Re-Framing the Hollow: Cultural Architecture of Education and Community in Palestine | Architecture Thesis

Site Context

The project started with a detailed study of the landscape, focusing on the stone quarries in the West Bank, to investigate how power is created by a material with significant cultural influence. 85 quarries covering millions of square meters were found while exploring the West Bank’s geography; some are tucked away amongst olive terraces, some infiltrate settlements, and some are more subtly incorporated. Later, it was discovered that the current use of stone is the result of years of regulations. Although it is rarely used in the Palestinian landscape, about 75% of Palestinian stone is shipped to foreign markets. Schools in Zone C of the West Bank were a primary target for the stone face demolition that was used to build numerous urban cores. The majority of quarries in the same area are typically shut down either by having their permits revoked or having their equipment seized, leaving them abandoned.

The project addresses both current educational challenges and historical manufacturing power issues that shaped the terrain. Selecting a suitable location is crucial in rocky terrain. As a guideline, borders, spaces of incident, and quarries were mapped.

The project is sited in Zone B, on the eastern outskirts of Ramallah, where it will host a school. The site provides a secure buffer for social life and education given that it is situated between larger cities and areas that are being demolished. Teachers from central Ramallah can work locally according to the proposal, which also accommodates students from Zones A and C.

Design Process

The form of the building was inspired by the cascading domes across the mountainous terrain of the West Bank. These structures reflect a vernacular tradition, binding the architecture to its landscape. This project aims to explore a balance between domes that emerge from and sink into the terrain, rethinking how architecture inhabits the landscape by drawing from the works of Michael Heizer.

The design began with an iterative process, studying balance and testing the dialogue between domes and retaining walls. This ranged from domes fully enclosed by their perimeter walls to those shaping courtyards, framing entrances, and unfolding into quiet, walkable edges.

Final Outcome

This project resides in a zone at the intersection of two powers, making it liminal both literally and symbolically. It exists at the intersection of necessary action and anticipatory vision. The structure transforms from a school into a vibrant hub for community life. A design strategy that proposes a new architecture by reclaiming discarded stone fragments is informed by the student’s research. The approach turns into a politically relevant, materially based, and socially integrated one.

The construction process centers on reuse and low-tech approaches to formwork. Before the design phase, traditional stone construction was explored—particularly barrel vaults, cross vaults, and domes. Among these, cascading domes became the focus.

Starting from the ground, the first layer is cast from the concrete ring beams to stones carefully placed on a sand bedding, allowing for an irregular, jagged surface. The walls form a system that compresses the dome in place, shifting in materiality from earth to stone and unfolding to expose the continuous ceiling the dome rests on.

The roofscapes invite movement and pause, shaping walkable, livable terrains for rest, gathering, and quiet moments of leisure—integrating the roof and sunken space into a unified landscape.

Conclusion: Most notably, the project looks at the architect’s projective capacity, where it aims to balance a proposition based on research—grounded in existing conditions and their aftermath—but also based on resilience, where there is a paramount need to propose for now and for a transformative future.

[This Academic Project has been published with text and images submitted by the student]