[ P.S. in Nazareth ] Reem Abu Salem | Tutors : arch. Els Verbakel and arch. Amir Peleg

P.S in Nazareth   "is title isn't an additional sentence a#er the main body in a letter. Public Space in Nazareth is the subject and the question of

this thesis.

So the public space is simply a place, that doesn't belong to a specific person but belongs to the people, to a community. "e public space has the power of creating conditions that cannot exist in a personal private space.

  Quoting Kevin Lynch from "e Image Of "e City,

“"e City may be looked on as a story, a pattern of relations between human groups, a production and distribution of space, a

field of physical force, a set of linked decisions, or an area of conflict” A city is so much more than just a set of buildings….

It is a whole organism that is made up of tiny parts. When one part fails…it weakens the rest. Strong, successful organisms (cities) have all of their parts working at 100% capacity.”

Speaking of Nazareth, it is obvious that the need of public spaces is not fulfilled. "e city su&ers of shortage in both public and

open spaces, two major components, without which the image of the city can’t be completed. In a modern city that draws it's magic from its holiness, the continuity of its uniqueness relies on the community and the present

life it’s living. It is about focusing on the residences of the city that have the power to revive the public spaces, which in their turn take the role in reviving the people.

 

Investigating the public space in Nazareth, I referred to di&erent types of spaces, it is important to recognize the di&erence between open and public, the fact that there are open public spaces, closed public spaces and open private spaces.

  “Landscape moves from one function to another to design a new panorama and recreate facilities of recreation and leisure” Kevin

Lynch.

  I’m analyzing the public space in Nazareth, and questioning what qualities and characteristics are needed to design the right

space. How can architecture create the right needed place for public activities and gatherings, how should this space be composed, what are the scales of this public space, what surrounding elements should exist around it to support it, what's the level of

opening, the amount of green, the lighting, the topographic diversity and the trust and safety level.

 

WHAT? "e project questions the role of public space in Nazareth by inserting a new public communal and educational layer to the main street in Nazareth that introduces a new typology of public space in the city. A new ‘linear campus’ stretches from Tawfiq Zayad

Street along Paulus street creating a skeleton of public spaces including a library, an auditorium, research laboratories, classrooms

and dorms along the route. As a case study, the design focuses on a library in the center nearby Mary’s Well, in a search to create appropriate public and open

spaces for Nazareth as an Arabic city of the 21st century.  

WHY? "e public space in Nazareth stands as a problematic field since it is very limited in several aspects such as quantity, diversity, green

proximity and opening. In addition, open spaces are o#en inaccessible for the general public. "e link between the public space and the educational functions along the skeleton refers to the importance of the education in Nazareth as an autonomous city and

a metropolitan center that supports the Arab cities and villages around.

 

HOW? "e library continues Paulus street’s unique identity by giving a façade to the street, and an open public space that is accessible yet

protected.

"e design creates a complex layered hierarchy between open and closed spaces. As a result of the design process I concluded that in order to create a working open public space in Nazareth, this space needs to belong to a mass, and this works in both directions,

the indoor space should belong to an open space. "e library is designed in a way that embraces the open spaces within the building, by creating several holes inside surrounded by

a sequence of interiors. "ese holes turn into a masses (cubicles) in the big patio, and support the open space that is organized

around them. "is “hole” system continues in the façade of the building, creating di&erent types of openings (inspired by existing elements in

Nazareth) in the continuous white wall, giving opportunities of physical and visual connections to Nazareth’s urban context.  

 

 

   

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  [Nazareth section]

"is section represents the urban and symbolic shapes of a city along a topographic axis. It allows us to discover the di&erent atmospheres of the places, as well as the views and characteristic monuments that are attached next to each other but separated by

the height of the land. It allows to identify what gives the city its identity, and to see how well the di&erent heights of the territory are used.

It manages to show the uniqueness of each urban tissue and highlights the di&erences between them. It manifests the change of the

density and the scale of the tissues, starting from a very crowded and small scale houses in the old city, moving to a less crowded dwellings in the Latin neighborhood and then to the big scale of the churches, the low density and the fact that they are

surrounded by green and open private spaces.

