drainage were not only finely cut but were also of high stone quality specifically chosen to be used the openings.

The only intervention on the faรงade was the concrete porch which was finished by using mortar rendering, without subsequent painting.

The flat roof was replaced by another layer of concrete, forming a slope towards the draining points. The rainwater network

The successive uses of an Ottoman school Renovation of the Al-Judah building, Irbid (Jordan)

Outdoor paving of the central courtyard

manages the water to a cistern in the courtyard. No thermal insulation was applied.

Renewal of installations The electrical installations run through vertical channels in the wall that were subsequently covered.

In the case of the roof, the electrical installation had to run, exposed, inside the metal beams.

The water installation followed the same criteria.

Concerning the drainage network, it should be pointed out that this was separated, with the rainwater collected in a cistern buried in the courtyard. This solution allows the building to have its own water supply and at the same time frees the new sewerage network of unnecessary excess flow.

Recovery of finishes Three layers of cement renders were applied to the walls. The first layer function is to improve adherence while the second layer function is to give the rendering body where the third layer was added to achieve a smooth finished surface.

The internal flooring is based on a tiled floor, using locally produced cement tiles fitted after forming the floor with compacted earth, rubble, concrete and a layer of cement.

Outside, continuous concrete flooring with a non-slip finish and open joints was used, forming modules of 150 x150cm.

Assessment of the results Although the entire renovation was carried out with the purpose of transforming the building into a school, there was a change in these plans for different reasons. After renovation completed the building was firstly used as a hotel and at some later time changed into an apartment building for accommodation..

The renovation works were carried out by a small local company where only a third of the employed workers knew about traditional techniques.

The architect produced the architectural plan and supervised the works, while the developer managed construction on the site.

There were no great deviations from the original work plan as the scheme had been sufficiently defined.

Since the completion of works in 1984 the building is in good preservation conditions with minor problems caused by growing of microorganisms and higher plants on some of the faรงades.

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Reassignment in museum of an abandoned pre-industrial complex Refurbishment of the new Silk Museum, Bsous (Lebanon) Site: On the valley mountainside overhanging the river before the entrance to the town of Bsous, 14 km from Beirut.

Objectives: Conversion of a silk culture factory into a silk museum and rehabilitation of adjoining buildings as accomodations.

Environment description: Rural. Low density.

Technical team: Jacques Abou Khaled, factory architect; Rachid Karam, dwelling architect.

Developers: Alexandra and Georges Asseily.

Constructor: Sami Feghaly.

Date: 1998-2003.

Budget: 720,000 euros.

Area: 650 m2 (silkworm breeding factory), 130 m2 (dwelling).

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Reassignment in museum of an abandoned pre-industrial complex Refurbishment of the new Silk Museum, Bsous (Lebanon)

General view of the manufacture

Concerning the environment and background to the intervention The project is sited in Bsous, a town of 3,000 people in the Lebanese mountains that stands at 450 metres above sea-level.

It is in an area of countryside which, even though it is a mere 15 km from the country’s capital, has still retained its rural nature.

This rural area has in recent years increased its inhabitants number due to the proximity of the capital and the area’s climate. The cultural and social level of local residents is diversified, ranging from fruit and olive tree farmers up to company executives.

The local climate means that Bsous has a huge amount of olive trees planted on terraces in the lower part of the town where there are also numerous springs and where large numbers of fruit trees grow. Prior to the 20th century economic activity was based on cultivating these fruit and olive trees, and indeed the factory was built on the oil press that existed at the start of the 20th century. The area was heavily influenced by the economic boost provided by Lebanon’s silk culture, and it was this that led to the factory being built on the old oil press which existed since the beginning of 20th century.

During the economic boom which followed the construction of the factory, a large number of dwellings were set up around it giving rise to the neighbourhoods which today make up the town. The growth periods in these neighbourhoods are witness to the profound economic and social changes that their inhabitants have experienced.

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Vault of the celar

Description of the building It consists of two buildings: a silkworm breeding factory and a dwelling for the foreman.

The factory consists of two, two-storey rectangular sections facing east-west and sited on the slope between two terraces which means that the ground floor is partially underground.

The two floors have different areas and were not previously connected on the inside. The semi-underground floor, smaller than the upper floor, shelters in its North extremity an old oil press, and in its South extremity a water cistern, the boiler and storage areas. The upper floor could be accessed from three sides and had a large hall with 110 tubs and at one end the foreman’s office. In the adjoining building were storage areas and a technical office.

Facing the factory is a rectangular warehouse where the silk cocoons were stored and the foreman had his living quarters.

The level of the ground floor is uneven with flooring being at a different height in each area used for discrete functions, though ceilings were at the same elevation to ensure a flat base for the upper floor.

A large chimney is attached to the East façade which served to exhaust gases produced by the boiler room on the ground floor.

Reassignment in museum of an abandoned pre-industrial complex Refurbishment of the new Silk Museum, Bsous (Lebanon)

Colour of local stone.

Process of diagnosis Concerning historical-archaeological values An oil press was built in 1860 to take advantage of the natural slope between two natural terraces. In 1900, the silkworm breeding and spinning factory was built on top of this press and gradually grew in size in lockstep with the periods of economic growth that occurred over the course of the century.

The building was seriously damaged in the end of Lebanese civil war and had been abandoned until refurbishment was begun in 1998.

Architectural analysis Remodelling for museum use was not problematic as the spaces were open plan and the building itself was the object to be displayed. This meant that no substantial modifications were needed, but rather the recreation of the functioning factory by repairing damage caused in the war.

It was the semi-ground floor that required the greatest amount of remodelling work to adapt it to its new use, as its habitability was poor and it was not in-house connected with the upper floor.

Turning the adjoining building into a dwelling was not especially problematic. It required an extension, as the programme called for more useable floor area, and improvement of the existing indoor/outdoor ratio using intermediate spaces which the Mediterranean climate makes it possible to use for much of the year and which help to improve the house’s climate variables.

Details of the arcs and of the floor

Specific study of the colour The buildings were made of open stonework. No colour study was required as the colour was that of the local limestone that had been used originally and which provides a range of tonalities on the same stretch of wall.

Current state of the constructive elements Assessment of the structure Extant foundations consisted of an elongation and widening of the load-bearing walls and were sound enough to guarantee the stability of the buildings.

Vertical structures consisted of load-bearing walls made of local limestone. On the east face of the ground floor these walls had the dual role of earth retention and holding up the building’s horizontal structure. On the ground floor the walls reached a thickness of one metre.

The most serious pathology in the vertical structure was damage inflicted by the civil war which had led to the collapse of walls and generalised instability. Three types of flooring system were used for the horizontal structure of the buildings.

The semi-basement floors were covered by groin and pointed barrel vaults, although in some areas the flooring system is made of wooden beams and beam spacing.

As in the factory the adjoining building was also topped with vaults, and a wooden beam and beam spacing flooring system was only to be found in the room used as the foreman’s living quarters.

The vault system entails a series of horizontal forces which in this case were cancelled out by earth retaining and the vertical

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Plans of the project

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Reassignment in museum of an abandoned pre-industrial complex Refurbishment of the new Silk Museum, Bsous (Lebanon)

Trace of course of installations under existing flooring.

Work done on the walls.

weight coming down from the upper floors.

The roof of the factory building consisted of a structure of cedar wood trusses called Qotrani. The purlins and the roof rest on the trusses.

It was in good condition save for some wooden components which had to be replaced.

The wall is open masonry with extremely well defined horizontal courses and no rendering anywhere.

Assessment of the envelope The façades reflect previous industrial use with rectangular windows placed regularly all the way along the façade; the same is true of other components such as ventilation and even the chimneys which stick up out of the roofs. Running right along the façades were a number of pipes which every so often connected up with drainpipes so as to carry water away from the building.

On the factory’s north wall the interior structure of vaults is reflected in the façades by pointed arches which do not always appear to indicate the presence of an opening.

Lintels and jambs of openings are made of the same local calcareous tone as the walls. They have wrought-iron grills and those which were not damaged in the war are in perfect condition.

The buildings have gable roofs with the ridge running parallel to the longitudinal façades and a change in slope next to the face of the building. They are finished with flat red Marseille roof tiles. Industrial use means that they have a series of chimneys laid out in an ordered and regular pattern along them.

The roof did not come up to contemporary heat comfort requirements plus it had damp and maintenance problems which had affected its frame structure.

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Reinforcement of ground floor vault.

Degree of obsolescence of the installations There were no utility installations in the buildings, save for a cistern on the ground floor and an external tank above the factory. There were also some drainage pipes mainly designed to remove rainwater.

Decoration and finishes Interiors were very simple as industrial use meant that there was no need for elaborate final finishes. The inside of the upper floor was plastered with lime mortar, and all that was left on the ground floor (which had been used for services) were some traces of earth mortar plastering.

The structure of trusses on the upper floor was visible with no type of false ceiling, and on the ground floor the absence of any covering for the vaults meant that their stonework was visible.

Paving consisted of stone slabs on the ground floor and ceramic paving in the upper floor and in the dwelling.

Reassignment in museum of an abandoned pre-industrial complex Refurbishment of the new Silk Museum, Bsous (Lebanon)

Exterior paving made of local stone.

Renovation scheme The aim of the project was to restore the ensemble and convert it into a silk museum. This meant that a number of operations needed to be carried out: - The factory building was to be remodelled as a museum and would house the exhibition rooms.

- The foreman’s dwelling would continue to fulfil the same purpose. This meant installing greater heat comfort.

- Exterior space would also be modified with the construction of a series of pergolas and intermediary spaces adjoining the dwelling and a botanical garden.

In order to achieve these goals, firstly the original structures were restored and the technical office attached to the factory was knocked down. Afterwards the structure of the buildings was strengthened, respecting or redoing as appropriate the traditional techniques originally used to construct the facility.

The new layout of uses was established by creating a main entrance for the museum on the south side of the smaller parallelepiped of the factory building. The entrance is a subdivision of a larger area which shares with the staircase leading to the ground floor access to museum service premises such as a kitchen, the restrooms and the entrance to the three exhibition rooms in the museum.

In reception, the restrooms were newly built in a free-standing structure that appeared to be projecting.

In addition to reception the upper floor also features three exhibition rooms, one of them included in the entrance structure and the other two laid out consecutively in the larger structure and ending in an office and technical facility.

Façade of the renovated dwelling.

