Peace ‘at Last Sight’: The Other Face of ‘Warchitecture’
Date
2018-09-26
Authors
Saifi, Yara
Hürol, Yonca
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI
Abstract
The first part of the title of this article purposefully recalls Walter Benjamin’s interpretation
of ‘love at last sight’ in connection with Charles Baudelaire’s famous poem entitled ‘To a Passerby’
in his famous book ‘The Flowers of Evil’. The poem was written about a lost chance of love.
Within the title of this article it is used in relation to the concept of peace. The other part of the
title contains Andrew Herscher’s concept of ‘warchitecture’, which is used to describe destroyed or
semi destroyed pieces of architecture in political conflict zones. The paper intendeds to represent
another face of warchitecture, which has nothing to do with physical destruction. By making value
judgements regarding examples of architectural aesthetics, which exist within a long-term conflict
zone—Jerusalem; Mosche Safdie’s David Village and Santiago Calatrava’s Bridge of Strings will
be discussed. Peacefully they may stand in their appearance, they express a ‘nonbeing peace’
when analyzed in relation to their context. Accordingly, this paper questions both buildings’
attempts to peace and harmony when discrimination is taking place against Palestinians in Jerusalem.
By articulating the relationship between the representation of ‘nonbeing’ and the destruction of
buildings’ ‘warchitecture’ during wars, the paper shows that neglect can be another tool of destruction
towards Palestinians and their culture.
Description
Keywords
warchitecture , architectural aesthetics , peace , Jerusalem