Regenerative Maktaba
Preserving Architectural MemoryM.Arch Thesis Guide: Emmanuel Pratt
Introduction
Destruction of cities and buildings has always been an evident part of the war. Postwar places and spaces are rendered uninhabitable
and highlight the importance of rebuilding and transforming from a damaged present to a healed and regenerative
future. Their existence, post-war programming, and their identity
have to be retained, healed, and restored to reflect the resiliency of the people and accentuate the possibility of architecture as an
embodiment and catalyzing agent for the city’s resiliency. Mosul is a city, 248 miles North of Baghdad in Iraq. After its liberation
from Iraq in 2017, the city now faces the challenge left in the front
of every post-war city: how to rebuild, restabilize and restructure, reconstruct, and regenerate the city. The University of Mosul was
one of the primary targets of ISIS to destroy as it housed ancient
scriptures and books that would serve to both physically and symbolically erase the history, tradition, and culture of the city. Despite
having suffered significant interior damage from the attack, the library still stands frozen in a moment somewhere in between continued decay and regeneration. Traditionally, a library is a place
where knowledge is shared and stored in the form of books and scriptures. Whereas Regenerative Maktaba will be regenerated to be a space where knowledge is shared and developed by communities over generations. Building upon this rich historical lens, the thesis will explore the reconstruction, revitalization, and regeneration of the library
through a range of different programmatic initiatives. The immediate crisis which the city
faces is to resettle the returning inhabitants to the city. This demand could be achieved with the use of straw and reed blocks made by the community. Mosul is the largest
producer of wheat in the region, thus straw is in excess. The library will be connected
with the farms around Mosul and will regenerate a constant flow of straw bales, which will be used in the housing and public infrastructure construction. The library will also
have spaces that will preserve books and Digitize books to avoid further damage to
its intellectual property.
Investigation
Information regarding the site was investigated through social networking sites and social platforms.
Information regarding the site was investigated through social networking sites and social platforms.
Damaged Areas The whole city was assessed to identify stable grounds.
Resilient Communities Human participation and activated communities were documented to provide justification that the city is still proactive and rebuilding of the city.
Site analysis To address design decisions, indebt site analyses were conducted.
Also, Mosul city is surrounded by large farming grounds which can be reactivated to produce food and which eventually will also, provide raw materials for building new houses.
Proposal
The project proposes a regenerated version of the library where knowledge
is shared not only through books but also through skills sharing. It
will be a space where knowledge is shared and developed by communities
over generations. Building upon this rich historical lens, the thesis
will explore the reconstruction, revitalization, and regeneration of the
library through a range of different programmatic initiatives.
Design Strategies
Spatial Programming
Axonometric
