In this series of interviews, we meet the finalists shortlisted for the 2024 Women in Architecture and Construction Award. These women have made outstanding contributions to architecture and the built environment across the Near East and North Africa. The award features two categories: Rising Star and Woman of Outstanding Achievement.
This interview features Shatha Safi, the Director of RIWAQ, renowned for her contributions to architectural conservation in Palestine. Her work focuses on rehabilitating neglected rural areas and cultural landscapes, combining architecture with community participation. Her notable projects include the rehabilitation of Beit Iksa, Hajjah, Birzeit, and Qalandiya, aiming to preserve cultural heritage while improving local infrastructure. She holds degrees in architecture and cultural heritage from Birzeit University and ITILO, Turin, and continues to advocate for sustainable conservation practices in her region.
In this interview, Shatha discusses her background as an architect having joined RIWAQ in 2008 and led several rehabilitation projects under the 50 Village Project. Shatha emphasises her passion for cultural heritage, community development, and addressing the fragmentation imposed by the Israeli occupation. She also focuses on documenting traditional crafts and expanding RIWAQ’s international presence.
Could you give us a brief introduction about yourself and your work?
I am an architect and currently the Director of Riwaq. I joined Riwaq in 2008 after completing my bachelor’s degree in architecture from Birzeit University. 2016 I obtained a Master’s degree in World Heritage and Cultural Project Management from the University of Turin, Italy. Since joining, I have managed and participated in several rehabilitation projects in the histroic centers of Palestinian villages as part of Riwaq’s 50 Village Project, including Beit Iksa, Hajjah, Birzeit, and Qalandia. I have a strong passion for the cultural sector and community engagement . I am also a founding member of the Arab Network for Trainers and Facilitators, with extensive experience facilitating training sessions and workshops.
As Director, I have focused on strengthening Riwaq’s mission and vision, mainly restoring, protecting, and documenting our cultural heritage. Many of our projects aim to challenge the geographical fragmentation imposed by the Israeli occupation on Palestinian villages and regions. I have also played a role in increasing the organisation’s participation in cultural and artistic events internationally and within the Arab world. In addition, I have prioritised ensuring Riwaq’s financial sustainability and supporting our long-term vision, including promoting traditional crafts and fostering knowledge production.
Riwaq is a non-profit civil society organisation dedicated to protecting Palestine’s architectural and cultural heritage. It was founded in 1991 by activists who recognised the urgent need to preserve historic buildings in Palestine. Our mission is to protect, restore, and rehabilitate Palestine’s architectural and cultural heritage through key programmes such as the Restoration Programme, the Rehabilitation of the 50 Village Program targeting the 50 most significant historic centers, and the Community and Cultural Programme. Riwaq also plays an active role in producing and disseminating knowledge on heritage through our Research and Publications Programme, which includes the RIWAQ’s Registry for Historic Buildings in Palestine. We collaborate with various stakeholders to create a supportive institutional and legal framework for heritage protection.
You are considered one of the pioneering models with dedicated architecture as a form of activism. Can you elaborate on this aspect?
Believing in the importance of cultural heritage to the Palestinian cause, I have been deeply involved with Riwaq’s work in documenting historic buildings. Through our Rigistry project, we have recorded over 50,320 historic buildings across the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza, and we continue to expand our archive through restoration and rehabilitation projects. At the heart of Riwaq’s mission is our relationship with local communities, providing alternative cultural infrastructure for community-based organisations within the restored buildings. This connection lies at the core of our vision to support the Palestinian cause.
Riwaq strongly focuses on rural areas, often marginalised and subject to restrictions, targeting, and land confiscation. By using cultural heritage as a tool for economic and social development, we aim to preserve these areas’ architectural heritage while strengthening their residents’ resilience. I believe in linking architecture and cultural heritage to social and historic value and enhancing local narratives and intergenerational relationships. This positions architecture as a powerful form of activism and challenges the colonial narrative.
In my role as Director, I work to provide the support and resources necessary for Riwaq’s ongoing work, as well as ensuring we continue to grow organically in our activities and programmes. Riwaq responds to the needs and aspirations of the community while simultaneously challenging the occupation policies. As a result, we have developed various programmes that run in tandem—everything from documentation and restoration to adaptive reuse, rehabilitation, and community development. Through this work, we connect historical centres to their surrounding communities, agriculture, crafts, and cultural activities.
Over the past years, one of our key strategic goals has been the rehabilitation and brining life back to the 50 most significant historic centers in rural Palestine. This goal is designed to increase the scope and speed of our work in protecting cultural heritage, using it as a pillar for economic and social development, and tackling the geographical fragmentation imposed by the occupation. We create a stronger, more unified cultural landscape by connecting these villages and their communities. So far, we have implemented restoration and preservation programmes in over 21 villages and towns.
