DESA1002 'Continuous City' Furkan Rendeci

Abstract

The city of Jerusalem is known for its many different cultures, religions and ideas and my project design was to combine the old with the new. The project itself is a residential/retail building that was thought of as a result of giving something ‘new’ for the locals to live in. The design consists of an elevated ground floor corridor arcade with retail space and residential ‘pods’ that extrude off a main central wall. The main central wall is the core idea of the design as it highlights the divide and segregation of the locals as well as being the main circulation path for the entire building. The pods that extrude off the central wall depict the notion of mixing the old with the new as they appear to be ‘pulling away’ from the existing style of residential construction. The stepped nature of the wall came about as a result of illustrating the idea that the division in city is slowing being changed and the barriers (in this case the wall) are being brought down. The pods followed the same stepped nature to provide solar access and natural daylight to the internal spaces of the pods. Having a stepped building also provides an area underneath the pods, which I have addressed by including an outdoor area for the residents of the building to utilise at their leisure. The construction of the building is to be of a concrete frame structure with Jerusalem stone in-fill. The pods have screen battens to create privacy for the residents as well as being the main contrasting element to distinguish the pods from the rest of the design. The ground floor arcade also recognises the existing design styles by having arched roofs and windows.