Remodelling work was more extensive on the ground floor as the previously uninhabitable areas were set aside for more social uses: thus the oil press area became the museum souvenir shop that communicated with another exhibition room. An area was also fitted out on this floor for workers and the boiler room was retained.

However, the first thing that had to be done in order to lay out the museum like this was to establish interior communication between the two floors.

As for the foreman’s dwelling, it was retained as such but with a series of modifications so as to be able to implement the new programme and equip it with habitability conditions that are more in line with contemporary standards. It was made larger with a hallway and living room. Work was not restricted to the recovery of pre-existing structures as pergolas were installed outside and the water cistern was refurbished for more recreational use as a swimming pool.

Description of the work Work on the structure As there were no significant changes in building loads and because building pathologies were more the result of damage caused by armed conflict rather than structural faults in the subsoil or in the building itself, no underpinning was carried out. Work on the subsoil was restricted to that required for the new extension to the dwelling which involved building some concrete walls lined with local stone on the interior face.

On the first floor the walls were mostly reconstructed, but the original system was modified in that the core of the wall was filled with mass concrete, whereas originally this layer had been filled with rubble and large, unworked stones.

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Montaje de las nuevas cerchas de la fรกbrica.

The importance of the craftspeople who worked on the site became apparent in the construction of pointed arches, each of whose stones had to be cut to the appropriate geometry.

The joint mortar that was employed contained Portland cement. All other rectangular vertical openings were capped with monolithic stone lintels.

The point in the project where traditional materials and techniques were combined with other more contemporary ones was the newly built indoor staircase. The first section was made with solid stone steps and the final section consisted of a steel structure with wooden steps giving it a light appearance.

Horizontal structures which were in generally good condition were reinforced, but in cases where major degradation was apparent either in terms of conservation or the impact of the war, they were replaced or made from scratch.

On the ground floor the ashlar vaults that formed the base of the upper floor were uncovered and reinforced with a layer of concrete to ensure their stability (due to a lack of confidence in the traditional systems) using the original structure as permanent formwork. The wooden beam flooring system was also uncovered and a concrete compression layer was applied connected to the wooden beams to ensure the safety of the finished work.

The new flooring systems in the restroom premises and the dwelling extension were made using modern concrete techniques.

The original appearance of the ensemble was not altered and it complied with building regulations.

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Work on the envelope The faรงades were preserved with no changes to their original appearance and merely replacing wooden frameworks, piping and drainpipes.

The faรงades of the refurbished dwelling, unlike the factory, have Majorcan blinds which are typical of the Mediterranean and serve to mitigate atmospheric conditions.

The main work carried out on the faรงades consisted of going over joints with white cement mortar thus avoiding the not terribly aesthetic look of stone with grey joints.

Turning to the roofs, as with the rest of the structure it was decided to retain those which were in good condition and to replace those which had degraded without changing their layout.

Some trusses had to be replaced in the factory and those which were left were stripped and repainted to provide protection against insects.

As the factory dated from the start of the 20th century, heat comfort was extremely defective so a layer of insulation was placed on top of the beams and on top of that a ventilated space was left. This was designed to passively prevent overheating by the sun without needing to install a cooling system as the roof tiles absorb the heat produced by direct radiation and the ventilation space means that the quantity of this heat that gets through to the interior of the building is minimised.

The most complicated joints in the new porches were made with metal parts.

Water drainage used the extant conduits and drainpipes on the building faรงades.

Reassignment in museum of an abandoned pre-industrial complex Refurbishment of the new Silk Museum, Bsous (Lebanon)

Stairs to exhibition room after intervention.

Renewal of installations Electricity and water connections were fed through grooves in existing walls and flooring with visible traces being left behind in some cases. The old water drainage canal on the floor in the cistern room was preserved.

The existing cistern was waterproofed to ensure its functionality and it became the swimming pool for the dwelling. By contrast the new cistern which was required for the water installation was camouflaged by walls made of local stone and built into the architectural ensemble.

Recovery of finishes Walls were left as open stonework throughout including inside the exhibition rooms. This entailed sand blast cleaning followed by filling in joints with white cement mortar as used on the outside.

The service premises, the technical office and the arrivals lobby were rendered with Portland cement mortar and subsequently painted with plastic paint.

Existing flooring and paving was re-laid on cistern room level and calcareous stone slab were put on the free spaces of the breeding. Outdoor areas were repaved and the same stone was used throughout the facility, laid in an irregular pattern.

Rehabilitated interior room

Assessment of the results Integration of the intervention in the landscape was made possible by combining traditional and conventional techniques as well as the use of traditional local material. It has also served to give a boost to the countryside with a new centre of attraction (the new museum).

Moreover the museum programme has adapted the building without needing to make any substantial modifications to the original spaces.

The conversion of the yard between the two buildings into a botanical garden and caring for the immediate surroundings of the museum calls for methodical and consistent work which will reinforce the benefits referred to above.

On a larger scale this refurbishment project has had a positive impact on job creation in the area as well as the regeneration process of traditional techniques launches in the region on traditional housing level.

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Press room turned into shop.

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Refurbished swimming pool of the dwelling.

Recovery of a traditional structure for hotel use Renovation of a “riad” in Ben Youssef, Marrakech (Morocco) Site: 12, Talaa Street, Ben Youssef, Marrakech, Morocco Objectives: Conversion of a traditional “riad” into a hotel Environment description: Dense historic fabric Technical team: “Marrakech-Médina” sarl Developers: Philippe and Marianne Taburiaux Constructor: “Tarmim-Médina” sarl Date: 2003-2004 Budget: €275,676 Area: 760m2

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Recovery of a traditional structure for hotel use Renovation of a “riad” in Ben Youssef, Marrakech (Morocco)

Plan of the location of the “riad” within the historic district

Concerning the environment and background to the intervention The city of Marrakech has a population of around a million and a half inhabitants, of whom 235,000 live in the medina.

The medina forms the city centre and around it the various urban extensions have been established over time, as well as the palm grove and other historic gardens. Some time ago it was an important driving force for the city’s resources, although nowadays it is more of a pre-existing system in disuse.

The renovated building is an old residential mansion in the historic Ben Youssef district of the medina and located a few metres from the Madrasah and Ben Youssef mosque built in the 12th century, one of the most visited monuments in Marrakech.

During the 20th century, the tendency was for a large proportion of Moroccans – those with greater purchasing power who were heirs to these magnificent mansions – to leave the medinas and begin to populate the outskirts, following a lifestyle that until then was foreign to them, and leaving behind a type of building that had been ideally suiting to all the requirements of the old the way of life and climatic conditions. The medina was consequently depopulated of these residents, coming to be occupied by humbler families, with the same building shared between various families and, in some cases, these fine buildings began to be divided up.

Alongside this, new occupants from outside rediscovered the beauty of these mansions, their spaces and their architecture so well suited to their surroundings, resulting in polarisation of the inhabitants of the medina: on one hand, local families with

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View of the central courtyard

low incomes and, on the other, foreigners renovating these houses to the most luxurious standards. The district is therefore in the middle of a process of social transformation.

The foreigners play an important role in renovating the riads and mansions in the medinas, for their own use or as hotels, seeking the essence of these residences and taking great care of the materials used and their adaptation to their new uses.

This is the case that concerns us: a mansion where various members of a family clan once lived.

Description of the building It is an old noble residence called a “riad” because of its characteristic courtyard around which the entire house revolves, divided into garden quadrants with a fountain at the central point and characteristic of the Marrakech medina. To date this type of building has been valued more highly by foreigners than by local people, something which polarises the use to which they are put, making them homes for rich foreigners or houses over-occupied by several Moroccan families and with a low level of comfort and habitability.

Recovery of a traditional structure for hotel use Renovation of a “riad” in Ben Youssef, Marrakech (Morocco)

Previous state. View of the original existing gallery

Process of diagnosis Concerning historical-archaeological values The building was designed under criteria of symmetry with the central courtyard at the heart of it, although the initial geometrical scheme did not entirely take shape as it was not completed, and remained unfinished. It came into the hands of the current owners with the original floor area and without having undergone any significant changes or segregations complicating the comprehension of the building and damaging the original typology of the introspective central floor, protecting its intimacy and shut off from indiscreet glances that might come up from the streets of the medina. It is a riad characteristic of the medina.

Architectural analysis The always carefully studied transition from the outside to the inside of the house, based on a series of reroutings and visual barriers to prevent a view into the heart of the house from the street, must be highlighted.

The courtyard is surrounded on its four sides by the rooms called “bayts”, of the same dimensions as its faces and not very deep – between two and three metres – but with clearly rectangular proportions, accessible from the door that gives on to the central patio, clearly marking two zones within the room.

The rooms do not communicate with one another, so the courtyard always has to be crossed. The principal room is the

Main façade of the house

Crack detected in the first floor caused by differential settlement

one with benches on three of its sides to receive visits and this was normally located opposite the main door, far from the entrance and the public space. The living areas were spread around the courtyard and their windows opened on to it, so the façades of the internal courtyard represent the main façades of the house. This arrangement produces a strong contrast between the architecture of the streets and alleys of the medina and the decorative and luminous exuberance of the internal spaces of these houses.

Water is vitally important inside the traditional house and the garden, is, as usual, crossed by central pathways dividing the courtyard area into equal zones.

The original spaces were this elegant thanks to the existing proportions and the fine quality of some materials for which the intervention did not require significant modifications, simply improvement through consolidation and cleaning to return them to their original state while adapting them to their new use.

As well as the main courtyard, there was a secondary one located at the back, communicated with its own access after a series of re-routings. Given over to services and kitchens, this was the area that had undergone greatest alterations, shown by the replacement of the traditional ceilings by new reinforced concrete ones, with the consequent loss of proportions and textures.

Access to the upper floors was via two symmetrically positioned staircases giving access to a number of rooms on the upper floor, but it was not possible to make a complete circuit of the floor and one was always obliged to come down, cross the courtyard and go back up again.

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Recovery of a traditional structure for hotel use Renovation of a “riad” in Ben Youssef, Marrakech (Morocco)

State of the original ceiling

The building did not have a great variety of colour in the building or a quantity of different textures, still less if we compare it with other, similar buildings whose interiors are systematically covered with a decorative skin.

The sober exterior of the building consisted of lime rendering which, over time, had been degraded to a reddish colour, with the deepest colours at the base, becoming lighter on the way up, as the flat roof had suffered more severely from the aggression of bad weather.