Moreover, it emphasizes the di&erences between the streets: the crowded and chaotic Paulus street, the wider and less crowded bypass route, and the uncrowned open pilgrims’ route, that is characterized with more green, wider sidewalks that looks almost

like a pedestrian. And finally it shows the open spaces at the edges of the city.

  [Open spaces in Nazareth]

Analyzing the open spaces in Nazareth it’s obviously concluded

that the city su&ers from lack of open spaces. Most of these open spaces are

not accessible to the general public.

"ose private open spaces mostly belong to the churches and are

surrounded by walls that are not only

disabling the physical access of the public but also the visual one as well.

  In the whole process of analyzing the

public space it was important to

recognize the di&erence between the terms [open-closed] and [public-

pr i v a t e ] , and t he d i& e rent combinations that can be made of

both groups, especially in Nazareth;

where there are lots of closed public spaces and also lots of open private

spaces in many scales, whether it’s a yard in a home or a big open space

that relates to a church.

"e design process tries to analyze the di&erent types and combinations

of these spaces in Nazareth in order to create new ones with the right

scales and relationships between the

di&erent elements.

  "is timeline analyzes the historical public spaces of the city, that stand today as iconic figures of Nazareth, they draw their magic and importance from their role as places that contributed to the past public life of the city and served the public of that area according to the

needs of these times.  Mary’s Well is known for it’s religious importance as Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she would bear the Son of God

an event known as the Annunciation. In addition to the religious importance, Mary’s Well or (the Spring Plaza) served as the city’s main water source for several centuries. And here lies its public meaning, as it was a meeting and news exchanging point for the women that arrived to the well to fill water.

 Khan El-Basha Khan is a Persian word, meaning an inn or motel. Khan el-Basha is the biggest, most impressive of the five khans built in Nazareth, and is

named a#er Suleiman Basha, Nazareth's governor, who repaired the khan in 1814. "e building, which is opposite the Basilica of the Annunciation, is used for o'ces these days but is scheduled for preservation. Khan el-Basha was built at the entrance to Nazareth. It consisted of a large yard surrounded by domed rooms on three of its sides, while the

fourth side is a curved colonnade. Originally, the khan had only one floor, but at the end of the nineteenth century an additional floor, with 10 accommodation rooms, was added. "e first floor had storage room for merchandise and animals.  "e Ancient Bathhouse (Alhamam)

"e public bathhouse has been dated to the Roman era and the time of Jesus. It used to be a public meeting point for all kind of activities, mainly health activities, such as bathing, in addition to that it included eating and co&ee drinking activities as well as parties and shows to

entertain the bathers.  "e Old City Architectural buildings of housing and trade from the Ottoman Era with narrow alleys passing between them, it was divided to markets

according to the trade type such as the brides market, the carpenter’s market, the vegetables market and so on..

Looking at the limited public spaces in Nazareth, they can be specified under two categories with very obvious characteristics. Mary’s well and the city plaza are not considered as successful public spaces and this refers to the elements surrounding them,

they are surrounded by streets and low walls, even though they are trying to give an open space with a certain amount of green, they are actually defined by what’s around them. And that’s the most important conclusion.

"e successful public spaces in Nazareth are the ones surrounded by architectural masses, buildings that are giving a feeling of relevance and safety.

Usually the content of these architectural figures is shopping or food related functions such as restaurants cafes and bars, like we

can see in Piazza Orthodossa and in Big Fashion. In this project the aim is to create public spaces that are more diverse but at the same time based on what I concluded from the

existing ones in the city.

   

 

(Paulus Street) When it comes to any main street in a city whether it’s Paris, Barcelona, New York or Nazareth, it is the street that makes you fall

in love with the city, where the stories are born and the culture is layered year a#er year, where in each passing car a family exists, where the people salute each other when passing by, and the buildings embrace their street while they rise and welcome a

new life in-behind their walls that are standing there smiling for the street’s lights.  

Paulus Street is in almost every memory I have about Nazareth. I lived it through the windows of a driving car, every day for 18

years and it is Nazareth. "e noises, the smells and the chaos, the crazy tra'c jam, the buss stations, the faces of the people driving and walking and running, the shops and their signs, the trees, the flowers and the facades framing the sky, the

illuminating lights at night, and the city’s treasures appearing from behind, the weird sidewalks that manage to mix the cars with

the people in a messy way, and the vertical stairs sewing the street into the city’s topography.  

