1316: The Al Qattara Oasis in Al Ain "A"
Department of Architecture
Studio Option
8 credits
Tuesday 2:00 - 6:00
Wednesday 2:00 - 6:00
Instructor(s)
Jorge Silvetti
Course Description
The Al Qattara Oasis in Al Ain
Instructors:
Jorge Silvetti; Professor of Architecture
Felipe Correa; Assistant Professor of Urban Design
FRAMEWORK:
The oasis, as the primordial origin for water, has for centuries acted as a pervading facilitator in the relationship between people and arid ground. Pictured for centuries as a precise moment of happiness surrounded by despair, Oases have been key players in the cultural imaginary of arid geographies. From those of urgent need to those of excessive affluence, these globules of green within a boundless field of sand have had a time-honored tradition as instigators of diverse forms of settlement.
The City of Al Ain, formerly known as Tawam and Buraimi and originally composed of a series of loosely associated tribal groups, serves as a paradigmatic example of an urbanism that capitalized on a singular water supply to define a new way to occupy and transform a barren environment. The intrinsic value historically attributed to Al Ain, located 160 kilometers inland from the Persian Gulf, has been primarily geographic. The city emerged as a key point in the cross roads of the south-west route used by traders for centuries. Envisioned as a fertile oasis, it rapidly became a reliable point of rest, where caravans could be replenished with fresh water and food. This specific condition proffered inventive ways to manipulate water for agricultural production, resulting in an intrinsic public works system that allowed for the emergence of an expanding green enclave within a predominantly arid biome. The Falaj, an irrigation system composed of an agile network of conduits that directed water to date groves located in the lower geographies of the city, served as the backbone for the development of Al Ain's urban morphology. This logic of the Falaj, paired with newer irrigation systems, primarily desalinated water mechanisms, have allowed for a continuous presence of this extended green productive quilt. Today, the Oases continue to have a significant presence in the cultural imaginary of the city, both as a productive geography and also as a set of symbolic spaces for collective gathering.
This trans-disciplinary studio (24 students and two instructors) offered concurrently by the Departments of Architecture and Urban Planning and Design, will use the Al Qattara Oasis as an open laboratory in order to explore the potential transformation of traditionally productive grounds into an integrated network of active open spaces within the city. The pedagogic and research aims of the studio will focus on investigating the broader role of the Oasis as an initiator of urbanism and its ubiquitous presence in the urban evolution of Al Ain and the desert city at large. Furthermore, the studio will aim towards clear configurative strategies that explore the embedded potential of the Oasis to perform as a dual operative device that can on the one hand, continue to be part of the region's larger productive ecology and also act as a host for a variety of collective programs and qualitative infrastructures. Primarily the introduction of an institutional campus devoted to the study, production and advancement of the Arts, Crafts and Design traditions of the United Arab Emirates and the region at large.
STUDIO STRUCTURE:
Given this broad topical diversity of areas of expertise that need to converge in the investigation of this complex environmental phenomenon, and considering that the current plans and projects that exists for this particular area are not advanced to a point where they had established a clear vision and convincing strategy for the recovery and integration of the Al Qattara Oasis, the process of analysis and design for this joint studio will not pursue the linear steps of the traditional master plan methodology which do not seem to apply easily to the vague and ambiguous conditions and quality of the information at hand. Instead, the studio will proceed in the first part of the semester with parallel independent investigations of discrete and thematically distinct lines of research identified within the complex set of conditions that define the eco-urban system of the oasis. This research will then inform the development of precise design interventions that can effectively reframe the role of the oasis within the current urban framework of the city and envision ways in which it can accommodate multiple complimentary programs.
Throughout the research phase of the semester (the first four weeks), the studio will operate as a joint "super studio" in which students from both sections will work in inter-disciplinary groups. Once the research phase is completed, the two sections will work individually with joint reviews and sharing consultants and resources.
RESEARCH PLATFORM:
Departing from an exploratory standpoint, the studio will rely heavily on research and projective drawing in order to establish a clear body of analytical work that can serve as a primary source for future design interventions. For the first portion of the semester, students will tackle the larger physiographic processes of the Arabian Peninsula through a series of research topics that cut across multiple scales and material processes, in order to visualize the modus operandi of the eco-urban systems that the oases have proffered. These investigative tracks, which range in scale from the constructive detail to the region's eco-geographic dynamics will provide a clear visual profile of the multiple pressure systems that affect the terrain in question. This visual profile will then become a collective document for the studio and provide a significant reading of the city and its adjacent open territories. Students will then use the research as a collective body of work that ignites the architectural imaginary for new formal and experiential identities that can begin to reformat the Al Qattara Oasis and its adjacent grounds.
