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A place to stay: A city strategy to reconnect Nablus with the landscape

Part 1 Project 2012
Samantha Horn
 London Metropolitan University | UK
Nablus is the largest city in the northern West Bank. Checkpoints and restrictions have isolated the city, which until recently has been inaccessible to tourists. The Old City has a rich heritage, but the Palestinian Israeli conflict has damaged its fabric and restricted the community.

With little accommodation or possibility for tourists to contribute to the economy, this project seeks to encourage a form of ethical and cultural tourism, providing jobs and improving living standards, whilst preserving and promoting the Palestinian heritage of Nablus.

City Strategy.

The Touqan Palace, a ruined 17th century fortified palace, is the main site for the project. The project integrates visitors with the community, creating a symbiotic relationship, through cultural exchange. The Palace is proposed as an epicentre of a network of interventions that increase connectivity and become part of a greater series of routes that begin to reunite Nablus with the surrounding landscape.

Five Typologies.

Five types of intervention are placed strategically across the Old City to create new routes and opportunities, facilitating existing activities at roof top level. These are: The bridge; the added room; the boundary; the stairs and the roof.

The Epicentre.

At the epicentre of the interventions, the Touqan Palace provides spaces for both the community and visitors. There are studio spaces for artists in residence, a community kitchen and shop for local crafts, supporting women by providing work, increasing their participation in the social and economic life of the city.

Place to Stay.

Visitor accommodation is provided within the ‘added room’ interventions, which are interwoven throughout the city. Rooms are added to existing dwellings situated in the Hawshs of the city (traditional close-like clusters of houses), allowing local families to generate an income through hosting visitors.

The promotion of ethical/cultural tourism that the project encourages, would not only improve the local economy, but also allow the social, cultural and architectural identity of the city to be shared and understood. It is the delicate communication and preservation of the Palestinian identity that is at the root of this proposal, and also at the heart of many Nablusi’s approach to resistance.

Tutor(s)
2012
Nablus is the largest city in the northern West Bank. Checkpoints and restrictions have isolated the city, which until recently it has been inaccessible to tourists. The Old City of Nablus has a rich heritage, but the Palestinian Israeli conflict has dama
Nablus has a rich heritage and culture as well as complex political history. The scars of the conflicts are still clear throughout the city. Ethical tourism presents an opportunity for positive change and progression of the old city and for Nablus to be r
Nablus within the landscape. Nablus has been very isolated due to the political situation in the West Bank. New routes are proposed to reinstate Nablus’s relationship with the landscape, easing access from other major cities and areas of significant cultu
The Residential Hawsh Typology. The Hawsh is a narrow passage off a street, that becomes increasingly private through a succession of hierarchical spaces leading to a private courtyard surrounded by closely knit residential buildings. It is a typology fo
The Victory Hawsh The Victory Hawsh is situated close to the Touqan Palace. The Hawsh starts as a narrow alley surrounded by high walls and open to the sky, creating an extremely enclosed space. The alley follows a winding pathway, bending to restrict the
The Hawsh and the Old City map. The Touqan Palace sits in the heart of the old city, close to the Victory Hawsh. This map explores the scope to create greater access to the site, and further link the Hawsh typology to the Palace.
Long section. The city wide strategy uses 5 typologies to increase connectivity, facilitate activities at roof top level whilst supporting and encouraging ethical tourism in Nablus. The five typologies are: The bridge; the added room; the stairs; the boun
The added room. A place to stay is proposed as a series of structures added to existing dwellings. By interweaving a place to stay into the fabric of the city the visitor will be fully immersed in the culture and daily life of the Palestinian people, cre
The Epicentre: Proposed and existing floor plans. Greater access to the palace is achieved from the main street level by using existing hawsh entrances. Ground floor provides a community kitchen, visitor reception, a small retail space and a prayer room.
Section: existing and proposed. At ground level the original vaulted rooms of the Touqan Palace have been restored and adapted to provide a community kitchen and open terrace which connects the main courtyard, the orchard, and a visitors’ reception. New
The Keepers Accommodation. Accommodation is provided for the keeper of the Palace and their family. The large windows provide a view across the courtyard and city.
A flexible space. Interior view and construction details of the proposed structure within the Touqan Palace. The proposed space is comprised of a series of layers to respond to the climatic conditions and to create a space that can be used for a variety
Courtyard Section. The existing rooms are restored and reinstated to provide public spaces for the community and visitors
The former main bedroom of the Palace, at first floor level, is restored to create a public space in which existing local groups can meet and work, for example the Feminist Corner Project.
Overview of the Touqan Palace, and the 5 typologies of intervention across the city. The added rooms are shown in the context of the residential Hawsh with the Touqan Palace central to this network of interventions. Scenarios encouraged by the proposal
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