The Mashrabiya House Doco

THE MASHRABIYA HOUSE DOCO

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OVERVIEW

TUTOR

LOCATION

YEAR

A short documentary film telling

Prof. Alona Nitzan-Shiftan

Beit Safafa, Jerusalem,

2012

the story of the Mashrabiya House

Israel

on the backdrop of the IsraeliPalestinian conflicnt. The building is a private apartment buidling designed by architect Senan Abdelqader.

71

Mashrabiya

00:10

A perforated screen, normally made of wood, intended to conceal the private indoor spaces from the public domain within a house, giving view advantage

MIN

THE MASHRABIYA HOUSE DOCO

SEC

to those inside.

73

Opening

00:57

Cultural encounters create a new global

00:37

We live in a time of

reality. Sometimes the

cross-cultural encounters.

consequences of these

No nation today exists

encounters are so

in its pure, original

complex that it is hard to

form. India post British

track any roots.

imperialism is not the same India as it used

01:11

This is the Mashrabiya

to be; Europe of our

House. It is an

time is saturated with

apartment building

immigrants from around

in Beit Safafa, an

the world; and America

Arab Jerusalem suburb

is by its definition a

located on the stitch

society of immigrants.

between East and West Jerusalem. The house

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75

was constructed in

view that Senan is

2006 and designed by

imitating the Mashrabiya

the Arab-Israeli architect

element derived from

Senan Abdelqader.

the Arab, traditional, local architecture. His

01:29

We are Ahlam and

reaction to this was as

Amin, students from the

follows:

Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning

01:52

�It is not imitation, rather

in the Technion, and

re-interpretation. There

we want to find out

is a difference. Imitation

how a Mashrabyia is

is the act of copying.

constructed in the 21st

Re-interpretation is about

century and why.

deriving or qouting something from the past

01:42 THE MASHRABIYA HOUSE DOCO

Initially, we took the

and giving a personal 77

Untold

commentary.�

History 02:21

Our research question: How does Senan

02:45

In his 19th century

Abdelqader reinterprets

voyage to the Holy

the Arabic local tradition

Land, the notable

and architecture through

American writer Mark

the design of his own

Twain concluded his

house, the Mashrabiya

thoughts about the

House?

region: 02:52

�Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes.

Over it broods the spell of a curse that has withered its fields and

THE MASHRABIYA HOUSE DOCO

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fettered its energies…

Lebanese photographer

untenanted by any living

Raed Khalil, who

creature, and unblessed

documented the Holy

by any feature that is

Land from the late

pleasant to the eye.

19th century up to the

Renowned Jerusalem

outbreak of the1947

itself, the stateliest name

war (Israel’s War of

in history, has lost all its

Independence).

ancient grandeur, and is become a pauper

03:33

It is clear that there is

village... Palestine is

a significant difference

desolate and unlovely.”

between Twain’s textual

MARK TWAIN

description and Khalil’s graphic one. This

03:18

THE MASHRABIYA HOUSE DOCO

These photographs

difference epitomises a

were taken by the Arab-

big gap between two 81

different perspectives

Modernity

---the foreign and the

and

local---in describing one

Colonialism

land.

05:13

With the Zionist immigration new architecture emerged. It was a clear expression of the Modernism, which was perceived as versatile project that liberates man from his primitiveness, depressing locality, threatening to uproot it and declaring intentions to create a

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new, progressive model.

Bhabha. According to Bhabha post-colonial

05:52

This is a cultural

relations are not only

encounter between two

characterized by a

nations, one looking

depressing conqueror

towards the East and

and a depressed

the other towards the

conquered, but by a

West. Each living in its

cross-culture ”conceptual

own conceptual space,

space”, where all parties

but both fighting for one

involved affect each

geographical territory.

other. He argues that the white man didn’t only

06:04

THE MASHRABIYA HOUSE DOCO

One of the important

re-educate the locals

thinkers in post-colonial

and exploite them (using

studies is the American-

their natural resources

Indian theoretician Homi

and cheap labor) but 85

was also influenced by

the symbol of the Jewish

them. Bhaba’s ”Third

poeple regeneration.

Space” theory refers to

In contrast, Senan

the intermediate space

gives a contemporary

formed between the two

proposal for a museum

sides, enabling complex

in the Arab village of

cultural exchanges.

Umm Al-Fahm designed as an outdoor open-

06:52

And here’s the hisotrical

space concrete vector

twist: in the mid 20th

connecting to hills,

century Alfred Mansfield

soaring in the air, in

looks towards the

order to accelerate non-

local Arab villages

existent urbanity in the

seeking inspiration for

Arab town of the 21st

his design of the Israel

century.

Museum in Jerusalem, THE MASHRABIYA HOUSE DOCO

87

The Hybrid

covers up its flaws.

Alternatively, the

07:20

The Mashrabiya

Modernism enables

House is a hybrid

Senan to recreate

made of tradition and

tradition and to

modernity. The building

reinterpret it.

is an outcome of the conceptual changes occurring in postcolonial society.

08:08 This is Critical Regionalism: the local tradition is projected through the presim of Modernism and THE MASHRABIYA HOUSE DOCO

89

The Absence

and, above all, industry.

of the City

What do we produce?

Nothing. We don’t

08:32

”Today, we [Arabs

even practice agriculture

living in Israel] have no

anymore. We have

qualifications to create

become workers in

a city, because we have

Israel, or at best,

no institutions of our

clerks. The richest man

own. Administration,

among us has a villa,

institutions and

not a factory. This is a

organizations are

problem.”

needed in order to

SENAN ABDELQADER

create a city. A city is a holostic organism

THE MASHRABIYA HOUSE DOCO

09:11

How does the

that consists of culture,

Mashrabiya House act

commerce, education

as a catalyst for urbanity 91

in the defective Arab

for the general public,

town of today?

which displays changing exhibitions.

09:18

First, being an iconic building, the

09:37

Lastly, in addition to the

Mashrabiya House

Mashrabyia House’s

improves orientation

8 dwelling untis, the

within the unplanned

building is able to further

Arab town.

grow upwards. The protruding steel bars on

09:26

Second, the building

the top are a symbol for

integrates working

continuity and growth in

space in the ground

a future urban context.

floor used as the architect’s studio, next to a gallery that is open THE MASHRABIYA HOUSE DOCO

93

Epilogue 09:54

We see a parallel

the 21st century.

11:00

The Mashrabiya House

between the hybrid

is mocked at by Arab

Mashrabiya House and

neighbors in Beit-Safafa

the character of the

calling it ”pigeon holes”.

”New Arab” living in

The hybrid building is

Israel---a hybrid Arab---

stigmatized too.

torn between modernity and tradition.

12:12

Comparing the Mashrabiya House with

10:07

THE MASHRABIYA HOUSE DOCO

A comical clip taken

Jean Nouvel’s L’institut

from Israeli television

du Monde Arabe

captures how the hybrid

made us re-question the

Arab is stigmatized

connection between

within Israeli society of

the Arab culture and 95

the Mashrabiya, the architectural element.

13:31

In the midst of a dispute, which doesn’t seem to have an end, and in

12:41

Dr. Ron Fochs, who

the midst of the rivalry

researched the

on controlling the visual

Palestinian house historic

aspects of the conflict,

typology, claims that the

with its intricate layers...

Mashrabiya element

sometimes visible,

was not very common

sometimes hidden...

in historic Palestine as

many questions remain

it was in cities of Egypt

unanswered…

and Morocco. In his view, this makes the Mashrbiya House’s strive for locality perhaps irrelevant and simplistic.

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