DESA1002 'Nine Quarter City' - <James Lee>

Abstract

My project is located in Tunis, the capital city of the country Tunisia and it is located in North Africa in between Algeria and Libya. It is a hot and dry country with much of its land being desert. Annual rainfall is low hence there is not much vegetation. Initially I was interested in the religion in Tunis and how it became to be this Muslim dominated country that it is today. Through this research, I came across issues that breach the fundamental rights of women in terms of expressing their beliefs regarding their hijabs. This encouraged me to design a project that reveals this issues and the brief history behind what these issues mean to the residents. I am focusing on two obvious types of people in Tunis, Residents and Tourists. I have dedicated my public space in two four main parts that would draw these people in from the streets. To house these programs to reveal the suppressed issues within the society of Tunis, I have studied how I could create the feel and the experience of Tunis in my building. In doing so, I have found that Tunis, the city has many variations in light, movement and space in terms of its architecture. Taking advantage of this, and to create a unique Tunis experience, I have utilized these variations in my circulations in creating two different journeys for Tourists and Residents. Furthermore, my project does not solely work around the assumption of the Tourists and Residents but more of an encouraging guidance for them to freely roam according to set movement.