"e street is screened with various functions, usually commerce in the first floor and dwellings in the upper floors, in addition to other functions such as schools, o'ces, churches, parking lots and hotels.

Along the streets there are few voids between the masses that can be potential sites for future fill-ins.

As for the transportation, the street is very crowded and su&ers from a tra'c jam problems, and I suggest using the surrounding streets in the upper and the lower neighborhoods to decrease the tra'c jam.

  Project.

(analysis conclusions)  

As a result of the design process I concluded that in order to create a working open public space in Nazareth, this space needs to belong to a mass, and this works in both directions, the indoor space should belong to an open space.

"e library is designed in a way that embraces the open spaces within the building, by creating several holes inside surrounded

by a sequence of interiors. "ese holes turn into masses (cubicles) in the big patio, and support the open space that is organized around them.

Each outer space needs masses to surround it in order to support it as a function and as a physical figure that provide it with

safety, power and meaning. "at’s why the outer space in the library is divided to smaller parts and supported by small buildings that outline territories and create a certain division in the big open space, enabling the public to feel intimacy and relevance in

an open public space. "ose small masses in the big patio are private studying rooms that provide the public with a maximal concentration level; they include small living rooms, small studying rooms or small o'ces. "ese cubicles are the smallest public

spaces that can exist as a part of a public building; they are public spaces designed for one person, two or three.

When it comes to the indoor spaces, the situation is the exact negative of what happens in the outside; small patios are perforating the mass in order to support the interiors, and so the inside activities are coordinated around these patios and

drawing their power from them. "ose holes are the smallest open spaces in a building, for instance they can be public open spaces for two people or even only for a tree or a chair.

"is “hole” system continues in the façade of the building, creating di&erent types of openings in the continuous white wall,

giving opportunities of physical and visual connections to Nazareth’s urban context.  

   

 

 

 I am suggesting a new ‘linear campus’ stretching from Tawfiq Zayad Street along Paulus street creating a skeleton of public spaces including a library, an auditorium, research laboratories, classrooms and dorms along the route, in a search to create appropriate

public and open spaces for Nazareth as an Arabic city of the 21st century.  "e link between the public space and the educational functions along the skeleton refers to the importance of the education in

Nazareth as an autonomous city and a metropolitan center that supports the Arab cities and villages around.

  (Spatial image and architectural language)

"e spatial image of the project is about the line that separates the ‘In’ from the ‘Out’. How the façade of the building can turn into a three dimensional figure and include

functions within it, and also how this façade can be folded to both directions (in/out) merging them together and creating all kind of openings and interesting spatial situations.

"e face of this project is a simple white wall that has all kinds of openings, that are inspired by existing elements in Nazareth and especially in the old city, those openings come in

di&erent sizes, from the small dots to window-size. Also, some of these windows are

protruding from the façade and others are set back. Some of the patterns of the windows are existing patterns that had been rescaled and modified into new shapes, for instance I took the

classic arc and scaled it into small arc holes creating a ‘Mashrabiah’.  

[Main Site]

 As a case study, the design focuses on a library in the center nearby Mary’s Well.

"e site is a hole located between Paulus street and the Eastern Neighborhood. It’s near a sequence of open public spaces that are draining from the pilgrim’s’ route, (Piazza Orthodossa and Mary’s Well plaza) .

 "e site contains the ‘Friendshiphouse’, Shawarma place and a parking lot.  ‘Friendshiphouse’, a combination of o'ces with public functions likes shops, a youth center, etc. Architect Michael Abunofal’s design

was only partially completed in 1975. Nowadays the building’s shows a long-term neglect where we see closed shops, broken windows and piles of illegal trash.

It is planned to destroy the building in order to build a hotel instead.

["e Library]

 

  [Program]

When planning a library as a public space in Nazareth, and thinking about the program, I referred

to four important subjects in which there are di&erent levels of situations.

 

-Concentration level: according to the users and the materials they are reading or the research they are

doing, they need various types of spaces that provide

di&erent levels of concentrations, starting from a very individual rooms or cubicles and moving to a

very public and communal space that enables all kinds of activities, and interactions between people,

such as a kitchen or a living room.