For the research component of the project, students from both studios will be teamed up in small groups and will explore a number of discrete yet interrelated investigative lines.
The research lines are the following:
1_Rammed Earth and other earthen construction technologies: will explore a wide host of constructive technologies using rammed earth and its associated variants covering a wide arch span that includes the traditional, nearly lost methods (which it will intend to recover and codify) and as importantly, explores new more inventive uses of these technologies within arid grounds as well as survey the state of this technology worldwide.
2_Ecology of the Oasis A: will focus on the dynamics of hydrology in this regional desert and the role of the Oasis as a natural, cultural and productive entity within arid grounds. Furthermore, this line of research will also explore the specific botanical qualities of the Oasis and speculate on the embedded potentials within this ecological infrastructure for future forms of settlement.
3_Ecology of the Oasis B: this tract will specifically concentrate on the role of the agricultural dynamics of the Oasis, and investigate the role of these sites as productive entities for the region. Special attention will be placed on the larger agricultural geometries and how these can be adapted / transformed to new post-agricultural uses.
4_ Infrastructure in Arid Grounds: will engage the larger public works system that has facilitated urbanization in this geography. This line will focus on the specific infrastructural geometries, ranging from heavy to light (from mobility to shade), that have tailored this terrain for settlement.
5_Programatic Inventory: this research line will focus on the larger uses and rituals that have shaped the Oasis, the city, and the region, focusing on the historic values of the city as a set of parameters that must be acknowledged and capitalized upon in any future intervention. (patterns of commerce, religious rituals, public spaces, urban life, etc.)
6_Urban and Landscape Morphological Evolution: will tackle the diverse urban grains that have shaped the city in the region. This line will explore a broad range of scales from typological studies of domestic space to the organization of larger building aggregates in the city. (this may be a double line, with two different groups.
7_Regional Arts and Crafts: a serious survey of all local traditional crafts that would serve to program the cultural and productive activities of the Arts and Crafts campus as well as to inspire the design activities of the students. It is suggested that the scope of this effort would include crafts from the broader region of the Gulf area (i.e. the Emirates, Oman, etc.) rather than only focus on local traditions of Al Ain.
8_Relevant Precedents and Referents. This particular track will survey a well selected list of precedent projects, drawing samples of diverse scales and geographies, that in one or more capacities can inform the development of the design component of the studio.
DESIGN STRATEGIES: Project Constellation
As the semester advances and this parallel efforts achieve a degree of substantial development the studios will exploit the merged lines of research as an informative plane that allows for the development of clearly conceptualized yet open ended design strategies. The objective of both studios is to cultivate a dynamic set of design alternatives and scenarios, resulting in a multiplicity of interventions that engage a variety of scales and problematics within the Al Qattara Oasis and its associated urban quarters. In doing so, we aim at unfolding a broader constellation of projects, that in summation provide manifold alternative visions for the site.
An institutional campus devoted to the study, production and advancement of the Arts, Crafts and Design traditions of the Emirates in this exceptional location, will serve as a staple program that opens up the discussion about the transformative nature of the Oasis' grounds. The occasion for these studies and its resulting possible interventions is enabled by Abu Dhabi authorities' interest in establishing an important cultural, educational and research institution.
It is envisioned that such facility would take the form of a campus that would harmoniously accommodate in different structures and locations the following broad programmatic components:
a) An institute for the research and promotion of earthen architecture and building technology (including both the recovery of traditional methods and the experimentation and promotion of advanced contemporary earthen technology).
b) An associated library devoted to traditional crafts and design technologies native to the region.
c) A Community Arts Center devoted to the teaching of traditional crafts.
d) A souk where traditional crafts would be exhibited and sold.
e) Provision of a small number of housing units for resident or visiting artisans.
f) Related support functions as needed (cafeteria, auditorium, exhibition areas, etc.).
Further programmatic details of this campus as well as other complimentary programs will emerge from the research phase of the project. Some additional programs that promote the optimum public, commercial and agricultural operations in the city will be considered as part of the larger operation.
CONSULTANTS:
Given the broad scope of the research lines, the studio will count with a significant number of consultants and lecturers that will episodically infuse the studio with specific expertise.
Envirornment and Representation
Earthen Architecture
Sustainability and Environmental controls
Arts and Crafts in the Emirates
Archeaology, Etnography
History, Geography, Geology
Urban Morphology and Infrastructure
LOGISTICS:
The studio is open to students from all departments. It will require a high level of representation skills and design ability, since the studio will range from largescale mappings to precise architectural interventions. A keen interest for precise, yet explorative forms of representation is a must for students enrolled in the studio.
A studio trip to Al Ain is scheduled for the second week of February. The trip is fully sponsored and all travel costs except certain meals and incidentals will be covered by the studio budget.
The studio is sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH).