Taanayel center – Bekaa, June – September 2018

This summer, arcenciel will be launching the construction of a domed house in its center in Taanayel as part of a project with the British Council; the aim is to safeguard the endangered architectural heritage.

Evidence of this traditional building technique in Syria dates back to 5000 years, but it is a cultural heritage at risk of falling into oblivion. Even before the war, a certain decline of this technique of construction had been noticed.

Since the outbreak of the conflict, the situation has worsened; the last domed houses north-east of Aleppo are now uninhabited and falling into ruins, nowadays only a few master masons still hold this know-how.

It was, therefore, essential to preserve this technique by setting up a construction site followed by a publication of a technical guidebook explaining the construction method.

This will allow a full documentation of this technique and enable future generations to rebuild houses of this type.

As part of this project, introductory workshops in the manufacture of mud bricks and construction will take place in arcenciel’s center in Taanayel – Bekaa, from the 11th of June until the 30th of July.

For those who are interested kindly contact Houda Kassatly on hoda.kassatly@arcenciel.org