Bridging between the Contemporary and the Vernacular architecture

Abstract

Tuti is an Island at the confluence of the Blue and the White Niles in Khartoum city, the capital of Sudan.

The intention of this thesis is to design a bridge on the blue Nile which links the Contemporary world of Khartoum, the urban conurbation, to the Vernacular world of Tuti Island, the rural settlement. In addition, the project aims to provide a space that welcomes the bridge and to be a meeting plaza for both worlds.

It is also intended to provide the Island with landmarks to be used as a point of reference. These landmarks from an integral part of the main theme running through the design from the edge of the Island to the center. This theme incorporates the essential design elements of the Islamic traditional house, which are the courtyard (the core of the house), scattered rooms which form the courtyard, and the wall that encloses the house.

These landmarks are: the edge sit,representing the first landmark housing a threshold, a wall enclosing the courtyard, a market and a mosque which is the predominant building; a library, a plaza, the center plaza that accommodates a renovated buildings.

The end result would be the linking the fast life of Khartoum to the quite and settled life of Tuti.