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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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. THE MASHRABIYA HOUSE DOCO
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