RESOLVED DESIGN PROPOSAL

This is my home. No, this is my home.

At first they were parallel lines that never met. However when these lines start to bleed out, reclaiming its individual boundaries is nothing but an illusion.

Can you see me past the fog? The disillusionment?

In Lifta, the fog is thin

For the ruins and the coffeehouse are enough to say it all

This thesis seeks to propose a coffeehouse in Lifta that allows one to process a confrontation between the right of return versus the dream of a promised land. A place that calls for a long pause against what seems to be a game of eternal finger-pointing.

December 28th, 1947

It started at a coffee house. The regime of denial.

This is my home. No, this is my home.

“Coffee is a place. Coffee is pores that outside. A separation that unites what aroma....Coffee is geography.” that let the inside seep through to the what can’t be united except through its geography.” - Mahmoud Darwish

Lifta stands today as a common room to engage in dialogue of parallel narratives between Palestinians and Israelis.

However the proposal of transforming Lifta into a modern Israeli neighborhood threatens to eradicate the only physical relic left of Palestinian life before the Nakba of 1948 as well as a reflection of issues posed after the Nakba - the refugee problem, the right of return, national memory and identity.

Thus, further deteriorating the fragile state of mutual understanding and acknowledgement.

This thesis aims to propose an architectural intent which does not serve to fortify dispute but rather as a backdrop of Palestinian cultural endurance which facilitates empathy from both sides.

Lifta stands today as a common room that realizes the parallel narratives between Palestinians and Israelis. It pushes beyond the ideas of return and of a promised land. It is where stories are blended together and empathy from both sides are fostered.

Two lines side by side but they never meet. Moving along the same direction, Where they start and where they end are undefined

What you see, I see What you feel, I feel but our paths do not meet.

There is no middle ground, but perhaps a starting point.

This thesis seeks to propose an architectural intent that echoes the various narratives Lifta embodies through a commodification of memories. It attracts and it blends. It separates and it combines.

For as long as Lifta stands, the memories are preserved. For as long as Lifta stands, progress is made.

Lifta stands today as a common room that realizes the parallel narratives between Palestinians and Israelis. It provides an opportunity where stories blend and empathy is fostered.

Two lines side by side but they never meet. Moving along the same direction, Where they start and where they end are undefined

What you see, I see What you feel, I feel but our paths do not meet.

In Lifta, we do not need walls

For the ruins and the coffeehouse are enough to say it all

This thesis seeks to propose a coffeehouse in Lifta that allows one to process a confrontation between the right of return versus the dream of a promised land. A place that calls for a long pause against what seems to be a game of eternal finger-pointing.