Palestine X Israel

The Israeli - Palestinian conflict is not trivial; deeply rooted sentiments of anger, distrust, and even hatred are active and sadly thriving among both groups. A controversial border, the Israelis have constructed a border wall that radically insulates both sides from interacting with each other. With such dramatic insulation, how can we ever expect a sense of love to emerge between the two sides? 

This proposal seeks to create some form of good faith between the two groups by transforming part of the wall in Jerusalem as a space for reconciliation, with the most dramatic intervention being a playful, brightly coloured canopy of three primary shapes: circles, squares, and triangles. The canopy envelops the wall, with a structure characterized by brightly coloured, slanting columns that instill a sense of uncertainty and instability, and permeates into both groups’ current territory. This shared architecture becomes the foundation for social interaction. 

Beneath the canopy, a winding structure mediates the wall, knocking down the highest meter of it where the courts and it intersect. The courts are all misaligned, and have the canopy’s primary shapes painted on the ground, producing a plethora of ways in which hoops can be scored and played. So many fun rules could be created here! The modules for the border wall become the backboards for the hoops, and a new environment is produced that, while staying connected with its context, introduces new possibilities for cooperation between the two groups.