Al-Khandak Development
​2016- Al-Madina, Saudi Arabia | Concept

The project of developing "Al- Khandaq" area -which means The Trench in Arabic- with all its functional and historical components, comes to restore an important aspect of its history within the framework of the efforts of the Medina Development Authority to take care of the historical areas of the city and achieve consistency and harmony  with contemporary conditions and future requirements.

The philosophical idea of formulating an urban and architectural reality of the project of development and cultural coordination of the trench region depends on the  employment of a group of natural, environmental and urban elements that formed the traditional mental image of Medina and re -formulated it in a modern framework. This is to restore the lost value of the eventful history of one of the most important invasions in Islamic history in the true geographical space. In an urban pattern, it is parallel and integrated with the simultaneous urban context and highlights the heroic events that took place,  through its historical spatial content and through the detection of part of the trench's path and its exploitation the visitors' memory to restore the realistic experience of digging the trench. The main intention of this proposal depends on specific mechanisms to restore the unique urban environmental balance and use it to revive main events of the Islamic Da`wah. The functional elements of the project is set to reveal these important events during a series of urban spaces formed at the foot of the mountain and in the specific trench place according to the historians. It has been expressed through several designed spaces like the plaza of the Seven Mosques, the panorama and the storytelling place of the trench, the desert park and the traditional palm trees orchards.