MATERIA co-ideated and sponsored a Harvard Graduate School of Design (Harvard GSD) programme focussed on the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Medina of Tunis. The project consists of a Design Studio and Research Lab in collaboration with the Critical Landscape Design Lab at Harvard GSD led by Professor Gareth Doherty.
Departing from traditional preservationist methods, the projects approaches the Medina of Tunis as a multifaceted landscape, integrating both tangible and intangible elements. Drawing from Félix Guattari’s concept of the three ecologies, it expands upon Richard T.T. Forman’s theory of land mosaics, introducing two additional categories: webs and clouds, to encompass the social and subjective aspects of the landscape.
As part of its urban regeneration ethos, MATERIA strongly believe that historical neighbourhoods such as the Medina holds invaluable lessons for a more inclusive and sustainable urban planning. Thus five sites (three under public ownership and two under private ownership) were selected, representing at the same time five different asset typologies: a school (madrassa), an degraded palatial house, a fondouk (caravansérail), a ruin that cannot be rebuilt and two adjacent small houses with the potential to connected.
The project is ongoing and is to result in:
a) a studio report produced by Harvard Graduate School of Design;
b) a book in the works with a major international publisher; and
c) a development project that MATERIA intends to design and then deliver within the Medina of Tunis
