Rehabilitation of Al-Farrayen neighbourhood as a cultural hub

In the Mamluk era, the neighbourhood was called Al-Farrayen for the presence of the fur industry and tanning.

In the twentieth century, the area was a park between Barada river and its Al-Aqrabani branch. Presence of water and dense trees rendered urban extension into it to be difficult, so that the Genic Gate overlooking it inside the wall was closed.

The project stems from specifics of exceptional historical and archaeological importance that take into account the peculiarity of the neighbourhood and provide an opportunity to try to show the history of Damascus.

The most important features of the studied zone:

Barada river from the north and Al-Aqrabani from the south

The historic wall of Damascus from which the journey begins at Bab Touma and ends at Bab Al Salam

– The mills and tanneries that are linked to the spatial memory of the population: Al-Zaeem Mill – Al-Zanjari Mill – Al-Ain Mill – a tannery in the western part and Al-Farrayen tannery located in the eastern part of the zone.

The project interventions are divided into two levels: urban and architectural.

Intervention at the urban level:

– Maintaining and rehabilitating Al-Farrayen Street axis as a main axis on the urban level.

– Establishing a tourist path by developing a visual axis that starts from Bab Touma and crosses the cultural centre and takes visitors on a tour around the archaeological buildings that tell us about the crafts for which the residents of the area were famous.

Rehabilitation of Bab Touma Square, which was a haphazard car parking. The objective is to create an urban space that enhances the heritage identity and preserves the urban landscape of Bab Touma Square and old Damascus wall.

– Rehabilitation of Bab al-Salam Square as an interactive space, especially for children, due to its proximity to two primary schools. In addition to the creation of recreational spaces and green spaces.

– Rehabilitation of the middle tissue – where it was a car park and a waste and sewage landfill – by creating interactive and green spaces with the aim of restore interaction of pedestrians with the river and transforming it into a park and breathing space for the area.

Architectural intervention:

– Since culture is the fourth pillar of sustainable development, the scheme of cultural centre was launched to be a gateway and an onset for the industrial heritage expedition, inspired by ancient Bab Touma gate and bespoke in the spirit of the twenty-first century.

– Designing a library building in a contemporary structural style using metal frames to create a streamlined intervention in consistency with the movement of the river and to establish harmony between Al Zaeem Mill and the tannery adjacent to it.

– Building a glass pyramid as a meeting point for the horizontal and vertical sides of the tannery to be used as a museum for the works of the students of the Handicraft Centre in the tannery, which has been rehabilitated to accommodate this function.

Rehabilitation of the eastern and western residential tissues, removal of irregularities, and improvement of the landscape of the zone.

Reintegration of the western tissue as a market for handicrafts to accommodate the locals and involve them in the development process.

This was our architectural approach to shedding light on a forgotten neighbourhood