Introduction:
Hammam "Jannat Al Tohr"
"Our aim is to create a relaxation place in which showering and bathing facilities will be available to residents. A way of escaping the camp and find themselves in a calming environment."
The syrian civil war which erupted in March 2011 has created one of the largest humanitarian
problem of our time. More than 6.6 million syrians, have been forced to flee from their homes
(Mercy Corps, 2018) causing them to be the largest refugee population in the world. While these
refugees have been forced to scattered all over the world, with most of the refugees finding their
way to camps in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan. One of these camps is the Zaatari camp, located in the
north of Jordan. This camp was opened to the refugees on 28 July 2012. With an initial population of
15000 in 2012, Zaatari now hosts 76414 people (UNHCR,2019). During its 7 years of existence, the
camp is slowly changing from a temporary camp to a more permanent settlement.
This change was driven by the wish of the inhabitants to have better living conditions, this started
when the tents were exchanged for container houses. The residents then started to further improve
their homes sometimes through illegally dismantling the public washing facilities. To guide the
further development of the camp a better method has to be found to enable the residents wish
while keeping in mind the limited resources in the camp, by making the most of the materials
available.
This report will focus on bringing back a little bit of luxury in the camp, a way of escaping the camp and find
themselves in a calming environment. New bathing facilities in a relaxation place will be available to residents,
allowing for some luxury, but also going back to their cultural history. Where hammams are important as a former
cultural feature.
Concept:
- Reduce the waste water, provide it in recreational places (water usage)
- Revive the former cultural feature of hammam
- Improve the hygiene situation
- Increase the green spaces
- Create missing relaxation areas
Therefore, we called our project Jannat Al Tohr.
Jannat means "Garden" or "Paradise" and al Tohr means "of cleansiness" or "of rest".
Flowcharts
This process was done in three big steps. The first being the configuration, the forming and the structuring.
Basicly configuration can be translated as the process of going from concept to a layout of the building, with concepts that can be used
as input for the next phase. The next phase is forming, which translated the layout into a 3D shape. Structuring contained the validation
of this shape, optimization and translating the shape into smaller components, bricks. Of course, some of the processes aren't contained in one phase and can collide a bit.
This process can be summed up in the following flowcharts. To get into the project, first an analysis was done of the camp. A topic, the Hammam was chosen, and research was done to
the topology of Hammam and the location. Location analysis created possible locations and the topology of the Hammam was translated into the bubble diagram. This location and the bubblediagram
are the input for the configuration"game". A triangular grid is used and on these the ruleset is applied. This results in a (simple) mesh.
Fig. 1: Flowchart of the configuring/forming
With this (simple) mesh, quickly could be derived that there are 4 main categories that need development. The dome, the walls, the openings and the stoa. All need to follow the same processes,
creating the shape and then develop bricklaying. The building features one dome which features a special structure called ‘Muqarnas’. With this special dome the course’ request for a more difficult structure is answered.
Fig. 2: Summary
In the total flowchart the four categories are placed and developed. The openings and walls create the total walls, from which a brickpattern is developed. The same applies for the domes, and they all have
to choose between rectangular or triangular bricks. Then on this new shape first corridors are added (they are simplified and follow partially the muqarnas) and the 2nd roof is added. This totals to the
full design of the building.
Fig. 2: Flowchart of the forming/structuring
Fig. 3: Full flowchart of the process