In december 2016, the UN Security Council passed a resolution declaring Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal. A material aspect is prominent in the debate about their evacuation: how to reintegrate the settlers back into Israeli territory.
The political roles of architecture from guerrilla urbanism to material agency are to be explored as an integral part of its future.
Return to Zion proposes tactics for the creation of short and long-term housing and infrastructure that allow an alternative, rooted reintegration of refugees into the existing urban fabric.
The project renovates peripheric mid-century social housing, a porous, medium-density fabric that is often neglected but presents itself as a laboratory with enormous future potential.
The proposed architectural artifacts draw from a material-semiotic approach to reconfigure agents and networks through the translation of cultural paradigms into guerrilla tactics by leveraging local laws and informal strategies.
Translating the informal tactics for space appropriation in the orthodox neighbourhoods in Jerusalem around the Feast of Sukkot into a way to create new flexible housing based on nomad principles.
Liquid affordable housing based on space appropriation and nomadic principles.
Exploration of potential uses and integrations of one material agent.
The urban fabrics of Jerusalem.
Prototypes for the nomadic artifact were presented at Wald Art Gallery in Fukuoka, Japan. Prototyping is a key aspect of the future of architectural practice.
