Contents Research Project Overview My site building is located in a country that is under the greatest conflict of our time. It also accommodates significant holy sites for the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Due to its contrasting nature of being horrifying yet peaceful - my site building introduces a physical medium that reflects on the countries surroundings yet portrays its peaceful holy nature as the most dominant. It encourages peace; bridges cultural and religious gaps; and enhances understanding between different communities. It highlights and preserves the history of the building yet introduces within its envelope an insertion of a modern structure of my design that separates the old from the new creating a strong visual contrast. The design enforces contrasting concepts: new versus old, separation versus harmony, conflict versus peace. It also focuses on the concept of verticality that reflects on the development of the country.
Site location site plan Building orientation
Proposed Scheme Concept inspiration Spatial Organization Visuals
Major Space En Loge Concept Inspiration & Development Design & Visuals
Detail Design Stair Deatil
Research: Case Studies
Acropolis museum of Athens
My senior design project gave me the opportunity to gain complete control over every area of my final project. I had the freedom to leadi the design process, making critical decisions and manage my time. Refurbished projects have taken my attention during the early phase of design research. The character of the refurbished buildings and the link that a building (being the medium) has between the past and the present was a captivating concept.These buildings have a strong and an interesting aesthetic and provide their users with a unique experience. Therefore, I wanted to lead my senior year project towards a refurbished project that serves a huge purpose.
Castelvecchio Museum
One of the main objectives of the owners of the site building: Is to care and serve the living stones (people). In addition to some other research that I had collected on the surroding area and user needs; the best function that my research has lead was a community centre.
Site Location
Site Building
School Nativity Church
Palestine (West Bwank)
Site Plan Resturant/Cafe Critical choices of the site building and its location are very significant to the final design of the project. As a result, I was cautious in choosing a site and a location that would allow me to deliver the aesthetic that I had wanted. Therefore, I had chosen a historical site building that is currently functioning as a guest house for pilgrims and tourists who travel from all around the world to visit the Manger square in Bethlehem, Palestine(west Bank), Israel.
Bethlehem
Car Park
Site Building Orientation
N
The site building is physically attached to the Nativity Church which is one of the oldest churches in the world. It is believed to be the Birth Place of Christ by Christians. Consequently, that makes it a great touristic attraction for people from all around the world. The total area of the site building is 4,224 meter square. There are exsisting Six floors with a floor area of about 703 meter square each.
Exsisting Site Building
Site Elevation
Cafe/Resturant Building
Nativity Church Building
Scheme Design: Concept
Concept Visual
Concept Images
The concept of my proposed scheme design has been derived from research on the site, site location and its surroundings. The political situation of the country was the main inspiration behind my concept as it is extremely intriguing due to its complexity. Elements of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict like the segregation wall; vertical growth of the Palestinian state with the increase of its population due to land restriction; and the contrasting, holy religious quality of the country has created thought-evoking concepts. To simply these concepts; I chose a set of wordings that could then easily be translated into my design. These include: Contrast, Separation, verticality, old and new, harmony/ peace and conflict/violence.
Scheme Design: Inspiration
Conflict
Quick Inspiration Sketch/ showing seperation between both sides of the sit e building.
The design of the building was influenced greatly by these concepts by using them to create major design movements that influence the entire building scheme design. These include a physical Separation that runs through all the floors in the building besides the first floor. This physical separation divides the building into two parts: The first part representing the concept of ‘harmony/peace’ and the second part representing the concept of conflict/Violence.
Peace
Scheme Design: Spatial Organization
Public
Private
First Floor
Second Floor
Offices Prayer Room Spiritual Centre
Bedrooms
Cafe/Resturant Exhibition Hall Sculptural Garden Conference & Lobby
Reception Area
The separation has also proposed a categorization in the functions that are proposed in each part of the building. The conflict/violence part accommodating private functions like bedrooms. Whereas, the harmony/peace accommodating all the public functions like the exhibition spaces, restaurant/cafĂŠ, prayer room...etc. The Spatial organization has been driven by understanding the user experience in relation to the contrasting nature that my concept had proposed.
Forth Floor (Indicating location of major space)
FifthFloor
Third Floor
Scheme Design: Rendered Visuals & Materiality
Users of the site building are provided with different experiences in each part of the building. These experiences are contrasting to each other. The users feel as if they are experiencing two different physical environments in one. When one experiences the conflict/violence part they encounter enclosed, small, boxy and busy spaces. These design features enforce the concept of conflict, and reflect on the painful surroundings of the people living in that region by evoking a sense of imprisonment in pilgrims/tourists who are accommodating the bedrooms.
