RETRIEVAL PUBLIC SPACE
ABSTRACT In the last few years the socio-economic changes in the country reveals the weakness of the urban strategies and policies, which I may describe it as a “psychedelic policies�. The proposed site is kind of a clear example to this kind of policy, which is in the old city center, where is the old central railway station, an archeology park Bab Omar Souk and other governmental and private buildings. The project is a rehabilitation of the public space in regarding the existing functions pattern and reorganizing it to have an interactive space with the existing context in a new framework for the public space in the area using architecture elements familiar to the city, culture and heritage.
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
The metropolitan urbanity which started to spread at the beginning of the 20th century gave the vehicles a priority to the pedestrian, which made the streets’ network almost owned by the vehicles and so firm to modify it. which made the cities around the mid of the same century needed to be re-designed to bring back the pedestrian to the city life.
The streets, squares that was a part of the public space controlled by the vehicles and their facilities to bring a brutality to the city façade in terms of metropolitan architecture. As time passes the unprotected pubic space that makes the cities livable starts to fade, and so the residents left the cities’ center to the suburban seeking for a home quality (sprawl).
Alexandria was one of the cities that had a quality of life through it’s public spaces that made the people enjoyed it and spent their time there.
In the 80s the idea of having a city center for all started to fade due to what I may name it (a psychedelic solutions) and absence of general visions based on urban studies.
Alexandria always considered as a trade city on most of the trade routes, so the port was the main in the city till Alexandria started to expand only in 2 directions due to the presence of the Mediterranean Sea in the north and Lake Maryut in the south to have a high dense compact city. The strategy of the railed transportation in the city changed to be substituted by roads network ,and so it became the principal mean of transportation.
The site location
POPULATION IN THOUSANDS
POPULATION GROWTH 1400
1273.8 1008.7
1200 919
1000 800 600
2010
981
493.3 498
400 200
855.2
1996
125.95
496 395
356
102
33 50
0
NEIGHBORHOODS
The site location
DRIVING THROUGH A GALLERY
The site connected to what might be the intersection of the 2 oldest streets in history where is also the urban center of the old city. Those 2 streets have the most important public buildings in the city which also part of its history. So it worth to mention some of this buildings which they are:
Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral The cathedral is said to stand on the site of the church founded by St. Mark the Evangelist in AD 60.
Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue Built in 1354, it was bombed by the French during their invasion of Egypt in 1798, and was re-built in 1850
Alexandria Opera House Alexandria Opera House or Sayyid Darwish Theatre was built in 1918 and opened in 1921 and it was named Teatro Mohamed Ali.
The Alexandria National Museum (ANM)
The Greco-Roman Museum of Alexandria
CIVIC CENTER
May be the idea of Louis Kahn of doing this parking cylinders outside the city center in Philadelphia was so tough but his intension for protecting the center from being a typical US form of skyscrapers skyline vision and to keep the walk ability in it was not this bad, instead of Kahn vision substituted by Bacon vision, and so the city expanded upwards and outwards but the population inclined by 29%. Nowadays Alexandria decentralized and the city center transformed to a historical center but still treated as city center without regarding to any historical value or even social value.
The Public space In 1999 the square re-qualified to fit the city transportation only and big public space. After 15 years a lot changed, now Alexandria's population jumped from 3.5 million to 5 million inhabitants, and it may reach 10 million in 2050. And so the vehicles increased too, in 1996 the private cars was 4.75/100 (car/inhabitants) to reach in 2010 to 10.05/100 (car/inhabitants).
The area contains a series of public spaces which create clusters identified as:
The public garden The public garden in the middle of the square was always had a typical renaissance garden design but it always maintain the visual contact with the square elements or buildings which gives a clear perception of this big space (70 000 m²).
Kom El-Dikka Archeology Park It is the largest archeology park in the Middle East and it includes the only known Roman amphitheater in Egypt.
The Unknown Soldier Cemetery There is an annual ceremony happened at this cemetery area and the cemetery belongs to the 1960s.
Bab Omar Souk It is an old souk exist and starts to expand all over the square in spontaneous way which it seems a character of space.
End line Stops The square contains big stops for the buses, micro-buses and taxis.
TRANSPORTATION USAGE 35 30
29
29 24
PERCENTAGE
25 20
23
23
19
24
17 1996
15
2007
10 6
6
5 0
PUBLIC TRANSPORT
TAXI
PIVATE BUS
PRIVATE CAR
MICRO-BUS
In order to define the symptoms before doing the surgery the place need it, isolating each layer to re-analyze them separately was a must.
BACK TO THE CITY
The proposal aims to integrate the uses already exist with each other and to interact with the context to be more efficient and respectful to the space value which can be a gate to the historical center.
CONCEPT
STRATEGY PROGRAM
FLUXES
The main users of the space creates a spontaneous patterns and in order to figure out how they decided to define the space, a frozen moment chosen to draw the users’ fluxes.
PROCESS
CHOOSE A SOFT LANGUAGE FOR THE SERVANT SPACE TO AVOID THE BARRIER EFFECT
THE NUCLEUS The nucleus function is to maintain the integrity of the origins of the subject. By using a familiar urban concepts to the community could create a mellow interactivity which helps the architecture to survive more. At the same moment the elements used have some respect to the place heritage and history.
TRANSPORTATION HUB
PUBLIC SPACE
SOUK AND BAZAARS
ACTIVITIES
MOBILITY
EAST ENTRANCE TO THE SQUARE
WEST ENTRANCE TO THE SQUARE
Axonometric overview
Axonometric section showing The Amphitheater with its screen The platform for archeology park panorama
THANK YOU