The View from Fez would love to hear our readers reactions to an urban planning concept featured on the blog: A Daily Dose of Architecture.
In a nutshell, part of the project aims to rehabilitate the Chouarra tanneries by closing them and turning the area of the pits into public space. The famous pits would be transformed into planters for flowers. The architect putting forward this very well researched proposal is Aziza Chaouni, the Aga Khan Research and Teaching Fellow at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design.
Aziza ChaouniAziza Chaouni was the recipient of a 2008 Gold Holcim Award for Africa Middle East, and her River remediation and urban development scheme for Fez includes a bold move to return the Medina's Al-Qarawiyin University from the suburbs to the Medina. There is also a transport hub and some wonderful public spaces. However it is the final part of her scheme, to change the function of the tanneries, that is the boldest and it is only natural that such a plan is going to have its critics, because, as one commentator put it:
Chaouni tackles the existing leather tanneries, proposing to use the pits as reclaimed green space. This decision is questionable as it replaces a piece of economic infrastructure with something that doesn't apparently offer economic potential. Perhaps flowers and vegetable can be grown within and then sold in the medina.
But it is not simply the economic impact of closing the tanneries that is an issue. The extraordinary historical importance of the site - a tannery that has been in operation for close on one thousand years - must also raise some issues.
The Tanneries nowThere have been rumblings for a long time about the need to close the tanneries because of the toxicity and pollution caused by the chemicals involved. While the cleaning up of the Fez river is of great importance, there are those who say it can be done without closing the tannery. Other means are available to dispose of toxic matter and going on past experience it is uncertain how well maintained a "tanneries garden" would be after its initial construction.
In the proposal the Moroccan architect paired with LA-based urban planner Takako Tajima. The scheme addresses three sites in Fez, the tanneries, a playground, and a transit hub.
The transformation begins...
The end result.John Hill from The Daily Dose of Architecture says... To me this project is as an exemplary model of urban design, as it acknowledges both the greater context in which people live as well as the immediate pieces of the environment in which they interact. That it does so in a respectful manner makes it all the more commendable.
Along with the playground and transit hub sites the project aims to improve the water quality in the city and increase the amount of public open space within the Fez Medina. That the two are intertwined is fairly obvious but worth stating, as water management today still fails to consider social opportunities alongside environmental ones. Chaouni and Tajima's project incorporates a number of tried-and-true sustainable methods for water treatment, ones that allow public spaces to form in the dense fabric of Fez.
A remediation and urban development scheme for the river precinct in Fez, Morocco received the top prize of USD 100,000 and the Holcim Awards Gold 2008 trophy for combining a comprehensive socio-cultural and economic program within the core environmental remediation initiative. The landscape design by Moroccan architect Aziza Chaouni and American-resident Japanese planner Takako Tajima includes water quality improvement, remediation of contaminated sites, creation of open spaces and the enhancement of existing resources for economic development.
Head of Jury and acclaimed architect Joe Addo, praised the approach of coupling environmental remediation with a comprehensive socio-cultural and economic program. “While mitigating the threats of pollution and declining water supply to this historic lifeline traversing the medina of Fez, community-supported programs such as a leather craft center, recreation facilities, water-cleaning wetlands and botanical gardens will restore vitality to the city in a truly sustainable way,” he said.
Will we see a "save the tanneries" t-shirt?
Aziza Chaouni's websites: Extramuro & Kuochaouni
Images from the Holcim Foundation.
Our thanks to John Hill from A Daily Dose of Architecture
Tags: Moroccan Morocco Fes, Maghreb news
11 comments:
This is a scheme that is completely out of touch with the soul of the Fez Medina, not to mention the realities.
Just look at what has happened to Marrakesh a few years ago when they moved the artisans and many of the manual labourers out - it's become like a theme park.
This Western "beautification" concept would be something imposed on Fez. It would be unlikely to be maintained, and soon become a dumping ground for rubbish.
And as difficult as their job is, where would the tannery workers find alternative employment?
The tanneries have been there for a thousand years. Surely we can find more sympathetic ways to improve it, such as filtering the effluent, and making working conditions better before we pursue a scheme that is so patently unsuitable.