The inside was quite sober, characterised by the white colour of the façades of the central courtyard finished with a green tiled strip, but there was no outstandingly elaborate decoration.

Current state of the constructive elements Assessment of the structure The subsoil of the medina is characterised as being consolidated with the remains of the foundations of all the buildings that have stood on it for approximately 1,000 years. This means there are no fears for the foundations of the building in question, as the subsoil is well consolidated and the only problem detected in the building was due to some repair works to the sewer network in the street, which have clearly changed the density of the earth in a very localised way, producing differentiated settlement shown up by the appearance of some cracks at first floor level in the space between the two supporting walls fronting on to the street. After observing these fissures using plaster probes for some time, it was confirmed that they were dead, which dispelled the fear of instability in the building, which would have required more serious action than just a simple repair.

The supporting walls were built with handmade bricks fixed with lime mortar. In general, the condition was good, but there

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Replacement of deteriorated beams with new cypress wood ones

were areas where material from both rendering and joints had been lost, leading to localised excessive tension that had caused pieces to break.

The ceilings were largely the original ones, made in the traditional way known as “ikki”, consisting of girders, beams, infill made of thuja wood and, on top, a layer of mixed earth and lime, well packed down.

The majority of the existing ceilings were the originals but, at the back of the house, the area given over to kitchens and services, they had been replaced by reinforced concrete ceilings put in in the seventies and already showing damage, largely due to poor workmanship. The others also required action, or rather strengthening and replacement, as they were affected by various problems including attacks by wood-boring insects and deterioration of the heads of the beams.

Assessment of the envelope As in all Arab houses, the real façades are on the inside. They are the façades of the courtyard. However, here they are quite discreet and dominated by a single material: white lime mortar.

The exterior façade, with few openings, has the same lime rendering. It is discreet and would be an almost complete blind covering were it not for two elements: the entrance door framed with a very fine stone known as “R’Taj” and an opening belonging to the upper floor protected with wooden eaves and also characteristic of local architecture.

The internal façade is much more open, dominated by an arcaded gallery on one of the sides, repeated on the ground floor and first floor. On the opposite side, the same design remained to be completed but until the renovation this had not been achieved.

Recovery of a traditional structure for hotel use Renovation of a “riad” in Ben Youssef, Marrakech (Morocco)

Plane of the proposed ground floor

Plane of the proposed first floor

The carpentry is of cedar wood and many of the openings had wrought iron grilles with their own decoration.

All the roofs are flat and are resolved with the same construction system previously described for the ceilings. The packed lime and earth makes these waterproof as the packing extracted all the excess water from the mixture and holes were kept to a minimum. But to ensure the system works properly it needs to be continuously maintained, becoming more effective in time as the pores of the mixture close up tighter and tighter until they allow only water vapour to pass, allowing the roof to breathe through its skin.

Degree of obsolescence of the installations.

The house had installations such as running water, electricity and a drainage network. However, they could not be relied on for the new activity and the levels now required made them obsolete.

Reconstruction of the pillars on the site

Reconstruction of the arcades existing on the ground floor

Reconstruction of the wooden beam infill of a traditional ceiling

New “moucharabieh”

Decoration and finishes The finishes had greatly deteriorated as they were largely of plaster and decorative tiles along the strips in contact with the ceilings. The zero maintenance on the house over the last few years had encouraged water to come in, with a noticeably damaging effect on all these elements.

The flooring consisted of ceramic pieces which had better withstood the abandonment of the house.

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Recovery of a traditional structure for hotel use Renovation of a “riad� in Ben Youssef, Marrakech (Morocco)

Various steps in the rehabilitation

Renovation scheme The challenge of this commission lay in appropriate adaptation to a new use, making sure that neither the typology nor the character of the existing house was damaged while at all times ensuring the comfort so much desired by tourists on holiday.

The two lines of action which from the beginning marked the character and set the pattern for the renovation were: - Stripping the existing structures for consolidation and cleaning, without ever losing the essence of the materials originally used, avoiding the introduction of contemporary materials that would create incompatibilities with the existing ones. This meant the diagnosis had a fundamental value as a step prior to determining the method for putting the design concept into practice. Key point of the whole scheme: knowing what the building is like and how it should continue serving the new residents.

- Recovery of the original spaces and completion of the unfinished symmetry of the building thanks to the construction of a gallery which was in the original idea for the house but which was never actually built. This would recreate the formal characteristics of what was already in existence.

Included in the idea of recovery was the reconstruction of the garden in the central courtyard that gives its name to this type of house. Recovery of the original physiognomy.

Another aspect to be highlighted within the understanding and renovation involved in this work is the application of sustainability criteria through the use of material from the site and reuse of components from the house as it was prior to the renovation once they had been restored.

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All these objectives went along with the application of traditional systems.

The new programme for the building consisted of a hotel with eleven bedrooms distributed around the courtyard, which was given a use similar to the original one, with the courtyard as distributing element on the ground floor, which must be passed through to access the rooms, both on the ground floor and upper floors, as the impossibility of making a complete circuit of the courtyard was repeated.

Description of the work Actions on the structure The increase in weight of the building did not involve any problem from the point of view of the stability of the foundations. It could be dealt with without difficulties thanks to the size of the walls and the low load they received, which made any further analysis of this point unnecessary, even though another floor was to be built to reconstruct the originally designed symmetry.

The load-bearing walls were all stripped of plaster so their condition could be observed in more detail. The areas that had lost material were consolidated using traditional bricks fixed with cement lime mortar. Great care was taken not to introduce materials incompatible with the original ones into the building, except for the staples fitted over the crack on the upper floor caused by differential settlement. This action was more of a precaution than a real necessity.

In the most degraded area formerly used as kitchens, certain parts had to be demolished before being reconstructed in the same way, using handmade bricks fixed with cement-lime mortar, as the gallery opposite the existing one was to be built on top of them.

Recovery of a traditional structure for hotel use Renovation of a “riad” in Ben Youssef, Marrakech (Morocco)

Construction of the arcs for the upper flat

As a general rule, it was possible to reuse existing materials on the site, promoting recycling as a form of site management and criterion for action.

Most money was spent on the ceilings, both reinforcement and reconstruction. All the beams in poor condition were replaced by cypress wood beams, representing a large item in the works, and the traditional infill of wattle or strips of wood was reconstructed.

The concrete ceilings at the rear were strengthened and the damage repaired. Although he was very strict in the manner of carrying out the renovation, the architect agreed to introduce a 3 or 4 cm layer of mortar on the ceilings to ensure load transmission.

Actions on the envelope No new opening was made towards the outside, maintaining the austere, closed character. The only work done was to consolidate material, although these consisted of isolated actions in comparison with the works as a whole. The entrance door (R’Taj) was cleaned and tidied up without introducing any change.

By contrast, inside there was a rereading of the façades and new openings were made according to the vertical proportions of the original language. The architect even enriched this by providing the internal façades with more elaborate openings, such as fitting cedar wood “moucharabieh” (wooden shutters protruding from façades).

The most important point was the creation of the unfinished gallery to achieve symmetry. Historic construction techniques were used, including building arches with handmade bricks, without, of course, damaging their structural behaviour. In this way, the architect went beyond merely imitating a look. Finally, everything was covered with lime mortar and whitewashed with lime.

Redesign of the coating of the courtyard

The balustrades of the gallery had to be remade by local craftsmen imitating the originals and the existing ones restored, replacing deteriorated wooden frames with new cedar ones and refitting wrought iron items which had been in the house since it was built.

The great value of the flat roofs is in the maintenance of the traditional system based on packed earth and lime and not falling into the temptation of introducing waterproof layers. Of course, this was possible thanks to the quality of the workers in the area.

Renewal of the installations All the installations were refitted, without any exception. They were channelled through the walls, which did not present any problem due to their thickness, although the technicians were very careful to avoid horizontal channels as far as possible in favour of vertical ones.

Recovery of finishes.

There were no changes in the materials used for the finishes, but the majority of them had to be redone.

Lime, plaster and ceramics, known as “bejmats” (10 x 10 cm pieces used for flooring) were used throughout.

The doors used were recovered from the house itself and restored.

In the garden, the earth existing on site was used, sieved to make the blocks of stabilised earth marking out the quadrants.

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Recovery of a traditional structure for hotel use Renovation of a “riad� in Ben Youssef, Marrakech (Morocco)

Recovered door integrated into the renovated building

Assessment of the results The result of the intervention is considered a success, largely because of the adaptation of the building to the new use without losing its essence.

This is largely due to the strengthening of the original typology and maintenance of the courtyard as distributor to the parts.

In this renovation, the concept is understood as a whole and both the typological and construction elements are taken care of. There is great respect for historical techniques and great care is used in the introduction of materials.

Interiors have been enriched and this is reflected in the internal courtyard, thanks to the new openings making it possible to fit traditional elements and break up an excessively sober building.

And, as a final note, its role in raising the awareness of the inhabitants of the district of their heritage must not be forgotten, as they observe the building with respect and pride once more.

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Rehabilitated interior courtyard

Making improved living conditions a priority Renovation of the Hosh El-Hilu group of houses, Jerusalem (P.N.A.) Site: 67 Tariq Bab el Silsileh, Jerusalem, West Bank, (P.N.A.) Objectives: To improve the living conditions of the Palestinian community of Jerusalem.

Description of the environment: densified historic urban fabric.

Technical team: Riwaq (Khaldun Bshara, conservation architect, Farhat Muhawi, architect, Amer Al-Najjar, engineer) Developers: The Welfare Association Contractor: Tahboub for Contracting Date: Design 1999, construction 2000 Budget: US $400,000 Area: Plot 1,000m2, 650m2 built on, and 450m2 useful.

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Making improved living conditions a priority Renovation of the Hosh El-Hilu group of houses, Jerusalem (P.N.A.)

Location of Hosh el-Hilu in the centre of Jerusalem

Concerning the environment and background to the intervention This renovation project represents an important pilot scheme involving political, economic, social and merely architectural needs.

The direct beneficiaries of this project are eleven families living in the building and, indirectly, the district as a whole.

The name Hosh el-Hilu refers to the residents of Arab origin at the beginning of the 20th century who arrived from Mount Hebron and resided in empty properties in Jerusalem. This emigration occurred to protect the city from the Jewish settlement activities started at the end of the 19th century.

The residents of Hosh el-Hilu, the third generation of whom being born in Jerusalem, have benefited from Israeli government social security and health insurance policies. This makes the district an interesting issue, from both social and economic points of view. This makes the unattractive places such as el-Hilu complex an attraction from social and economic point of view.

