Cite this article
Mohamed, A. (2026) ‘Minimal adaptive conservation for saving urban memory in conflict areas: Gaza, Palestine’, Architecture Papers of the Faculty of Architecture and Design STU, 31(1), pp. 12-20. https://www.doi.org/10.2478/alfa-2026-0003
SUMMARY
Historical buildings in difficult situations of conflict areas deserve greater attention to keep urban memories of people as an important part of their culture and identity. For decades, Palestinians have suffered from the Israeli violations of all international conventions and treaties of all types. One unhuman aim of the Israeli atrocities in Palestine and especially in Gaza has been to destroy all signs of Palestinian urban memory. This brought many international institutions to stand beside the Palestinians and support their efforts to preserve their urban memory and culture on their land. However, the problem has another, equally important aspect: architectural conservation theories and methods are also powerless in the face of the difficult and dangerous situation of conflict areas. Most current theories and approaches address architectural conservation in politically, socially, and economically stable contexts. These approaches include strategic planning for architectural conservation, adaptive conservation, reuse, and, more recently, sustainable architectural conservation. (Doratli, 2004, De Filippi, 2005, Steinberg, 2009). At the Palestinian side in Gaza, several studies dealt with architectural heritage conservation. Almughany et al. (2009) examined sustainability in the architectural conservation of Hammam Al-Samra without introducing a theoretical or practical model of conservation. Al-Qeeq (2011) studied how to enhance the sustainability of architectural conservation of the main historical monuments in Gaza city by applying the concept of adaptive re-use. Ammar and Amro (2024) presented the architectural conservation project of Al-Khader library. They referred to the Quintuple Helix Model in Heritage Building Rehabilitation but failed to explain how it was used to examine the conservation project of Al-Khader library. After presenting in detail the conservation process, they examined the post conservation use of the project with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Mohamed (2025/1) attempted to provide a comprehensive approach for architectural heritage conservation called GRASP. Although GRASP was used to examine the conservation of a historical building in Gaza, it came generally in line with the above-mentioned studies. It ignored the implications of the special circumstances of conflict areas for the theory and practice of architectural conservation. The widespread prevalence of wars and conflicts around the world today increases the suffering of many people and destroys more historic buildings. This highlights the need for a more innovative approach to architectural conservation in conflict areas. The most important needs of people in conflict zones are security, safety, health, food, and education. In difficult conflict situations, these services deteriorate significantly. This is where the role of local, regional, and international humanitarian relief organisations emerges, helping to provide some or all of these services, even if only to a limited extent to heritage conservation. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was one of the first to respond to this need in Gaza where it was involved in the conservation and maintenance of historical buildings, the most distinguished of which was Al-Alami house. This new direction provided a suitable foundation for cooperation between ICRC office in Gaza and Iwan Centre for Architectural Conservation (Iwan Centre) at the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) which is believed to be the first project of its kind (Mohamed, 2025/2). After the success of the experiment at Al-Alami house and the great results it fulfilled, Iwan Centre continued its efforts to repeat it in other historical houses in Gaza. Several house owners positively responded, among them were the owners of Al-Ashi house. An agreement of partnership with the owners was signed in 2011. The conservation project waited until 2016 when the German development Bank agreed to financially support the project under the supervision of the United Nations Development Program UNDP-Palestine. The work was completed and the house was opened in October 2021. Al-Ashi house faced the same fate as all historical remains in Gaza and was destroyed by Israeli warplanes in 2024.