Archaeotecture: The Future of Tyre’s Collective Memory

• Main Author: Karl Abi Karam
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ubiquity Press 2017-06-01
• Series: ARENA Journal of Architectural Research
• Subjects: Archaeotecture; Archaeology; Ruins; Nostalgia; Excavations
• Online Access: https://ajar.arena-architecture.eu/articles/32

Archaeotecture is a design-based theory that proposes the convergence of the architectural and archaeological professions, and which explores the notion that the process of archaeological excavation is also a form of making architectural space. It represents an attempt to avoid drastically altering the original aesthetics and authenticity of an archaeological site without imposing a surface-based, ideologically driven, structural solution: instead, Archaeotecture applies what can be described as a reverse-palimpsest approach. As a result, it aims to reveal the city’s forgotten layers in-situ through the tunnelling of subterranean spaces to foster a unified collective memory. The idea of a collective memory, as proposed by Aldo Rossi in his book 'The Architecture of the City', emphasizes the relationship that inhabitants have with their urban environment, whereby the memories created through urban artefacts and monuments give meaning to that city. Archaeotecture’s alternative methodological approach is an indirect result of, and critique of, contemporary building techniques and of the questionable conservation methods used in archaeological and historic urban environments. It argues that such trends consequently endanger the philosophically defining characteristics of a ruin as proposed in the essays ‘Nostalgia for Ruins’ by Andreas Huyssen and ‘Causality: Ruin Time and Ruins’ by Florence Hetzler. The design component of this essay emphasizes the idea that a ruin separated from its natural setting is no longer part of that ruin, since it has lost its sense of time, space and place. The multi-ethnic and multi-religious ancient city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, will be investigated through its fragmented urban artefacts to propose solutions to encourage communal unity, via an appreciation and merging of archaeological heritage with new architecture. Given that Tyre continues to suffer from sectarian tensions, causing also seemingly uncontrollable urban expansion, the visually unobtrusive nature of Archaeotecture deliberately avoids any explicit ideological impositions in its efforts to reconcile this divided city, whilst also promoting archaeological activities that can maintain a romanticized state of ruination.