After the Oslo Agreement (1993), which attempted to return to the Palestinians the territories occupied in 1967 during the Six Day War, the residents of Jerusalem found relief from the system of Israeli control. They built or bought houses outside the city’s municipal boundaries to flee from the deplorable situation they had suffered until then.

This situation was partly due to Israeli policy which led to a densification of the historic centre of Jerusalem. In an area of 0.8 km2, 35,000 inhabitants were stuffed, reaching a density comparable only with mega-cities like Sao Paulo, Cairo or Mumbai.

In 1996, with the election of Netanyahu as Prime Minister of Israel, the honeymoon period for the Palestinian Arab residents

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Ground floor in its original state

came to an end and their situation only worsened. In order to be able to benefit from Israeli citizenship rights it was compulsory to prove permanent residence. This policy was counter-productive, as those who had left the district in search of comfort, lifestyle or privacy were forced to return, increasing the density level still further.

Hosh el-Hilu is about 50 metres to the right while climbing up the old Roman Decumanus, now called As-Silsila Street; that is, right in the historic centre of Jerusalem.

The alley that leads to the complex of Hosh el-Hilu is narrow and widens irregularly, sometimes running under vaults (“Quantaras�). At the end of this route is a space without identity, without defined axes. Some concrete structures can be seen together with a series of contemporary facilities scattered over an asphyxiating public space.

Sadly, the absence of solid waste management resulted in piles of rubbish choking the limited collective open space.

Making improved living conditions a priority Renovation of the Hosh El-Hilu group of houses, Jerusalem (P.N.A.)

Alley giving access to the houses where it was necessary to stoop to pass through

View of a collective space before the intervention

Description of the building

Process of diagnosis

Without risk of being wrong, a generalisation can be made that the four residential districts of the historic centre of Jerusalem, as with many Mediterranean countries, are made up of houses with courtyards (“Ahwash” plural of “Hosh”), also common in the majority of Palestinian towns and cities.

The neighbourhood in question is made up of a small twisting alleyway leading to the 12 houses making it up. As is typical in the urban Islamic fabric, the move from a public space to a private one is made gradually.

Until the end of the 19th century, many of the houses did not have services or indoor facilities. The residents used the outdoor space for their activities and used gardens or separate structures as bathrooms or kitchens. It was only early 20th century that inhabitants of Jerusalem included sanitary facilities and kitchens inside their houses, following the modern pattern.

This meant a dramatic change, devaluing the collective spaces and, by contrast, strengthening the individualisation of the houses.

Hosh el-Hilu is built based on stone walls and barrel or cross vaults. Buildings with only one floor, with small exceptions, are distributed in two groups, the southern ones with rooms covered by barrel vaults and the northern ones, built later, with cross and barrel vaults.

Both groups are connected to the principal street through a long narrow alley through the main common space. Most of the buildings are used as houses without a strictly defined programme.

Concerning historical-archaeological values Brief historical research determined that the structures were built in the late Ottoman period at the beginning of the 19th century.

Even without an archaeological dig it is easy to state that the El-Hilu houses were built in accordance with a Roman pattern, on top of successive built-up layers.

It must be noted that archaeological digs are prohibited by the Israeli authorities, and thus were not conducted.

Architectural analysis The densification of the historic centre and discriminatory policies transformed living conditions for the Arab inhabitants of Jerusalem to very low levels. While new additions were built with concrete blocks in the courtyards, new floors were built on many of the flat roofs, without any kind of planning.

Installations were fixed on to the façades and solar systems and TV aerials dominated the scene. This situation not only broke up the harmony of the constructed heritage, it also meant a technical challenge for the conservation team.

Another problem is the fragmentation of the unity of the historic fabric. A residential complex like Hosh el-Hilu was usually used to accommodate one extended family, without the need for privacy or separate facilities. The modern lifestyle encourages individualism which meant the whole has to be divided into independent residential units, and the courtyard subdivided.

This fragmentation impedes a logical distribution of installations for optimum levels of normality or habitability.

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Making improved living conditions a priority Renovation of the Hosh El-Hilu group of houses, Jerusalem (P.N.A.)

Plans of the project

Current state of the constructive elements Assessment of the structure The foundations supporting the walls are one metre deep and one metre thick.

The foundations consist of large rough stones with low quality mortar and gravel filling. The foundations support two-face stone walls.

What characterises the buildings of Jerusalem is the wide variety of construction techniques and forms obtained, despite the limited construction materials, like lime and limestone.

The beige stone of Jerusalem were used to build el-Hilu

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complex, using different textures, depending on the chisel used, leaving the rougher appearance for the wall and a finer one for special elements such as lintels and doors’ jambs.

These walls are made up of two layers of masonry, with the gap filled with earth, rubble and lime mortar. The walls support a system of barrel and cross vaults, whose thickness changes depending on the size of the rooms. A wide variety of stone has been used, from rough to ashlar blocks.

The horizontal spanning is resolved with cross or barrel vaults and, very occasionally, flat ceilings.

The cross vaults are constructed out from stone and lime mortar laid on wooden framework with the cross vault shape.

Making improved living conditions a priority Renovation of the Hosh El-Hilu group of houses, Jerusalem (P.N.A.)

Channel cut into a cross vault to put electric cabling through

Electrical and drinking water installations exposed on the façade

Repointing the ashlar blocks with lime mortar on the façade

The thickness of this vault at the highest point is between 30 and 50cm.

Assessment of the envelope There is a wide variety of doors and windows used in Jerusalem houses, depending on their shape, texture, arches and type of carpentry or ironwork.

There are many types of lintels at el-Hilu, but the most usual is of a single flat piece of stone with a discharge arch right above it.

In general, the openings are small and open towards the narrow courtyard. This feature is appropriate for reasons of privacy and hygiene. In addition, in many houses we can find a high rectangular window opposite the entrance or right above it called a “Taqa”, to ensure cross-ventilation.

Many types of arches have been identified at el-Hilu (segmented, round, pointed and flat). These arches are usually made of finely worked stone.

Degree of obsolescence of the installations.

The installations were not planned thus in a state of chaos. The electric cabling was passed over the surface of the building, stapled between the joints. The sewer system and drinking water network was distributed through pipes hanging from the arches covering the alley. There was no decent street lighting system.

Worker making lime mortar

complete the final layer of the flat roofs. The financial wealth of the occupants can be judged from the finish of the internal flooring.

The alleys are not paved, but in the courtyards we can find slabs of shiny Jerusalem limestone.

The walls are built of stone and are not usually rendered. Instead they are simply pointed in lime-rich mortar. Inside, softer stone is used and a lime plastering is applied as a finish. The indoor plastering is usually whitewashed. On the façade, only the area around windows and doors was whitewashed.

Decoration and finishes Lime mortar has been used in Jerusalem to protect walls from atmospheric agents, to pave interiors and exteriors and to

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Making improved living conditions a priority Renovation of the Hosh El-Hilu group of houses, Jerusalem (P.N.A.)

Plan of the phases the scheme was divided into.

Renovation scheme The preliminary requirements were defined by the “Welfare Association� which demanded specific interventions. The main aim was to improve the living conditions of the residents in order to consolidate the Arab community in Jerusalem. Finance was obtained and the work began in the summer of 1999.

The buildings were mainly refurbished and renovated to improve standards of habitability. In general, the interventions were conservationist ones. Previous interventions were removed to correct technical restoration errors.

New contemporary additions replaced the already existing services. Light materials such as concrete blocks and metal sheets were used. These light materials were chosen for the twin characteristics of being reversible and being easily recognised when compared with the historic buildings.

The improvement of the physical conditions involved the installation of electricity, sewer system and drinking water network, the restoration of interiors with lime plastering, the refitting of flooring and the insulation of flat roofs.

Apart from the 12 houses described, the project also involved the renovation of the common spaces.

After the removal of the rubbish, the space was reorganised to host new sanitary services as well as communal activity space. The new scheme made it possible to organise the solid waste management, as well as providing conduits for sewage and rainwater. In so doing, lighting and natural ventilation conditions were improved.

In the common areas, concrete walls covered with stone were used to recreate the image of the new square. The paving was with slabs of local limestone, with patterns that brought a new identity to the public space.

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View of a restored vault

The alleyways were restored with paving of new slabs and the walls or vaults were rendered or repointed to ensure clean, safe access to the complex. A street lighting system was installed both in the square and in the alleyways.

The greatest success achieved has been in improving these access alleyways and solving the sanitary problem.

The first time the district was entered, every corner was fulfilled with rubbish so that one had to crouch down to pass under the vaults. In addition, sewer system was exposed, hanging from these vaults.

Once all this public space had been cleaned up, the sewer and rainwater drainage were possible to pass under the pavement.

The arrangement of toilets and showers for the different families in courtyards was another success of the project. The concrete structures were replaced by new volumes combining functionality, architectural form and respect for the environment of the new plaza.

At the suggestions of RIWAQ, the scheme was divided into four phases to allow rapid implementation.

The first was in the houses on the north side, then those in the east, thirdly those in the south and finally the common spaces.

The works were awarded to the most experienced contractors in Jerusalem in independent phases. Before presenting budgets, they were provided with a site visit to closely check the works included in the design. The Welfare Association maintained close monitoring of the implementation through residing supervisor and frequent staff visits. The works lasted six months and, during this time, some residents continued to live on the site.

Making improved living conditions a priority Renovation of the Hosh El-Hilu group of houses, Jerusalem (P.N.A.)

Comparative view before and after the intervention

Description of the work Actions on the structure The foundations are made out from large rough stones with weak mortar. The intervention was limited to repointing with lime-rich mortar to prevent water leaks.

In the vertical structure section, it was not necessary to open new windows or doors, only to repoint the stones on the outer face; inside they were plastered and later whitewashed.

No structural interventions were required on the cross and barrel vaults. Some deteriorated rendering was removed to be replaced, and the traditional limewash applied.

Actions on the envelope The great improvement to the faรงades was achieved based on demolishing the recently built structures standing against them. Once they had been tidied up, all the joints were repointed with lime-rich mortar.

Some upper openings that had served for ventilation were recovered. Security grilles were fitted on the windows and doors, with metal protection bars at the accesses to the houses.

The original vaults were covered with a layer of compact earth about 40cm thick to improve insulation and durability and to form slopes. In some cases, the flat roofs were covered with stone slabs.