In 2017, Riwaq embarked on a new phase of heritage work in Palestine through “The Life Jacket: The revitalization of Rural Jerusalem” project. Rather than focusing on individual villages, we began working with clusters of villages, recognising the importance of their interconnection and mutual support. This approach does not accept the fragmentation of Palestine into isolated, easily governed areas. Instead, it ensures no one is left behind and uses every available space. We operate on the belief that every site, no matter its size, has equal significance in Palestine’s social, economic, political, and cultural development. We ask ourselves: what if borders were demolished and villages reconnected with each other and cities across Palestine? This idea of “consolidation” has become a vision, a possibility, and an experimental approach in the contested heritage areas. The restoration of Qalandia, Al-Jib, Kafr ‘Aqab, and Jaba’, all in the Jerusalem Governorate, began in 2017 under “The Life Jacket” project.
While our overarching goal is to reconnect the villages surrounding Jerusalem, we recognise the unique character of each historic centre, its community, potential, and oral history as key drivers of the revitalisation process. The Kafr ‘Aqab project stands out for its vision of creating a cultural hub that unites several active institutions, including the Seraj Library, the storytelling center, Visual Arts Forum, Dalia Association, Kafr Aqab Scout Association, and the Palestinian Association for Visually Impaired Persons. In Al-Jib, we focused on the preventive restoration of buildings, attics, alleys, and squares, taking special care to link the historic center with surrounding archaeological sites. The restoration of the Al-Jib Protection Committee’s premises, a community-led initiative, became a centre for cultural heritage and community development, particularly supporting women and children.
In Beit Hanina, the preventive restoration of part of the historic neighbourhoods marked the beginning of a strong relationship with the community. This allowed grassroots planning to shape the revitalisation project in line with its residents’ and local institutions’ aspirations and needs.
There are few heritage professionals in the Arab world, and your work involves directly dealing with traditional crafts such as stone and ceramics. Can you tell us about the importance of these crafts and how they can preserve identity?
Since 2000, Israeli policies have caused a sharp rise in unemployment among Palestinian workers. In response to these oppressive colonial policies, we at Riwaq launched the “Creating Job Opportunities through Restoration” programme to provide employment and training for young people in Palestinian villages and towns. The occupation’s restrictions have had a devastating impact on the Palestinian labour market, particularly with the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the targeted assaults on the West Bank. At Riwaq, we are dedicated to supporting and developing Palestinian workers, especially in our communities. Through partnerships with Palestinian and international institutions and our restoration projects, we have focused on offering vocational training and creating job opportunities for workers and artisans in the restoration, preservation, and maintenance fields.
We regularly organise specialised workshops and training sessions on restoration sites, concentrating on traditional crafts. These activities document work processes and produce valuable knowledge that can be used in future training programmes. The training focuses on sharing practices with specialised artisans from Palestine and abroad, with workshops taking place across various governorates. We concentrate on traditional coloured tile production, decorative brickmaking, blacksmithing, and carpentry.
Our aim at Riwaq is to document traditional crafts from a technical, social, and economic perspective while exploring their relationship to community identity and regional trade. Historically, Palestine has been closely connected to trade and craft movements with Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt. Although some of these crafts have faded or are in decline, our restoration and adaptive reuse projects help to revive and enhance them, opening new opportunities for job diversification. This approach connects these crafts with creative industries, design, and architecture, strengthening local architectural identity and production while challenging the consumerist and colonial patterns that dominate the architectural landscape in the Arab world.
You conducted documentation projects in Gaza before the current tragic events, and some of what you documented has been destroyed, leading to the collection of rubble. This is a remarkable effort, and we would like to know its significance and whether you can rebuild using the same materials with the available documentation.
The massacres carried out by the Israeli occupation have turned Gaza into one of the most uninhabitable places on the planet. Our people have been subjected to extreme hunger, drought, and unbearable living conditions. The destruction has extended across Gaza’s infrastructure, wiping out hospitals, schools, mosques, churches, and homes from the northern to the southern ends and from east to west.
Historic buildings have not been spared from this devastation. Around 420 historic buildings are in the Gaza Strip, mainly concentrated in the Old City of Gaza, Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis. These buildings, including public service structures and residential homes, are testimonies to Gaza’s rich history and cultural heritage.
As heritage professionals, we have a duty to work together to help preserve not only the lives of the people of Gaza but also the buildings that will be rebuilt and restored. These structures provide safe spaces and enhance the community’s sense of ownership and belonging. Riwaq and other institutions and organisations specialising in cultural heritage have united to protect and restore Gaza’s cultural identity. We are focused on gathering the resources needed to assess, restore, and preserve these historic buildings. It is a project for Gaza and its resilient people, who continue to find hope despite overwhelming pain.
