The Battle for Home: The Vision of a Young Architect in Syria

145 Pages·2016·13.03 MB·English

by  Marwa al-Sabouni

About the Authors
Marwa al-Sabouni has a PhD in Islamic architecture and runs a private
architectural studio in Homs, Syria. She has published several articles in
periodicals such as the RIBA Journal, Architectural Review, Wall Street
International, CityCity Magazine and Architects + Artisans. She is also co-
owner of the award-winning www.arch-news.net, the first and only online media
site dedicated to architectural news in Arabic.
Roger Scruton is a writer and philosopher specializing in aesthetics, with a
particular interest in the Levant and architecture.
Other titles of interest published by
Thames & Hudson include:
Open Source Architecture
Architecture in Wood
The Elements of Modern Architecture
Words and Buildings
See our websites
www.thamesandhudson.com
www.thamesandhudsonusa.com
Contents
Foreword by Roger Scruton
Introduction by Marwa al-Sabouni
1
THE BATTLE FOR FREEDOM
One Who Lacks Cannot Give Back
In which the author looks at the circumstances that led to war, exploring – through her personal
experience as a young woman and student architect – contradictions in the concept of freedom, as
manifested in various aspects of life in Homs.
2
THE BATTLE OF OLD HOMS
The Defeat of the Old by the New
In which the author uses Homs as her model to focus on the interdependent relationship between
society and architecture, and the repeated damage to both that created fertile ground for civil war.
3
THE BATTLE OF MORTAR
Traditional Ethics vs. Modern Life
In which the author explores the role of urbanism in creating and inflaming civil strife: comparing
the relationship between trade, religion and settlement in Homs and Damascus, and the way this has
played a role in uniting/dividing societies; and looking at the added impositions of colonialism and
the challenges presented by other ‘newcomers’.
4
THE BATTLE OF BABA AMR
Social Fabric as a Foundation for Urban Design
In which the author focuses on the ‘newcomer’ settlement of Baba Amr, reviewing a history of
prejudice, alienation and corruption, made manifest in the built environment and paving the way for
conflict.
5
THE BATTLE FOR A HOME
Nowhere Old, Nowhere New
In which the author looks at pre-conflict housing in Syria and the role of architecture in breaking
down a sense of identity; at different cases of homelessness and dispersal after the outbreak of war;
and at the concept of accomplishment as a measure of national identity and a factor in shaping new
settlements.
6
THE BATTLE FOR CONTINUITY
Building on the Past for the Future
In which the author examines the roots of lost identity in ill-advised stereotyping, misconceptions,
poor education and corrupt institutions, all manifested in architecture; and proposes a new way
forward architecturally towards accomplishment, acceptance and ultimately healing.
Notes
Timeline
Acknowledgments
Copyright
Foreword by Roger Scruton
It was no small surprise for me to receive, two years ago, an e-mail from Homs
in Syria, asking me to explain something in my book The Aesthetics of
Architecture. How could that book have reached Homs, of which I knew only
because the tragedy of the Levant had occupied me over the last twenty years?
And who was this person so eccentric as to devote time to issues of architectural
aesthetics, when all around her the fabric of her ancient city was falling in ruins?
I replied immediately, and very soon was in regular correspondence with one of
the most remarkable people I have never met. Now she has written her own
book, and it is the work of a profound thinker with a unique ability to address
one of the most pressing questions confronting the people of the Middle East,
which is the question of their built environment.
So far only two models have been proposed for a Middle Eastern city that is to
be in communication with the modern world. One is Le Corbusier’s plan for
Algiers, which involves demolishing everything and trapping the traumatized
populace in concrete blocks under motorways. The other is Dubai, a bombastic
and profligate fun park of petrol-dollar materialism designed on computers in
London for the global rich. The idea of a city in which prosperous and poor, old
and young, Muslim and Christian, live peacefully side by side in streets that they
share, beneath a skyline respectful of their religious aspirations – the idea
represented by cities such as Homs, Aleppo and Damascus in the great moments
of their past – has had no part to play in the plans of the futurist bureaucrats and
modernist computer nerds. Yet, as Marwa al-Sabouni clearly shows, the plans
imposed on cities like Homs by those charged with their public aspect have been
major contributors to the conflicts that have now destroyed them.
The metropolis came into being in the Eastern Mediterranean, and has been