The design did not alter the traditional constructional logic and was limited to replacing parts where there were leaks.

Renewal of installations As has been mentioned, the establishment of installations was one of the main items. The original ones were not preserved because, as we have seen, they did not meet minimum requirements.

Recovery of finishes The internal finishes were resolved following the original patterns. Having walls of limestone and lime mortar plastering made the application of the final whitewash much easier.

This solution maintained transpiration throughout the outside walls and roofs and improved the natural light conditions inside.

It is important to highlight the fact that the whitewashing technique is still very much alive among the residents of the district, ensuring maintenance by some of the users themselves.

Inside, contemporary flooring was installed, this time with cement mortar rather than the original lime mortar. Outside, stone slabs were used.

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Making improved living conditions a priority Renovation of the Hosh El-Hilu group of houses, Jerusalem (P.N.A.)

Appearance of a renovated alleyway

Assessment of the results The renovation scheme for Hosh el-Hilu spectacularly improved the standard of living of its residents after years of neglect. The people now identify with the space they live in.

After more than five years, there is a sense of belonging to the place. It is a community that continually maintains the public space, cleaning the alleys and the new square. So, the scheme managed to change social relationships with the district and recovered the lost sense of community.

The experience of Hosh el-Hilu has taught us many lessons: firstly, renovation is not a question of technique, but of identity, politics, economics, social relationships and heritage management. Secondly, architecture, is not only form and function, it is also context, space and experience of space.

Thirdly and finally, the perception that depressing conditions cannot be resolved is intolerable; all that is needed are the will and means to achieve it and hard work.

The success of this project is in the balance between the social needs of the residents and the conservationist criteria for the buildings. The programme was negotiated with each resident, thanks to daily supervision and visits from the Welfare Association team.

In this scheme, we find that the relationship between the architect and the owners was based on mutual understanding of individual and collective needs. This project served as a pattern for subsequent RIWAQ work in Palestine.

Five years after the works, the buildings are in a good state of preservation and maintenance and are in full use.

The communal space that used to be very degraded has

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Appearance of the public spaces after the intervention

become one of the cleanest in the historic centre of Jerusalem and some lost tourists even use the place to relax. It is impossible to imagine that they are sitting on the old rubbish dump of eleven desperate families.

Adaptation of an uninhabited townhouse as a study centre Rehabilitation of Dar Hammad, Aleppo (Syria) Location: Al-窶連quaba, Dar Hammad, Jalloum district, historic centre of Aleppo.

Objectives: to rehabilitate a traditional residence and turn it into a research centre and headquarters of the IFPO (Institut franﾃｧais du Proche-Orient).

Description of the setting: medium density in a historic urban fabric.

Technical team: Kamal Bitar, architect.

Clients: IFPO via the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Contractor: Abdallah Badawi (company) Date: 2004 (8 months of rehabilitation work).

Budget: 73,000 竄ｬ Surface area: 595 m2.

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Adaptation of an uninhabited townhouse as a study centre Rehabilitation of Dar Hammad, Aleppo (Syria)

The location of Hammad house, marked in red, inside the walled historic fabric of Aleppo

About the setting - background to the intervention Hammad house forms part of the historic centre of Aleppo, which was declared UNESCO World Heritage in 1986. It is situated in the district of Jalloum, in the west of the walled precinct. It is situated relatively near Aleppo’s citadel and very close to the well-known traditional souk.

This historic centre is one of the world’s oldest inhabited urban centres and has drawn strongly on the multiple cultures that have occupied it. Morphologically, the traditional urban layout has largely been conserved, but its socioeconomic reality has progressively changed, particularly in the course of the last century.

During the 20th century, the wealthier inhabitants gradually moved out to more modern westernized districts. The humbler social classes remained in the centre, giving rise to major demographic pressure. Certain small industrial and commercial activities also flourished, further worsening the area’s environmental quality.

The past decade has seen increased interest in the great architectural and historic values contained within this labyrinth of traditional streets. Work has started on urban rehabilitation interventions to organize the different uses and to improve the living conditions of local residents.

The Old City of Aleppo has embarked on a new direction, thanks principally to being declared a UNESCO world heritage site and to the Old City Rehabilitation Project (a cooperation project between the Syrian and the German governments), which involved a new and positive approach to its unique historic centre. In this new context, the prestigious French cultural organization IFPO (Institut Français du Proche-Orient)

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View of an interior room

chose Hammad house as its head office in Aleppo.

Hammad house stands on a corner of this dense fabric of narrow streets, presenting two façades to the street. The doorway to the house and to the annexe (a former stable) with its independent entrance is in the southeast corner.

The family who owns the house received the suggestion gratefully. The new use would guarantee the consolidation of this house that had been conserved until the present day. Due to the legal impossibility of donating the property, a system of usufruct was agreed for 99 years, so that rehabilitation work could be started.

Adaptation of an uninhabited townhouse as a study centre Rehabilitation of Dar Hammad, Aleppo (Syria)

Views of the central courtyard

Description of the building

The diagnosis process

The house comprises two above-grade floors and a basement with cellars, and a mezzanine with a small room. The entrance to the house, on the southeast corner, leads into a hallway midway between the basement and the ground (or main) floor.

The central basement comprises a large hall that leads on its west side to the main cellar and on its north side to two small cellars and up to the kitchen. However, the basement beneath the south wing of the building, formerly used as a stable, has an independent entrance from the street and is not connected to the rest of the floor. The main courtyard has a fountain with a stone bench at its centre and is surrounded by rooms on all sides except the party wall on the west side.

A characteristic traditional element found in Hammad house is the liwan, which is open to the courtyard. The liwan is usually raised some 40-50 cm above the courtyard and opens to the north for use during the hot summers.

The floor above the liwan comprises a large hall, reached by a complex stairway. The first part of this staircase is made of iron and connects the courtyard and the mezzanine room above the main entranceway. The rest comprises stone steps set into the façade wall and projecting out towards the street.

The northeast corner of the courtyard provides access to the kitchen and a raised terrace that occupies all of the north and east wing on the upper floor. The kitchen serves as a distribution space, between the main courtyard and a small wing composed of three levels: a bathroom on the same level as the kitchen, a lower service courtyard connected to a small cellar that was formerly only accessible using a ladder, and a room above the bathroom that was reached by a wooden staircase located on the western side of the bathroom.

Historical and archaeological values The building has been the home of the Hammad family for several generations. Despite no longer being resident, the family continued to look after it and even carry out work to prevent its deterioration. This attitude to built heritage is an exception to the majority of the old city’s houses, which have survived in a state of dilapidation or serious overpopulation.

Architectural analysis Although the house is extremely unitary in style, it is the product of several historical phases. It is a classic Arabic house with very hermetic façades onto the street and generous openings onto the inner courtyard, delimited by three built volumes and a party wall. Despite the apparently homogeneous volume, the interior structural floors are situated at different heights to ventilate the basement and produce spaces of different heights, with a multiplicity and complexity of stairways that can be seen in the sections.

The apparent neutrality of the interior spaces reflects the characteristic changes of use in the interiors of the traditional local dwelling according to the season. The only spaces with a specific function were the kitchen and the services, concentrated in the northeast corner.

The house contains two quite different architectural spaces.

All the rooms in the basement are roofed with vaults and are aired through the courtyard via small windows at the top of the walls; however, only the basement located beneath the liwan has small openings to the exterior. The rooms on the

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Adaptation of an uninhabited townhouse as a study centre Rehabilitation of Dar Hammad, Aleppo (Syria)

View of the street façade before the intervention

Original structural floor built with circularsectioned beams laid very close together and wooden beam fill

upper floors, meanwhile, have flat structural floors and interior façades full of elegant windows, whereas those overlooking the street are extremely solid facades. Nevertheless, the façade of the main entrance hallway and the room located above it, and the façade of the rooms to either side of the liwan have big windows protected by iron bars.

Present state of the elements of the building Evaluation of the structure The original foundations, beginning with the basement walls, were built on compact ground with average-sized stones bonded by mortar with a low lime content. No specific lesions were visible and the house in general was in a good state of conservation with no leaks.

The walls are built of a double skin of stones with an infill bonded with lime mortar. The stones of the exterior and the courtyard façades are finely worked; the ones facing the interior rooms are covered with traditional lime mortar. The slight differences in the pointing and the type of stone reveal the different construction phases. There were no defects requiring urgent repair.

Some stretches of wall featured pointed blind arches with perfectly worked voussoirs painted according to a language that did not correspond to the original house. This type of ornamental border painted on the stone wall was also found in other elements of the wall such as the base, top and jambs.

There was a marked difference, as explained above, between the rough stone vaults of the basement and the delicate timber beam fill that forms the structural floors. The timber beams

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Reinforcement foundations Works

have a circular section of about 15 centimetres and are placed 25-30 centimetres apart. Despite the sound condition of these elements, there was some deterioration of the rich paintwork that adorned the structure.

Evaluation of the envelope The original stones are meticulously worked with barely visible joints. In later stretches of wall, more roughly worked stones have thick bonds of lime mortar. The specific façade elements are very finely worked. The various arches, lintels, corners, jambs, dripstones, gargoyles, stairs, imposts and many other architectural elements denote the category of the building.

Exceptionally, the façades of the small first floor volume in the north wing and some party walls have lime render coats with very similar pigmentation to the stones in the rest of the facings.

The liwan presented not just meticulous stone construction but also a simple, rusted metal awning that had to be replaced.

The entire roof is a paved flat walk-on terrace. The state of conservation of these roofs was optimum, as maintenance work had recently been carried out to prevent the incorrect channelling of rainwater that could damage the rest of the building.

The only point with slight symptoms of damp was the paving of the service courtyard, two metres below the street level of the entrance, where repairs had to be carried out to the drainage system.

Adaptation of an uninhabited townhouse as a study centre Rehabilitation of Dar Hammad, Aleppo (Syria)

Various plans of the building in its original state and regarding the project proposal

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Adaptation of an uninhabited townhouse as a study centre Rehabilitation of Dar Hammad, Aleppo (Syria)

The flat roofs, gargoyles and other rainwater drainage systems had been recently restored

Construction section of the proposal to lower the basement floor and photograph of the process of drilling the fastenings

Degree of obsolescence of the installations The electricity installation worked but did not comply with the requirements of the new use, and was attached on the surface of the interior walls. The water was also in use and there was still interior access to the well. Oil heaters provided the only heating, with fumes being evacuated via metal flues. Rainwater was drained by PVC drainpipes connected to the gargoyles and attached to the façades.