  -Opening type: the level of exposure to the “Out”

and the connection to the city. "e transfer is from a small hole in a wall, to a window, a patio, a plaza or

even a street.

  -Technology level: the information source can be a

simple classic book, a computer or even a tablet.  

-Age: the library serves all ages.

  As a conclusion I translated these thoughts into

three-dimensional spaces that are answering these di&erent needs and created all kinds of spaces

whether those spaces are the small study cubicles or

the big reading rooms. In addition to designing the information source that includes di&erent types of

materials, books, computers and so on in a unified designed element.

 

["e Library]

"e library, designed in the main site gives a façade to Paulus street managing to complete its continuity and highlight it’s line. It also continues the sequence of open spaces by creating a plaza opposed to Mary’s Well Plaza, from which is the entrance to the main open

space in the library.

"e open space goes down with the topography linking Paulus street with the western neighborhood, and filling the hole that exists between both of them, the library’s buildings surround this space, and it is divided to smaller parts (terraces), that are supported by the

cubicles, to give it more intimacy and relevance.  

In the main site, I designed a combination of a library, an auditorium, co&ee shop and restaurant, dorms, o'ces and a gallery in

addition to a bookshop and a tourist info point on the other side of Paulus street.  

"e library it self is divided to four libraries serving di&erent communities and providing various experiences. Communal Library,

Academic Library, Communal-Academic Hybrid library and Kids’ Library.

 

[Roof Plan 1:500]

 

[Library Types]

 

[Program]

 

  ["e Planning of the building]

  Entering from the main square there lies the main entrance to the library building, specifically to the communal library that is

designed in a lounge style, providing comfort siting spaces for reading, small sofas organized around the patios inside the building and accessible to the di&erent info sources that are di&used in the space.

A#er the communal library you arrive to the hybrid library- the ‘kitchen’, in this library the activities are combined, the purpose is to

mix the reading with other communal activities of meeting and eating, that happen around a long table that manage to bring the people together around this element. "is table is decomposed according to the topography’s decline; it changes linearly from a table

to bookshelves, stairs or a bench. Right next to the kitchen passes the outdoor pedestrian that links linearly the western neighborhood

to Paulus Street. "e main patio declines with the topography either with the big ramp near the inner façade of the building or with the terraces that

are supported by the cubicles that are providing the highest level of concentration and creating quiet public spaces for individual studiers and researchers.

In the second floor there is the art gallery of Nazareth that overlooks the city and frames it through the thick walls of it’s façade, and

brings it into the gallery. Above the kitchen there is the academic library that has studying tables, which enables group or individual study in a quiet area.

Meeting rooms and o'ces are situated in the third floor, replacing the existing o'ces in the ‘Friendshiphouse’. On the opposed building there is the kids’ library where next to it the dorms are located. "ese dorms are designed according to the

old houses in the old city (a very simple scheme of a central hole that leads to all the rooms).

"ere is an underground space that is related to the whole archaeological religious thing in Nazareth; this is a book storage space that can be observed through holes in the floor of the ground floor. It also has a glass window that enables viewing the underground soil

and stones. Next to it there is an underground parking.  

 

 

  [Plans]

   

 

 

  [Exploded Axonometric ]

"e exploded axonometric shows the placing of the patios and the cubicles in the space and how they manage to divide the space and create the design process around them, creating the hierarchy between the open and closed spaces and managing to relate them to

each other.  

 

 

  [Sections]

   

 

 

  [details]

 Here are two details of the windows, the first one showing the intruding rusty steel window from the white wall and the other one shows creating a green wall by inserting pots inside the wall , that gives green to both sides of the façade.

   

 

 

 

[P.S.]  

Finally I would say that the public space of any city must be a combination of its culture, its layered history and its present contemporary life.

What works in one city wouldn’t necessarily work in another, it is important to design for the city and for the people, to concentrate on their needs and to help them find what they want, to create an image or a space they are trying to imagine or

constantly look for. As an architect and observer it is my job to show them what they need and create the appropriate public space

that relies on the culture of this city, a great city who’s power lies on the various mutual relations between things, whether it’s the reliance of people on each others, the reliance of open spaces on the buildings, the reliance of the street on it’s surrounding

facades, and the reliance of a house on it’s garden.

"is is my city, this is Nazareth, a warm correlation between its opposing ingredients.