Visual one materials
On the other hand, the design in the harmony/peace part is very open, spacious, free, simple and visually connected. These design features enforce the concept of peace, harmony and unity and reflect on the holy nature of the region. There is a huge void that acts as a separation between the old façade of the building and the new structure that is inserted. The void runs through all the floors of the building creating a dramatic experience. Users get easy access to it where they could visually and physically connect between the history of the building and the new inserted structure. The void plays a main role in creating that strong contrasting aesthetic of the ‘old and new’. There is a stair case that connects the first floor to the second floor. The stair case is inserted in that void to allow users to experience it, to allow them to gain access to the exhibition space and to enforce the concept of verticality in my design. This stair case aligns with the huge outdoor stair case that provides an access to the church or the site building from the main road. The process of elevating from the main road to the church/site building walkway is similar to the transitional process between the conflict/violence parts to the harmony/peace part. This design movement encourages spiritual elevation in order to arrive at harmony/peace.
Visual three materials
There is another void that that accommodates huge sculptures and it functions as a sculptural garden. This void also creates that strong visual contrast; however, it also allows a visual link to all the floors in the harmony/peace part of the building. Natural light is a major design element of both of these voids. The way light falls in them, in relation to their volume and parameter creates different atmospheres. The last void is a minor one that runs through the restaurant/cafe floor to the exhibition floor. Its main purpose is to provide users with a visual connection from the restaurant/café to the exhibition spaces.
Visual of bedroom corridor (Conflict part)
Visual of sculptural garden (peace part)
Visual of voide (peace part)
En loge: Prayer room collage
Major Space: Concept
En loge: Prayer room collage (2)
One of my brief objectives was to attract more pilgrims/tourists because tourism is the only source for the city’s economic growth. As a result, I have chosen the prayer room as my major space because pilgrims and tourists visit Bethlehem primarily for the purpose of reconnecting or strengthening their relationship with God. In addition, the citizens of Bethlehem find refuge and hope in the activity of prayer. Through prayer, people become at a peaceful state with themselves. As they grow in that state they could then overcome all their religious, cultural and personal differences. Therefore, this results in a harmonious and peaceful environment. Through my research on the three holy religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam; I have been able to derive a design concept for the new prayer room that would serve to unify the religious differences among people through prayer. The number three is a common significant number among these holy religions. Therefore, it had formed a concept for the prayer room.
En loge: Exhibition Space
Major Space: Inspiration
Major Space: Development
Development One
I have looked up a lot of holy places in order to identify some common design elements that make up their interior Architecture. Through exploration I have gained some understanding on common design elements among holy places and that has then been used as my inspiration. Ihave found inspiration in the huge volume of the Nativity Church and it’s verticality; the modern warm wood in the new synagogue Dresden; and in the light techniques that Tadao Ando used in the Church of light.
New Synagogue, Dresden
Nativity Church, Bethlehem
Development two
Development three
After a lot of development; I have created two structures that form the shape of a triangle from Plan view. The triangle is one of the best representations of the number three.
Final development
Major Space: Design & Visuals
Section one
Floor Plan
Section two
These two structures are elevated to indicate verticality and volume. They allow users to use them for the purpose of private meditative reading. One of these structures penetrates through the huge glass window and allow users to experience the void from elevation. It also gives them a better view from the windows to the Nativity Square where they could observe the history of the city. Besides these two elevated structures there is nothing but space and volume. Natural light is filtered through the huge glass wall and fills the prayer room. The Stone walls in the prayer room are the original walls of the building. To provide that contrast I have chosen Maple and Gold Steel to create that contrast with the original stone wall. In addition, the original stone wall is contrasting with an older stone finish that is visible through the huge glass wall. The furniture is very simple, crisp and clean. There is minimal furniture provided because I wanted to give users that flexibility in praying the way they like no matter what religious background they come from. The prayer room encourages meditation through reading and praying. It allows people to practise their faith publically and privately. It also allows a lot of visual connection to other parts of the prayer room and to the rest of the building - maintaining the aesthetic quality of the building.
Detail Design: Stair Detail of major space
Detail one
Detail two