A critical survey and a design proposal for Al Balad, the historic district of Jeddah, KSA

An agreement between the Al-Turath Foundation in Ryadh, KSA and Tecturae srl, Florence, Italy, in cooperation with the Municipality of Jeddah and the Department of Architecture of the Università degli Studi “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara, Italy, has made possible the urban and architectural survey, the construction of an interactive database and a final design proposal for a significant part of Al Balad, the historic district of Jeddah and for some of its most outstanding buildings, such as the celebrated Nasseef House. The survey has been executed using a Laser Scanner and a Total topographic Station, in strict scientific and technical cooperation with Dr. Osama bin Mohammed al Jawahri of Al-Turath, the Municipality of Jeddah with Eng. Sami Saleh Nawar, and the students of the King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah and of the Summer School of the IRCICA, Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture, in Istanbul. Though spoiled by recent constructions of debatable quality, this area is still nowadays an extremely interesting mix of different building types, illustrating a very significant stage in the city’s history, when its merchants successfully conquered local and foreign markets and when Jeddah started to act as the main gateway from the Red Sea to the Holy Cities of Makkah and Medina. Our project aims at the preservation of its rich and fascinating built heritage and at the rediscovery of its lost relationship with the once nearby harbor on its west side and with the modern city all around; in addition to this, we also wish that the renovation of Al Balad may constitute a significant step toward KSA’s green leap forward, demonstrating that properly upgraded historic districts can be not only more pleasant and appealing to visitors and pilgrims, but also smarter than most recently