the ancient solution to human difference – the way in which diverse
communities settle side by side and imprint their agreements on the earth.
Marwa al-Sabouni argues that the Syrian people must rediscover the feeling for
place and materials, for the street, the façade and the shared skyline, that created
their cities, which have endured in continuous occupation since ancient times.
She gives a moving account of traditional Islamic architecture and the way in
which its principles have been misunderstood or bowdlerized into architectural
clichés. And she boldly criticizes the corruption that has surrendered her city to
both materialist vandalism and hate-filled revenge. In all this she eloquently
describes a Syrian city as it now is, in the midst of a conflict that we in Europe
have so imperfectly understood, and the costs of which we shall have to bear.
This book is the moving record of one person’s effort to stay loyal to her
homeland, at a time of great suffering and personal distress. It tells a painful and
tragic story. But it is also the expression of a beautiful soul, who comes to us out
of a confused and dreadful battle with a message of hope.
Malmesbury, September 2015
Introduction by Marwa al-Sabouni
We in Syria have been in the news since 2011. The world has been watching us,
and we have been watching ourselves, getting killed, tortured and uprooted. We
have seen our buildings demolished, our cities destroyed and our archaeological
treasures vandalized. These images have been on display so much that we rarely
question why all this has happened. In politics and history, when narratives are
assembled, parties tell their own sides of the story. It is only through architecture
that we see the point of view that is no one’s in particular and everyone’s in
general. Buildings do not lie to us: they tell the truth without taking sides. Every
little detail in an urban configuration is an honest register of a lived story.
In this book, I try to show that in the built environment we can find not only
indicators of events that have already occurred, but also portends of what could
or might still occur. In addition, I try to show how architecture in my country has
played a vital role in creating, directing and heightening conflicts between
warring factions, by facilitating poor choices and narrowing viable alternatives. I
write about the shape of settlements and related economic systems, the moral
code inspired by the architecture of a place, and the ways in which architectural
choices can determine questions of identity and home. Relating to another reason
why I wrote this book, it should be noted that even in countries that seem to be
distanced from our own misfortune in Syria (especially the other countries
touched by the so-called Arab Spring), notions of identity and home are just as
much in jeopardy.
The world has watched with anguish as ISIS has vandalized or threatened
treasured sites, including Palmyra in Syria and the Assyrian towns in Iraq. It has
witnessed the tragic destruction of the Old Souks of Aleppo and Homs, along
with countless ancient buildings and relics caught in the crossfire. These losses,
despite their severity, are of course incomparable to the human losses – the
wasted and damaged lives of innocents, and the destruction of the social fabric –
but they constitute further reasons for me to write this book: to consider the
paths that have led to this ordeal and to shed light on the role played by the built
environment. I suggest that the failure to create architecture that can constitute a
home for its users stems from a loss of identity, which in turn has causes that go
deep into the psychology of our people. When we look at what is being built in
the Middle East today and how it is being built, this loss of identity becomes
glaringly apparent, as does the jarring disconnection between the rich heritage of
the past and the empty modernism now being imported to form the present.
Grief over the violence that ISIS has perpetrated on ‘innocent’ ancient
buildings can be viewed against reactions towards the mass destruction of entire
cities. Why is it that ancient sites mean so much to all of us? Why is a scratch on
a column in Palmyra of more consequence than the destruction of an entire
concrete building? Furthermore, how was it that we vandalized our own cities in
Syria before war came to deliver the final blows? And how should we rebuild
what has been destroyed so that it will not happen again?
In searching for answers to these questions, I have lived a certain kind of life –
not, to my mind, the easiest one. In telling the story of my city and the story of
my country, I also tell my own story, in so far as it is relevant. I hope that the
reader will learn something from these three stories that will help to avert in
other places the kind of destruction that we have had to suffer here in Syria.
Homs, June 2015