An incongruous arched structure with a bright orange door, metal roof
and a front of unprotected glass stands out among a series of drab
concrete buildings on Tripoli’s University Road.
A café and art gallery unlike any other in the city, Doshma staged its
inaugural exhibition, ‘The Forgotten Chatter’, in June 2013. Twelve
emerging artists, some for the first time, shared paintings,
photographs, sculptures and other pieces created during the past few
years.
‘It was the first of its kind where contemporary art was
shown in Tripoli in a modern setting,’ says Najla’a el-Ageli of Noon
Arts, a private foundation that deals with organising exhibitions of
Libyan artists in and outside of Libya.
‘We worked closely with the building, where we used the space as the
language of the exhibition. We presented the work so it was coordinated
into the internal structure. We also created a steel frame on the top
floor that camouflaged into the walls so the artwork presented blended
in with the whole building.’
Since then, a number of exhibitions have continued to explore the
nation’s past, present and future identity while also making artists and
their work more visible. 'Originally we were thinking of building
another fast food restaurant,’ Doshma co-founder Muftah Abudajaja
explains, ‘but then we came up with the idea of building an art
café-slash-gallery. That’s when Doshma became a concept.’
‘Before the revolution, the arts were buried,’ says Abudajaja. ‘But
during the revolution, a lot of new artists and new ideas came out. So
we said, why can’t we gather elements of the revolution in a rough
structure – using a reused shipping container and unfinished concrete?’
Breaking from convention in a big way, Abudajaja and his partner at
Libya Design pursued a gritty material palette for Doshma’s
construction, one that not only epitomises the revolutionary spirit that
first inspired the project, but also mirrors their commitment to
openness, transparency and collective freedom.
The resulting space is comprised of a distinctive 40 foot reused
shipping container that the Libya Design team says was previously used
to transport goods during conflict, along with a double height arched
aluminium shell and a fully glazed façade.
‘Seeing Doshma from the street already makes a statement,’ says Hadia
Gana, whose ceramic installation ‘Zarda’ was displayed during ‘The
Forgotten Chatter’ exhibition.
‘Squeezed between two, three or four floors of a building it says
“I’m here as I am… and I don’t need to be huge to be important or
significant.”’
Unlike many repurposed shipping containers used in adaptive reuse
programmes, this one, brought by truck from the edge of Tripoli, forms
only a small section of the café and gallery – a tunnel of sorts that is
set apart from the otherwise open plan space. Hanging areas and café
facilities are tucked inside the monolithic volume, while the roof
provides additional floor space at the mezzanine level.
Both the design and the materials tell a story. The metal container,
unfinished concrete floors and black steel handrails honour the way
found materials were repurposed during the city’s conflicts and lend a
‘back-to-basics’ vibe to the gallery. But the wide-open façade, which is
free of any of the security barriers common found on typical
residential and retail buildings in the area, sets the tone for a new
future.
‘We purposely didn’t put any protection on the outside glass, as if
to say to the people on the street, it’s time to not be afraid, to open
up to the outside world,’ says Abudajaja.
On a less profound note, all that glass and metal may seem deeply
impractical in an arid, subtropical environment, but Libya Design used
various passive design techniques to ensure a comfortable interior
environment throughout the year. In addition to optimum site orientation
that maximises shading and minimises excess solar gain, a chimney
system evacuates hot air inside the building, of which only 35 percent
has to be cooled. This slashes overall energy consumption and keeps
operational costs low.
Although using a fixed volume presented certain design challenges,
Abudajaja says he looks forward to using shipping containers in future
projects as well. By doing so, Libya Design can shift the materials
dialogue away from concrete and mitigate the construction industry’s
environmental impact.
‘All of the materials used – except for the steel roof – were sourced
locally and reused,’ says Abudajaja, who credits the contractors HudHud
for being so patient with a construction paradigm previously unexplored
in Libya. ‘Without them, this project would have been impossible,’ he
believes.
In addition to using all local materials to avoid having to import
them, HudHud spent extra time and money to train local, non-specialised
workers to take part in the construction, which contributes to the
overarching goal to make Doshma an open, welcome centre that not only
serves the community, but also belongs to the community.
Although Abudajaja and his Libya Design partner Walid El-Turki are
currently managing the project, this won’t always be the case. ‘The next
step is to leave Doshma, to let it become self-sufficient,’ says
Abudajaja.
‘That’s part of the concept – to make it like a cultural centre. We
want the art events to be free for the community, and of course the
food, tea and coffee makes some money, but we are hoping to have new
events like concerts that will help to generate more revenue. We can
make booklets, sell those to the community, and Doshma will make a small
commission from any art that is sold. We are also trying to establish
long term relationships with non-profit groups like the British Council
or the German Embassy to make them somehow part of this – at least
for the beginning.’
Libya Design hopes that partnering NGOs will help with the logistics
of running the space, like public relations, so that more people who are
involved in the arts will know that it exists. In time, they plan to
use roughly 40 percent of any revenue they make to support new artists.
‘It’s like when you plant a tree,’ says Abudajaja. ‘The first few
months you have to water it and give it a lot of extra care, but
eventually it will grow on its own.’
Article Source:
http://brownbook.me/cargo-collective/
