• A Synopsis for the History and Operation of the Competition for the Reconstruction of Destroyed Palestinian Villages "Year 1" :


       
  • Jury deliberating the submissions of the Competition for the Reconstruction of Destroyed Palestinian Villages "Year 1" :

 
  • Announcement of the awards of  the Competition for the Reconstruction of Destroyed Palestinian Villages "Year 1":

 



    
 
 
  • Some of the attendees during the ceremony of the Competition for the Reconstruction of Destroyed Palestinian Villages "Year 1":

 



 
  • The winners of the Competition for the Reconstruction of Destroyed Palestinian Villages "Year 1" are:

The first prize:
Hussam Barham,  Birzeit University, (BZU02)

Project: At Tantoura Village - Haifa District
 

THE RETURN BACK JOURNEY TO LIVE ABOVE THE REMAINS OF Al-TANTURA VILLAGE
 
This is Al-Tantura village! Al-Tantura village is located in Haifa district, its location allows this village to have a seaport and to be a center for trade exchange between Palestine and Egypt. This gave the village a good value and it was built using modern methods.
A massacre happened in this village and houses were destroyed. Nowadays, there are only some remains of these houses and 3 other buildings in a good situation. A village resort is built above a small part of the remains.


The reconstruction of the village idea is to reconstruct the village due to its same contextual relationships in the past to keep the shape of village’s footprint and identity, but in modern way. The new reconstructed houses are built on their same locations, however the houses are extruded above the remains with steel structure. If there were no remains, the house is also extruded a bit to keep below the house empty. Below every house is an important historical remains for the village which should preserved and not to build over it. This extrusion gives a continuous sight line to the sea which could be seen from these voids under every house reconstructed. These new houses constructed over the remains give a hierarchy to the context in 3D and they have a strong presence to indicate that “this is the old village”.
 

Some of the existing buildings built by the Israeli people, were kept. The igloo-shaped houses which were a resort, and now are reused as guest houses for the refugees who come for a visit with guests. The Islands are kept as natural as they are. A seaport is constructed to have small boats for fishing with storage spaces for fish located near the port.
 
  

Al-Tantura is designed in a way that provides all services needed with suitable extension areas for future. Some of them are:
  • Central parcels which includes commercial, cultural, parks, sport center and parking.
  • A (square) which is central & links the parcels above with the old Tantura and new Tantura. This square is a main conjunction that leads to schools, mosque, clinics, and a museum (remains of the old village).
  • Al Tantura linear park which located on the coast and serves the New Tantura residential areas
  • Industrial area which is located away from the village (far east), which contains factories and workshops for the most crafts they used to work on with a vocational school nearby.
  • A Train stop station is located on the main entrance of the village which is a street full of trees with wide pedestrian areas to go to the village, within a walkable distance.
As a planner, the power of the occupation's built spaces isn’t eliminated, and also not reused it as it is, I aim to reorient its logic to other goals that serve our home land, to reflect our culture on land, and to take advantage for our interest.

    
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The second prize:
Zakaria Al Assar, Islamic University of Gaza, (IUG04)

Project: At Tantoura Village - Haifa District
 
 

Planning Strategies:
1- Preservation of the main services of the village, such as the mosque and the village center.
2- Reconfiguration of the reconstructed village with the existing road network.
3- Planning the village according to contemporary planning standards.
4- Expanding the boundaries of the village to cope with the expected overpopulation.
5- Providing the necessary services for the residents inside the village and connecting them with neighboring services and residential areas.
6- Reviving the events that took place in the village through the landmarks and immortalization the places of these events.
7- Relying in construction on local and old materials with the introduction of modern methods in them.
8- Make use of the existing buildings and houses on the village land and rehabilitate them to suit the model used in the village and be possible of use by residents after they return.
9- Study the constructional formation of the village before 1948 and take inspiration from it in development the master plan of the village and distribution of parcels and forms and patterns of buildings.
10- Preservation of the old buildings that still exist well in the village until today.
 

Planning concept:
The planning idea was based on the Interconnection of the road network with existing perimeter networks to facilitate movement from and to the village. As well as the re-planning was based on some of the streets that existed in the village before 1948, and take the inspiration from the constructional formation to formulate a new planning pattern that fits the contemporary planning standards and compatibles with the concept of revitalizing the village. So as to give a general impression of the system and configuration used in the past but in more modern and arrangement, which helps to reduce the problems resulting from the random planning of old villages. In addition, the services required in the village, the preservation of buildings of archaeological value that still exist today, and the retention of some land uses in the village as it is today have been taken into consideration.
 

Participation Goals:
1- Adopting the idea of reviving the destroyed villages and rehabilitating it after the return.
2- Increase experience in the re-planning of villages and residential neighborhoods.
3- Identify the heritage aspect of the Palestinian constructional culture and study its methods and tools.
4- Contribution to laying down the first lines of reconstruction and rehabilitation operations and making use of it in real life.
5- Increasing knowledge of Palestinian history in architectural and cultural aspects.
 

Reason for participation in the competition:
Trying to create a vision for the lives of our fathers in their cities and villages to develop it in terms of construction and architecture to suit the requirements and theories of contemporary in this field. As well as to employ the skills acquired from the planning study at the university and develop it to suit the variables around us.