Suzanna Clarke
(Author of "A House in Fez")
I agree with Ms Clarke. Here in Marrakech even our famous main square has been regulated into a theme park. I love Fez and every time I visit it the thing that strikes me is the sense of chaos - yet underneath there is a self-organising system that has withstood the centuries. I Like the architect's vision - splendid indeed. Her plans for the R'Cif bus station are wonderful. But she needs to spend time in the Medina and realise that it is an organic entity that doesn't need pushing along. The notion of public and private spaces is vastly different in Islamic philosophical thought and hence the perennial problems with maintaining the public built environment.
You can see what will happen. They will try and move the workers outside the medina. That would be a shame. The tanneries are a HUGE tourist attraction. And I agree that once the plan is executed it will just become a rubbish dump.
The tanneries may be historic but it stinks... I think moving it out would be great. As far away as possible. Too much attachment to history. I think it should be a car park for the medina.
If (and I think this is on the cards) the tanneries are moved out to the suburbs so that the Oued Fes (river Fez) can be cleaned up, then the authorities will have to find a new use for the pits. They could build a few blocks of flats, or take Hatim up on his idea of a carpark ... but I much prefer an innovative and imaginative solution like Chaouni's. I think it's a sensitive use of the space, retaining some historical perspective while providing a green space in the medina.
To Zany
The tannery when the ancient tannery of Sidi Moussa quarter will be removed,it won't become a garbage dump.Did you notice what happened in Agadir when authorities have suppressed kilometers of public gardens of Moulay Abdellah avenue ;
they turned them into a jungle of
skyscrappers. Remember, land in Fez medina is as expensive as in Manhattan.
----
P.S. I just ordered your last book from Amazon.
veteran.
I love the concept but am worried about the history that will be lost. Will the workers be better off in a new location? The balance between heritage and economics on one side and pollution on the other is not easy to resolve. We don't want the medina to be a museum - but neither a theme park to orientalism. Tricky problem I think. Thanks for raising this issue.
I fully admit I haven't read Aziza Chaouni's actual papers, but from reading various postings of her and her award winning work on 'A Daily Dose of Architecture' and her own website it strikes me that the various schemes seem at odds with the daily social fabric (what I have seen and experienced of it) of the Fes medina and many of it's inhabitants.
I am at odds on this issue. While I can note that Aziza, was born and grew up in Fes, as she points out she didn't live in the medina. I can't help feel that even as a Fassi, Aziza seems to be looking in from the outside with these projects, not only as a nouvelle-ville dweller, but also as western trained architect. The projects appear at times to be beautification projects, very western, very modern/postmodern, very self-aware, very theoretical and issue based, and thus very disconnected from the people on the street. They seem as though they would be more at home in the nouvelle-ville, with it's beautified but rather sterile grand boulevard - more about show than function.
As an analogy and to point to my own 'at odd-edness', while I love Paris as it stands, I wonder if I wouldn't have been horrified by Haussmann's plans before they were implemented.
Nonetheless, as Marrakech David points out, the sense of public and private spaces are radically different in Morocco, and at least with the tannery project I can't help but wonder if it wouldn't turn into a space like the one located just outside the the mellah. But as Lumen points out, given the option of a block of flats or a car park I'd much prefer the green space!
If nothing else I commend Aziza for getting me to think about development of the medina and search out more information on her work.
Thanks for all the great comments. We have sent an email to Aziza asking for her to add her comments but it appears to have bounced. We understand she has a book coming out next year and we can hopefully do more of a profile of her astonishing work at that time.
There is one simple way to address the pollution and toxicity of the current tanneries; make sure that they go back to using natural dyes rather than the chemical ones used (which they are, despite what the tour guides tell you).
I agree that turning the most important tanneries in Fes (and possibly all Morocco) into a westernised theme park-style attraction goes against the grain of the city; there are many, many more useful ways to spend the money both in terms of preserving historical monuments and providing a better quality of life for residents of the medina.
How about restoring some of the green spaces and gardens that Fes has lost over the last 50 years ?
I was horrified when I saw this project. It is totally unsensible about culture, about history, about what makes each individual himself. If someone imposes some kind of lifestyle to another culture, that culture will simply absorb it and throw it away. Each place is what it is. And the tanneries are something wonderful. With the leather. And with the bad smell. Architecture is not about pouring some expensive perfume over a town, it is about understanding and acting just enough.
Post a Comment