Ornamentation and finishes The highest quality of finishes was found in the woodwork. In general, it was in a good state of repair, though several doors and windows needed restoring. There were no major defects in the stone slabs of the outdoor paving, but the floors of some rooms had to be replaced.

Perhaps the abandonment of the house was most noticeable in elements such as the handrail of the suspended stone staircase and its metal screen facing the street to ensure users’ privacy, as well as the slatted wooden shutters of the few windows on the street façades.

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Rehabilitation project The intervention in Hammad house involved creating a new office for the IFPO (Institut Français du Proche-Orient) in the Old City of Aleppo. The institute already has offices in the area, in Damascus, Amman and Beirut. The proposed programme did not represent a conflict for the layout of the house, as found when the agreement was made, as it has open-plan spaces and very rational circulation.

In general, it was not difficult to recover the house’s original splendour, as its general condition was good and it was possible to guarantee the similarity of the damaged elements requiring replacement.

The two rooms adjacent to the liwan on the ground floor were chosen to house the offices; the liwan itself retained its function as a reception area. The two north and east wings were proposed for the library and the research area. The existing kitchen was remodelled without changing its position.

The bathroom was renovated and the small room above was transformed into a bedroom accessed by a metallic staircase.

The other small room above the entrance hallway was also turned into a bedroom. The large room above the liwan was divided into three bedrooms and a bathroom to accommodate guest researchers. All divisions were built with plasterboard to make these interventions reversible.

The main intervention was to the basement, as the space was not high enough and connections between the cellars did not allow logical circulation between the different spaces. It was therefore decided to lower the original floor by 125 cm and drill a connection (a tunnel) between the central cellar and the old stables beneath the liwan.

Adaptation of an uninhabited townhouse as a study centre Rehabilitation of Dar Hammad, Aleppo (Syria)

Laying installations beneath the paving and re-placing the original slabs

Description of construction work Interventions in the structure The need to lower the basement floor was technically and financially the most demanding part of the project. Due to its complexity, work on the foundations was the first to be started and the last to be finished. The poor quality of the ground called for the introduction of fastenings injected with mortar to underpin the basement walls and to form the new foundations, which took the form of a reinforced concrete slab and a retaining wall at each edge. The intervention was so complex that the workers had to invent special downscaled machinery to drill and introduce the fastenings into the ground.

The remainder of the house walls did not require consolidation work as the structure was in good condition and adapted easily to the proposed layout. However, the street faรงade of the service courtyard was extended by about two metres for reasons of security.

The vaults in the basement and the structural floors of the upper levels did not require structural intervention.

The staircase connecting the courtyard with the first floor was remodelled for greater ease of access to the room above the entrance and the room above the liwan; the first part of this staircase was replaced by stone steps. A new stone staircase was also constructed in the small service courtyard to facilitate access to the kitchen level.

Example of the three openings in the street faรงade

Interventions in the envelope The stones in the street and courtyard faรงades were washed to eliminate paint and the patina of time, and the missing parts of the joints were re-pointed.

The few new openings made, such as the doorway to the small service courtyard and the false windows above, were built in keeping with the geometry of the building, using the same traditional building materials.

The door and window frames, grilles, awnings, railings, stairs and other elements in the central courtyard elevation were restored or replaced in keeping with the originals.

The protective metal screen on the staircase leading to the first floor was replaced by a wooden double-skin wall to give it the outer appearance of a kishk.

The only work carried out on the roofs involved the laying of new installations.

Renovation of installations The renewal of the rainwater drainage system freed up the faรงades of PVC pipes. The extended drainage network was connected to the existing installation which, thanks to maintenance work carried out by the owners, still worked correctly.

The installation that caused most complications was the airconditioning. Trays of 100 and 150 mm in the floors and walls channelled the pipes and cables to the different split units. The drinking water network used this same technique to facilitate future maintenance or replacement.

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Adaptation of an uninhabited townhouse as a study centre Rehabilitation of Dar Hammad, Aleppo (Syria)

The courtyard façade, before and after the intervention

Restoration of finishes

Evaluation of the results

Despite the good state of repair of the joinery, numerous doors, windows, shutters and railings had to be restored or replaced, using wood of similar colour and texture. The paint was stripped from all the woodwork and new primers were applied that allow the wood to breathe.

Traditional techniques were automatically used in all restoration.

The artisans contracted were experts, and the contractor directing the work had over 10 years’ experience in the field of rehabilitation.

In the kitchen, the traditional materials used were similar to the originals, such as wood and natural stone, but the finishes were adapted to the requirements of modern life.

This intervention is one more in a whole series being carried out in the walled precinct of the historic centre. In addition to the positive impact of its rehabilitation on the district, Hammad house will also make an impression on the foreign visitors who come to study Middle Eastern culture.

The actual process of rehabilitation also served to provide further training in the integrated use of traditional techniques for the artisans and contractors working on it. The machinery that was “reinvented” and used to lower the basement floor has subsequently been used in the rehabilitation of other properties.

Hammad house is an example that will serve to sensitize other families to the value of their architectural heritage and prompt further revitalization of the district.

Library and various IFPO publications of Alep (www.ifporient.org)

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Successes and limitations of the transformation of a house into a hotel de charme Renovation of the Belhouane house, Tunis (Tunisia) Site: 64 Sidi Ben Arous Street, Central Medina, Tunis.

Objectives: Adaptation as hotel Environment description: Dense historic fabric Technical team: Mamdouh Blaiech, architect Developers: Salah Belhouane Constructor: --Date of the intervention: 2002-2005 Budget: 1.000.000.- â‚Ź Area: 610m2.

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Successes and limitations of the transformation of a house into a hotel de charme Renovation of the Belhouane house, Tunis (Tunisia)

Hotel location map

Concerning the environment and background to the intervention This fine house, renovated and transformed into a hotel de charme, is located in the Medina of the city of Tunis.

Historic general survey: In 78H./698 after J.C, the warlord Hasan Ibn Nooman, conquered Carthage and annihilate all Byzantinian resistance front of Muslim advanced army. Even if the new lords knew the strategic importance of Carthage place, they prefered set in in Tunis, the old Ténes, better protected from seaborne forays.

Indeed, it was situated between two salt lakes, one to the west protecting it from incursions from the land, and the other to the east separating the Medina from the sea.

Tunis did not want cold shoulder to the see and the first great Islamic work was the arsenal construction. A channel excavated through a littoral cord “conveyed the sea in Tunis”. The city prospered and became, above all from the 12th Century, one of the biggest maritim metropolis of Western Mediterranean Sea and became a trading turntable, connecting Ifriqiya to North Africa, to Egypt to maritim European cities.

The city get organized around the Great Mosque of Zitouna that taled up a central posistion into the urban structure and became one of the biggest North African spiritual center and a Malekite ritual fief.

At the same time, the intricate network of spaces for circulation and constructed forms is the result of an evolutionary process going back more than 1,000 years in the same place, with the mosque as central point of attraction, representing the most intensively used space for public life spilling out into the strongly hierarchised road network.

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The Medina gives a typically Muslim urban pattern where appeared the Mosque which is binded by comercial area or souk area from where start main avenues. Each avenue ends to an opening door in the city wall divided up the city into important districts.

As happened in many Arab cities on the Mediterranean, the coming of the colonial era at the end of the 19th century and the introduction of European models of organisation altered the historic urban patterns of use and development. While the functional centre of the city moved towards the periphery, the Medina was abandoned as part of a process of gradual decadence, the value of its traditional hierarchies of space and movement were largely left unrecognisable.

The social and environmental causes of the degradation of the Medina were already recognised at the beginning of the 20th century. The Medina mostly housed the most disadvantaged social layers, with scarce resources for conservation – immigrants recently arrived in the city – while the rich residents moved to the European districts created in the 19th century. This process marked the process of abandonment of the city centre.

Many of the old aristocratic and urban middle class houses have been occupied by several families coming from the countryside. This phenomenon named “oukalisation” has contributed to a rapid degradation of heritage properties and excessive densification of the old city.

Successes and limitations of the transformation of a house into a hotel de charme Renovation of the Belhouane house, Tunis (Tunisia)

Ground floor. Previous state

First floor. Previous state

Picture of the “Driba” before the intervention

Description of the building

Process of diagnosis

It is a fine house belonging to the city’s vernacular architecture.

Built in the 18th century for the Belhouane family, of Turkish origin, it is a centripetal construction around a courtyard, as is usual in Islamic architecture.

It was defined by two volumes, one acting as a frontier between the street and the interior, oriented towards the east and of a single floor, and the interior volume, where more intimate life was carried on and where the finer and more important rooms were arranged. This last volume consisted of a ground floor and first floor and corresponded to the plan of a central courtyard dominated by a gallery on the upper floor, giving access to the finest room of the house.

It consisted of three courtyards, with home life revolving around the main one, the finest of the three. The other two smaller ones fulfilled functions of receiving visitors and making the service areas of the house on the ground floor more salubrious.

The one at the entrance is a rectangular courtyard called the “Driba”, on to which opened the alcoves used for receiving guests, with rich sculptures using high quality plaster called “Nakch Hédida”.

Concerning historical-archaeological values The building stands in the Medina of Tunis, currently listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It was basically built on the 8th and 18th centuries and underwent important transformations in the 19th century.

The capital’s Medina is currently in a situation where social difficulties are mixed with problems in preserving its heritage of monuments.

Architectural analysis Spatially, dwelling-places traditional architecture is characterised by a succession of spaces fitting together without the creation of corridors but which are connected by a central courtyard. A “driba” is situated in the incoming, kind of no covered hallway connecting to the ground floor. It contains of reception room in T with three alcoves adorned by sculpted plaster in style “Nakch Hedida”.

On the floor, a corridor pointed to the East, rest upon limestone columns, is situated before a room which was considered as the most prestigious regarding its decorations and architectural qualities.

The singularity of the different atmospheres created in the house thanks to the different construction techniques used make it ideal for the new intended use as a singular hotel de charme.

Although the building met the requirements in terms of construction and typology, it was necessary to extend the building to ensure an economic profitability. This set a challenge for the architect, who had to ask himself a large number of

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Successes and limitations of the transformation of a house into a hotel de charme Renovation of the Belhouane house, Tunis (Tunisia)

Picture of the main courtyard before the intervention

questions: traditional or contemporary materials? Traditional or modern language? Traditional workers or modern construction companies?...

