This consultation was designed to meet the needs of Sakiya Art/Science/Agriculture, one of the partner organisations in the first round of the VAFF project, in the area of planning and restoration. This process involved learning through training volunteer graduate architects, and participating in giving workshops, and documenting the experience through sketches, photographs and articles.
VAFF hired the architect Iyad Issa as a design and restoration advisor for a period of five months to supervise the restoration of one of the old houses at the site where the training was held. The restoration works included the complete isolation of the building from the outside, by uprooting the almond trees, saplings and shrubs that had been allowed to grow on the walls of the building and waterproofing it to prevent water from pouring onto the walls.
Sakiya has completed a number of workshops to develop the materials used in the restoration process from natural and local resources, in cooperation with the engineer Lina Saleh, a specialist in natural building, and the advisor Iyad Issa.
Sakiya is situated on a 16,000m2 plot of land owned by the Zalatimu family. The land is a unique nature reserve laid out on a hill in Ein Qiniya, on the outskirts of Ramallah, with great scientific, architectural and aesthetic qualities. The site consists of two historic houses, one built during the late Ottoman period and the other during the British Mandate era, in addition to external structures such as a hen-house, a traditional pantry and a well. Through the VAFF grant, Sakiya has renovated one of two buildings on the site.
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