Carved Piece of Jordan's Interwoven Community
This was my entry as part of an architectural sketch competition which was hosted by the RIBA Cityscape Intelligence Sketchbook.
Project description:
As a result of the global pandemic, the world has found a greater insight and attained a deeper appreciation of its inherent oneness and interdependence. However, how do we reconcile diverse vernacular architecture and urban layouts with the concept of world unity and international interdependence? How do we harmonize between local culture and globalization? Firstly, to reconnect Jordan’s vernacular with an interconnected world we must re-perceive the multifaceted concept of unity as not unity in conformity but rather as unity in diversity. Furthermore, the dual, twofold nature of vernacular and global; general and specific; and diversity and unity are coherent concepts not to be dichotomous. Therefore, the vernacular architectural sketch is a visionary proposal of a post-Covid Jordanian vernacular community yet is highly inspired by the Al-Salt and Petra districts in Jordan. Furthermore, this concept is captured by a sunrise trail narrative illustrated by the sunrise gradient colors of the buildings that are interconnected by a network of public staircases and over-hanged communal green roofs. Moreover, the voyage of the user’s experience walking up the “sunrise trail narrative” of the community is enriched by the many chance interactions with local residents throughout the complex web of staircases and by the beautiful holistic view of orchestrated green roofs of houses stacked in multi-layers of topographic levels. The topographic levels is a distinct feature in Jordan since it is a very mountainous region with almost no flat lands. Also, the red dotted lines denote the topographic contours of Jordan’s mountainous terrains and the red arrows signifies the user’s trail. As a final note, the Jordanian Bedouin dagger/sword on the very top is merely an artistic touch to symbolize and capture the “carved slice” feature of Jordan’s interwoven community sketch hence the title. Finally, to conclude, the carved slice of Jordan’s interwoven community captures the unique mountainous region of Jordan’s topography; the beautiful layout of stacked houses in a multilayered fashion; and, of course, the reconciliation of Jordan’s vernacular architecture/urban features with an interdependent world.