Specific study of the colour The pre-existing state of the building made it possible to discover the original colours of the walls and the different elements of the building without many problems. The walls were whitewashed, the outside doors were blue and the wooden structures of the gallery were green, together with the upper strip of brightly coloured glazed Arab tiles finishing off the main courtyard.

On the ground floor of the main courtyard there was a rail two metres up made with ceramic tiles bearing geometric motifs.

Current state of the constructive elements The general state of the building was good, although at first sight it could be detected that the main cause of the problems was the way the building had been neglected.

Assessment of the structure After investigation, it appeared that there was no reason to fear for the subsoil and its foundations, as there was no crack showing any problem of differential settlement and the weight they received was much less than they could support.

The load-bearing walls were thicks and reaching a thickness of 60 or 70 centimetres, so it could be deduced that, for the loads they had to supported, they were over-dimensioned and that the pressure on them could even be increased.

The general state of the walls was good, with minor cracks.

Load transmission was based on load-bearing walls achieved

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Main entrance door, “Kadhel”

Upper covered balcony

using masonry of unworked stones bound together with lime mortar about 50 to 60cm thick. The formation of the edges of the jambs of the openings was achieved with solid bricks.

The arrangement of the walls on the ground floor marked a similar floor plan for all the floors, with structural openings not exceeding four metres.

On the first floor, the structural system changes in the galleries, as they are structurally resolved using marble pillars resting on the walls coming from the ground floor.

The wall thickness reached is 50 or 60cm and this variable corresponds more to an interest in a care to improving the climatic conditioning of the house than to a need for strength.

The wealth of forms in the horizontal structure denotes the fine origin of the building, as it includes both vaults and flat ceilings.

On the ground floor there were mainly barrel or cross vaults.

The flat ceilings appeared in different forms. In the galleries they made up a pattern of gaps marking the space intensely, while in other rooms they appeared polychromed or sometimes hidden behind a false ceiling of carved sculpted plaster.

Assessment of the envelope The surface of the exterior façade on to the street is a very small portion of the building as a whole.

The façade, of only one storey, consisted of a very elaborate door, framed in a rectangle with ten-centimetre-thick pieces of marble. Within this perimeter, was the door opening, whose lintel formed a horseshoe arch.

As well as the entrance door, there were two windows in the façade, also framed with the same pieces of marble and protected with pear-shaped grilles of wrought iron, making it possible to have a complete view from inside of the narrow streets encircling the house.

Successes and limitations of the transformation of a house into a hotel de charme Renovation of the Belhouane house, Tunis (Tunisia)

Ground floor. Proposal

First floor. Proposal

The rest of the faรงade was rendered with deteriorated lime mortar, although the lack of maintenance made deterioration more obvious and repairs were required.

The flat roofs, like the rendering on the faรงades, had suffered from lack of maintenance, as, being made with historical construction techniques consisting of packing lime and mortar down, without the introduction of an asphalt layer of any kind, they were more sensitive to lack of attention. The damp at the joints with the drains had affected the heads of some of the wooden beams.

Degree of obsolescence of the installations.

As it was a building constructed during facades 18th century, the existing installations were insufficient to obtain the level of comfort the hotel de charme would require. In fact, the building had only mains sewerage, while the water supply came from a well and from collecting rainwater via the terraces into two citerns situated in the two courtyards. There was no electrical installation.

Decoration and finishes The building as a whole had noticeable European influence, both in the wall coverings and in the painting of various wooden ceilings.

The finishes represented the area that had most suffered from the results of the abandonment of the property.

As it had been a fine house, there were very elaborate decorations based on marble and carved plaster. It also had ceramic pieces covering the walls of the main courtyard and framing passages between rooms.

The flooring was of similar materials (marble, sharped stone and ceramic tiles).

Roof plan. Proposal

Renovation scheme The main concern of the scheme was not to damage the essence of the building in transforming it into a hotel: maintaining traditionnal architetcural style so that travellers did not forget the city they were in, allowing themselves to go back in time but at the same time enjoying all the comforts required by the most select tourist. Making each space singular and promoting the historic construction techniques with which it was built while, in the newly constructed, continuing the style of the building, even though the adoption of adapted new materials might be necessary in many cases.

The programme consists in fitting out twelve rooms with ensuite bathrooms, a restaurant on the ground floor, and a cafe area with terraces with panoramic views over the city of Tunis.

The ground-floor restaurant includes various rooms to be included in the dining room which were originally the alcoves used for receiving guests giving directly on to the entrance courtyard. To serve these rooms, a large part of the ground floor of the volume bordering the street was given over to functions of providing restaurant services, such as the kitchen, the storages, etc.

To adapt the building to the programme described, it was necessary to establish the following lines of action: -In the volume giving on to the street, an extra storey was built on. The position of the existing courtyard was maintained, providing ventilation and light to the new bedrooms created on the first floor. On the ground floor, the courtyard was covered to become the restaurant kitchen. A direct access to the street was created thanks to the transformation of a window into a restaurant service door.

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Successes and limitations of the transformation of a house into a hotel de charme Renovation of the Belhouane house, Tunis (Tunisia)

Main façade according to design

Sections passing through the entrance courtyard and the central internal courtyard

- Distribution of rooms respecting existing routes and original spaces, avoiding unnecessary division, maintaining the fine spaces of the house, resulting in generously sized rooms.

- Making use of the flat roofs as terraces that could be walked on, serving as viewpoints over the city’s Medina.

Structurally, although it was necessary to add new materials, reinforcement was preferred to replacement.

In the extension the proportions of openings and free heights were maintained and finishes were redone imitating the originals to maintain the image of the building.

Description of the work Actions on the structure As has been mentioned in the diagnosis section, the structural condition of the building did not require any important interventions to consolidate it. The foundations remained as they were as, after a visual inspection, it was determined that they would support the weight involved in putting in an extra floor without difficulties.

This extra storey followed the structural plan marked on the ground floor, but the walls were built in brick. This made it possible to opt for thinner walls, but this was ruled out in order to preserve the climatic conditioning advantages permitted by a thickness of 50cm and the control of light that the sloping shape of the jambs of the openings made it possible to achieve between inside and outside.

Concerning the ceilings, the criterion of preferring to preserve existing ceilings rather than replacing them was maintained,

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and this option was only used in those that threatened to become ruinous. Great care was taken with the final appearance of the new ceilings so that they were not out of keeping with the whole building, even though it was necessary to introduce new materials and techniques to achieve the extension.

In cases where new ceilings and staircases were built, they were made respecting historical techniques, ensuring integration into the building.

Actions on the envelope The repainting of original colours of the building made for recovering its traditional image. The newly built volumes were treated identically to the already existing zones – the same colours and textures were used.

The carpentry was resolved respecting the traditional system wooden carpentry with internal shutters. Wooden eaves were placed above the windows to protect the opening from the entry of water and from excess solar radiation in the summer.

The craftsmanship capability of local workers, thanks to whom it was possible to laboriously reproduce carved wooden lattices and richly decorated wrought iron grilles, must be highlighted.

The main courtyard had the rail decoration based on ceramic pieces with geometric motifs removed and it was simplified with white lime mortar at all heights. This highlighted the existing marble door frames and the edges of the window openings were marked, repeating the greenish blue colour used for the carpentry. By contrast, for the interior carpentry, the colours varied depending on the room.

The same type of flat roof was used as the existing one - terraces using the traditional system of packed earth and lime.

Successes and limitations of the transformation of a house into a hotel de charme Renovation of the Belhouane house, Tunis (Tunisia)

Arcs of the superior floor of the courtyard

The roof appeared marked by staircase boxes. The roof has also been used to bring light to the darkest points of the top floor, so glass skylights appear, and here it was necessary to introduce asphalted fabric in order to resolve the junction of these elements and the traditional roofs.

Water is removed from the terraces towards the inside of the courtyards, keeping the same sewerage system.

Picture of the main façade

The restaurant floor was resolved using slabs of unpolished local stone and with a final treatment less elaborate than in the other rooms.

Fine work on the wooden lattices in some bedrooms was also redone and in lounges on the ground floor there is very delicate wooden polychrome work, as well as reconstructed plaster decoration.

Renewal of installations As has already been mentioned, it was necessary to fit a whole set of installations to ensure a required comfort for a hotel of a high standard.

All installations were fitted: electricity, water, air conditioning and heating, and the existing sewerage network was replaced.

All the pipes and cables were passed through channels in the wall.

Special care was taken to silence them, preventing their presence being too obvious in each room.

The machines and equipments were brought together in a single room placed on the terrace to minimise noise that would annoy guests.

Recovery of finishes The tiles for ceramic pavement fitted on the building were recovered as far as possible and, failing this, other similar ones were sought with surfaces bearing the patina of time so the difference between them would not be highlighted.

The bedrooms and lounges were paved with marble. By contrast, ceramic flooring was used on the staircases and outdoor terraces. The flooring in the entrance “driba� continued to be marble.

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Successes and limitations of the transformation of a house into a hotel de charme Renovation of the Belhouane house, Tunis (Tunisia)

Plaster work inside

Assessment of the results The existing building was very well adapted to the purpose of the scheme: a hotel de charme intended to highlight the original image of the building and its singular features, emphasising historical construction techniques.

The success of the enterprise undertaken with this renovation confirms the suitability of the intervention carried out. The passage of time demonstrates that the intervention has been carried out well. Differential aging between the old and the new has not been detected.

The main courtyard serves as a point for relations between the hotel guests and represents a peaceful refuge in the bustling historic centre of the city of Tunis.

Zenithal view of the courtyard

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Internal courtyard for the new bedrooms

Concerning the landscape impact of the intervention from the street, its adaptation to the language of the area should be highlighted, respecting the proportion and the volumetry and through the reuse of few materials and grilles.

A large part of the success of this work comes to the know-how of the craftsmen used to work these materials and technics of construction.

Finally, it must be pointed out that this is an example that could serve to encourage local owners to improve their properties.

Rehabilitated room

The pioneering vision of a private project in the 1970s Refurbishment of the Salih Efendi house, Bodrum (Turkey) Site: Neyzen Tevfik Avenue, Bodrum, Muğla.

Objectives: Renovation of a house as a summer residence.

Environment description: Historic urban sector Technical team: Turgut Cansever.

Developers: Necati Çelik.

Constructor: Turgut Cansever.

Date: Plan 1971. Construction 1972-1973.

Budget: 350,000 euros.

Area: 700 m².

