Design in Jericho: Contemporary earthen architecture and local cultural landscape

The paper will analyse the design of a Cultural Centre in Jericho, Palestine. The project develops an integrated centre for the production, representation and cultural exchange together with hostel in collaboration with the Palestinian administration. Based on a partnership between Italian and Palestinian professors and students, the project and design goal is to build a sustainable Mediterranean architecture as evolution of a specific cultural landscape induced by interaction with contemporary architectural language and environmental needs. The final project was prepared after a Palestinian and Italian students workshop as requested by the Ministry of Public Works & Housing and the local authorities. The local culture of earthen architecture in Tel el Sultan, Ottoman adobe and timber frame buildings, together with the splendour of the mosaic floors of the remains of the Hisham Palace, reverberate immaterial and material echoes, evoking substances, forms and signs.