A Palestinian architect looks for a future in Gaza’s rubble

2024-02-05T11:47:00-05:00

Over 60% of the buildings in Gaza have been destroyed. But it's also the heritage, the culture, the collective memory. So it's important for us to rethink how to rebuild, how to accommodate one of the highest densely populated spots on Earth. Do we go vertical? Do we go horizontal? You've got an urban fabric. You've got a coastal fabric. You've got a rural fabric. Each one requires a different way of looking at it.

Yara Sharif is the London-based co-founder of the group Architects for Gaza. The Palestinian architect tells NPR the task now is to assemble a society literally of the rubble using the remnants of some 200,000 buildings that have been destroyed and in the most environmentally sensitive ways possible. A top-down solution that keeps Palestinians out of any post-war rebuilding process has been a growing concern for activists, who brought the issue to the International Court of Justice as part of South Africa's attempt to use it to stop the violence in December.

To date, the IDF’s military strategy has razed more than 70% of all residential structures, plus another 20 or so hospitals and approximately 350 schools. Its plan to establish a 23-square-mile "buffer zone" within the Gaza Strip's borders has become another recent point of contention (h/t LA Times).

Mosul scheme focuses on housing some of the city’s 900,000 internally displaced people post-liberation

2017-10-31T19:05:00-04:00

A prototype affordable housing scheme for post-Daesh Mosul by Weston Williamson + Partners has received an honourable mention in the Rifat Chadirji Prize. It was the only UK entry among the finalists.

The prototype focuses on housing some of the city’s 900,000 internally displaced people who will be returning to their homes following its liberation. It addresses the long term housing crisis as well as the situation immediate post-occupation and suggests a predominantly autonomous, self-build housing process.

Opportunities for choice and adaptation over time are incorporated, ingraining sustainability through a sense of ownership. People can build what they need as they need it; funding is used more efficiently and more directly.

In the short term, data about the current condition of the city can be gathered through crowd-sourcing mechanisms. Waste material from the city centre can be cleared to the city periphery, to be processed into basic building materials, for a range ...

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A Palestinian architect looks for a future in Gaza’s rubble

Mosul scheme focuses on housing some of the city’s 900,000 internally displaced people post-liberation