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The pioneering vision of a private project in the 1970s Refurbishment of the Salih Efendi house, Bodrum (Turkey)

Site of the house.

Concerning the environment and background to the intervention Bodrum, the ancient Halicarnaso, stands in the bay of the same name right on the point where the Aegean and the Mediterranean Seas meet, and it is one of the most attractive towns in Turkey.

Bodrum is now a major tourist centre. Since the 1970s it has gone from being a humble fishing town to gain international renown thanks to its large numbers of distinguished visitors. One of the most characteristic sights in the town today continues to be the fishing boats and yachts tied up in its harbour.

It has a population of around 33,000 people, the majority of whom are Turks although many are immigrants from less prosperous regions. The impact of tourism has increased the need for labour in the services sector. Tourism is now unquestionably the driving force behind the area’s economy.

The refurbished building stands on the seafront right in the heart of the historic part of the town.

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Plan of previous condition.

Description of the building The object of this refurbishment project was a family house built for a community of two brothers and their respective families called the Salih Efendi residence.

The house is in keeping with the vernacular architecture of the place and period in which it was built and was designed for use by a large family. It reflects a Mediterranean lifestyle that focuses on community life, cooperating and providing mutual assistance. It is also known as “saray”, which means palace.

The “saray” consists of buildings closed off from the street which open onto a very private interior garden in which daily life is lived.

The house is made up of two sections: one is more open and is used for receiving guests and by men, called the “Selamik”, while the other is more closed and is for women, called the “Haremlik”.

Both sections are separated by the property’s main entrance, an intermediate space that is open yet protected from the rain.

It is a very important place with a microclimate and the ability to assuage the fierce luminous contrast between indoors and outdoors.

By placing the two sections at each end, the architectural ensemble generates an intimate space with a strong personality.

This is the Mediterranean garden par excellence, in which life is lived both in the open air and under cover.

Each section consists of a ground and upper floor with their own staircases placed symmetrically to the ensemble. They have flat terraces.

The pioneering vision of a private project in the 1970s Refurbishment of the Salih Efendi house, Bodrum (Turkey)

Street facade. Previous condition.

Process of diagnosis

Picture of the house before intervention.

The house was built at the start of the 20th century using traditional techniques handed down over the centuries.

The facades mark out the two sections that were to be used separately by men and women.

In the years prior to its abandonment, small repairs were carried out on the house using more contemporary systems and materials which at times clashed with the pre-existing ones.

Ventilation and light quality inside the house did not pose any problems as they are both extremely well dealt with in traditional architecture.

The elevation of the street facades followed the local composition styles with greater closure on ground floors and openness on upper floors, though the right section had been subjected to a series of modifications that distorted this concept. The facade was divided into three areas: the twostorey left section, the right section with the same number of floors, and the single-storey central joining structure, with part belonging to the right section and centred with the arched lintel entrance porch and doorway.

Architectural analysis

Specific study of the colour

As the refurbishment programme was very similar to the original it did not entail major modifications to the interior of the house. The traditional domestic architecture of the house consisted of intercommunicating open plan areas with no individualisable spaces; everything was always shared.

The left wing was reserved for males with a single space on the ground floor. By contrast the right wing was for women and consisted of a series of rooms, with the staircase in the centre of the floor.

The original structure of the building was still recognisable, even though during the most recent phase of the building’s life the right wing had been modified with a change in the proportions of the openings, tending to become more horizontal yet retaining a greater proportion of solid wall section compared with openings.

White is the predominant colour in the whole town. The white of the facades was provided by lime mortar and which was very easy to determine as it had only been diluted by the passage of time and the lack of maintenance. The only places on the façade with no final finish were the edges of some openings where open stonework had been left.

Concerning historical-archaeological values

Current state of the constructive elements Assessment of the structure The foundations consisted of a prolongation of the load bearing walls albeit with a greater width and to a depth of one metre. After a series of test bores and visual inspection of the entire house, no pathologies derived from defects in them was detected which meant there were no fears as to their behaviour.

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The pioneering vision of a private project in the 1970s Refurbishment of the Salih Efendi house, Bodrum (Turkey)

Entrance seen from the garden.

The 50 cm wide load bearing walls are made of local stone, in most cases limestone. The structural layout of the building consists of some load bearing walls on which rest horizontal frameworks with moderate spans.

In general the structural condition of the walls was good and did not require major work. There were only some cracks in the right wing which needed repair.

Throughout the building the flooring system consisted of wooden beams and beam spacing, and in many cases beam ends were rotten due to the action of water after years of zero maintenance.

Assessment of the enveope The facades clearly delimited three areas: the right-hand structure, the left-hand structure and the entranceway, but in each case the material used was always lime mortar.

Wooden window frames were used with single glazing, but just like the rest of the house they were in poor state of repair and had to be replaced.

Wall coverings had degraded, in particular in the area up to one metre above street level. The covering was peeling off and the bricks making up the wall were clearly visible.

The separate sections have flat roofs made using the traditional system of tamped lime and earth, and around the edges there is a low parapet which crowned the building.

Damage to them was mostly caused by damp at meeting points for drains, brought about by poor operation of these drains.

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Interior faรงade, looking towards the garden.

Degree of obsolescence of the installations As this building was put up at the start of the 20th century and until this refurbishment not much had been spent on adapting it to modern living standards, there were no installations of any kind, that is to say no water pipes, no electrical wiring and absolutely no heating systems. In the past water used to be provided by a well in the garden.

Decoration and finishes Finishes on interior wall faces basically consisted of the same material as the outside facades though applied more thinly.

Flooring consisted of stone slabs on the ground floor and of oak wood floorboards on the upper floors. The roof was paved with ceramic tiles.

The pioneering vision of a private project in the 1970s Refurbishment of the Salih Efendi house, Bodrum (Turkey)

Plans of the project

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The pioneering vision of a private project in the 1970s Refurbishment of the Salih Efendi house, Bodrum (Turkey)

Faรงade of the building

Renovation scheme One of the main merits of this refurbishment project lies in its pioneering nature. When this refurbishment was carried out in the 1970s, modern architecture was not concerned that much about how best to renovate buildings. Here, however, the architect decided to recover a traditional house and modify it for more modern use through using an inheritance from the past which was then adapted to a more modern lifestyle.

A vital issue in this house was the recovery of the garden. A major factor in the property was the presence of both covered areas and outside ones and the need to control the way in which they interacted in order to enhance passive conditioning so as to achieve environmental comfort in the surroundings.

The great interest of this intervention lies in the fact that it was one of the first to recognise the values of traditional, popular architecture.

Two projects were carried out in lockstep: one for the garden and one for the building.

In the house the project consisted of creating new openings in the left wing to strengthen the connection with the garden. In the right wing it was only necessary to knock down the internal party walls in order to lay out new rooms, taking care not to detract from the spaces that characterised it. The kitchen was moved from the north side to the south side.

In the entrance porch the wall that blocked entry to, and the view of, the garden was knocked down.

The structure established by the original building was used to reconstruct circular pillars on the foundations of the extant ones and the recovered space then became enclosed, albeit with wooden walls which could be almost entirely opened up so that in summer it could be transformed back into a covered porch.

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The new layout consists of a central entranceway via an outdoor covered porch with a living room on the left side of the ground floor and stairs which lead up to a suite bedroom and studio on the upper floor. On the right-hand ground floor there is the kitchen, dining room, a bedroom with an en suite bathroom, another separate bedroom and a study. On the upper floor there are three bedrooms with en suite bathrooms. The upper floors of the two sections are connected by a flat roof.

Description of the work Work on the structure The existing foundations were not touched and the foundations of the stone columns were used to put up the new reinforced concrete structure which was to house the dining room in the right wing and a multi-purpose area in the left wing.

The only work done on the pre-existing load bearing walls was to repair cracks in the right-hand section by filling them with mortar.

Flooring systems with rotten beam ends were replaced by reinforced concrete flooring with care being taken not to alter the final appearance of the rooms. No traditional flooring was reworked: if it was not suitable for future use, it was replaced by concrete flooring though ensuring that the final result did not change the original look of the building.

Work on the envelope In the case of the facades the aim was to restore them to their original appearance by recovering the proportions of openings and lost symmetries and taking special care with the materials used both in solid sections with lime mortar and in external oak woodwork.

The pioneering vision of a private project in the 1970s Refurbishment of the Salih Efendi house, Bodrum (Turkey)

Use and civic appropriation of the commun finished spaces

The balconies which preside over the two sections and emphasise the symmetry of the structure were built of reinforced concrete and subsequently painted.

The flat roofs have been renovated and, unlike the rest of the building, the original construction system of tamped lime and earth was restored. The final finish was provided by craft-made ceramic tiles.

The stone gargoyles on the upper floors used to drain the terraces are items that have been recovered from the house itself, where they were used to provide freefall drainage from the terraces over the main façade.

Renewal of installations All the installations had to be renewed: electricity, water, sanitation and telecommunications. These were fed through grooves in the walls and where possible through flooring systems.

Two chimneys were installed to provide heating, one in the living room and the other in the dining room, so as to ensure comfort during the region’s mild winters.

Assessment of the results When work was being carried out local residents did not really understand what was being done, as they thought the scheme paid too much respect to a cultural heritage which for them had no value whatsoever. With the passage of time, however, they have changed their views and have discovered through this first refurbishment project the enormous value of local heritage.

This is one of the great contributions made by this pioneering recovery project: a different vision. Perhaps it should have gone a little bit further in terms of construction and used historical building techniques and systems for new construction work, yet nevertheless it has provided a vitally important shot in the arm for respect for a tradition which until that time had been somewhat looked down upon in Bodrum.

The relationship that grew up between project members was excellent.

Even now almost thirty years after the refurbishment was completed, it has still not proved necessary to carry out any modifications to it.

Recovery of finishes Local materials were used for finishes. Floor covering varied depending on the use to be made of each area: thus bedrooms were covered with oak wood parquet, the living room and bathrooms with marble tiling, and the kitchen with ceramic paving. Outdoor spaces on the ground floor were paved with stone slabs just as they had been originally.

The white lime of interior walls was painted over. Indoor ceilings were finished with a final plastering of white lime save in the bedrooms where false ceilings made of black pine were installed.

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Le présent programme Est financé par l’union européenne

Euromed

Euromed heritage

Agencia española De cooperación internacional

Col·legi d’aparelladors I arquitectes tècnics de barcelona

www.rehabimed.net