Several buildings we have worked on restoring in collaboration with our partners have been targeted, damaged, or destroyed. Among these are the Al-Ghussein House, which has been repeatedly targeted and suffering partial destruction, and the Al-Saqqa House, which we restored in 2014 as a cultural and artistic space, only for it to be later targeted and destroyed. Our vision for Gaza’s heritage restoration includes three key phases: the first is damage assessment, documentation, monitoring, and capacity building, which involves creating legal and protective frameworks in collaboration with Gaza Municipality and the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. This phase focuses on identifying and safeguarding sites from further destruction, preventing looting, and ensuring safety by clearing unexploded ordnance.
The second phase is emergency intervention and preventive restoration. This stage aims to stop further deterioration of the buildings, protect them from intentional damage or looting, and prepare them for complete restoration. The final phase is the restoration and reconstruction, allowing these buildings to regain their place in Gaza’s identity and the memory of future generations.
Riwaq has already secured resources for partial and complete restoration of several historic buildings, including Souk al-Qissariya, the Great Omari Mosque, the historic Farah House, and Al-Saqqa House. We are currently documenting, preparing, and planning rapid interventions, ready to act as soon as a ceasefire is declared or the ongoing violence ends.
The Palestinian cause today has a global impact, so how can Palestinian architectural identity transcend geographical boundaries and become global?
Architectural identity can go beyond geographical boundaries through the concepts and principles it adopts. At Riwaq, we follow inspiring principles that shape our architectural approach. One of the key strategies we rely on is using local resources and employing local labour, which acts as both an economic and social driver. By using and developing local resources, we strengthen the connection between architecture and the region, helping to define its visual identity. Local materials bring architecture closer to the natural environment and the unique climatic challenges of the area, encouraging the use of environmentally friendly building methods, such as thermal comfort solutions and material recycling.
The knowledge of historic buildings extends far beyond architecture’s materials or technical aspects. These buildings are tied to the narratives of the villages and cities where they stand, reflecting their development and deep connections to local crafts, industries, trade, agriculture, and the community’s overall identity. They serve as living evidence of the civilisations in the region for centuries, representing unique ways of life and coexistence.
Preserving cultural heritage is not about freezing a society in time or indulging in nostalgia by favouring the past over the present. Instead, it offers a foundation for the community’s development and architectural growth, rooted in a profound understanding of its origins, resources, and capabilities, both material and human.
Riwaq has played a pioneering role in revitalising and developing historic towns through our “50 Village” project. This initiative is focused on restoring and adapting 50 of the most significant historic centres in collaboration with local communities and grassroots institutions. Our comprehensive approach to these revitalisation projects not only enhances these areas but also provides a model that transcends geographical borders, offering inspiration for the protection and development of historic centres across the region.
Can architecture be treated as a cultural product rather than merely a material one? What has Riwaq done to promote this idea?
Architecture can’t be viewed simply as a physical product; its social, economic, and cultural elements are all intertwined. Restoration and revitalisation efforts go far beyond just repairing or maintaining buildings—they involve a wide range of programmes to document heritage and engage with the local community. These activities often include oral history sessions, tours with older community members, and initiatives for children, schools, and grassroots organisations. We also incorporate cultural and artistic interventions, which focus on preserving historical narratives and reconnecting different generations with the old towns that have been abandoned or neglected for many years. This is crucial, especially in the face of the occupation, which seeks to fragment and isolate areas like Jerusalem from its surrounding villages.
Our vision for revitalising Qalandia’s old town centres is to breathe life into its historic buildings. By transforming these spaces into hubs for institutions, small businesses, and creative projects, we hope to attract more visitors and stimulate economic and social growth for the local community. Qalandia’s proximity to Ramallah is a key aspect of this vision, offering the potential to strengthen ties between the two areas.
Qalandia has a variety of public spaces, including alleys, squares, courtyards, and rooftops, which we aim to enhance and rehabilitate. The project’s design focuses on increasing green and cultivated spaces to create a traditional atmosphere in the old town. The town is home to several gardens and orchards, which we plan to restore and enhance. In contrast, the western side of the town borders agricultural lands in “Area C”—territory under Israeli security and civil control according to the Oslo Agreement. By increasing the amount of green space, particularly around the village cemetery, we aim to create a green belt for the town, helping to reduce pollution from the surrounding occupied areas.
How do you envision the future of Palestinian architecture in particular and Arab architecture in general? Where does heritage fit into that?
The future of Palestinian and Arab architecture depends on our awareness, as architects and as a community, of the issues previously raised, such as architecture’s response to our aspirations and environmental challenges and its responsibility to foster organic growth within the community, not as isolated individuals.
Awareness and knowledge are the foundation of society.
Meet our other finalists: Amal Abuelhawa, Hana Alamuddin, Ula Merie, Hala Asslan, Lebriz Atan Karaatlı, Rozhen Kamal Mohammed-Amin, Eman Assi, Rania Kaadan, Sumaya Dabbagh.
Meet Our Finalists series is a compilation of interviews with those who have been shortlisted for our awards. Shatha Safi is a finalist for the Women in Architecture and Construction Award, which recognises women who have made outstanding contributions to architecture and the built environment across the Near East and North Africa.