THE BOAT

International Competition for the Redevelopment of the Acropolis of Byrsa and the Rehabilitation of the National Museum of Carthage

Location: Gammarth, Tunis
Project Duration: 2023
Client: Ministère des affaires culturelles
Status: Competition

Project Summary

Beyond the earth, the sky, and the sea…

THE BOAT is the new museum complex of the archaeological site of the BYRSA Hill. A project that aims to be a civilization, human, and architectural breakthrough for TUNISIA in the year 2030.

| URBAN AND LANDSCAPE INTEGRATION |:

AT THE MACRO SCALE The entire project presents itself as an entity that integrates into the urban landscape of the extended site.

This integration is defined by:

• The pathways: direct access to the site.

• The boundaries: Direct limit: the site. Visual limit: PUNIC PORT + the SEA.

• Landmarks: The BYRSA Hill site + the PUNIC PORT + THE SEA.

• Interaction of urban landscape elements and development recommendations. Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

| Connection and Resonance |

Resonance between the hill and the Punic Port under the starry sky of CARTHAGE, where it all began.

| THE FRAMEWORK |

a vision, a layout, and a practice… Like the ancient framework deploying order, performance, and aesthetics, The BOAT is both generated and placed on a regulating framework of the entire intervention site forming a large rectangle originating from the axis of the Decumanus Maximus.

A framework that is both stable and deformed, which will announce and shelter the entire public space as well as the radical choice of pedestrian liberation for the entire project.

Iconicity _ Performance and Order _ Ascension and Rediscovery

| SCENOGRAPHIC APPROACH |

The BOAT responds to the adopted scenographic equation: The architectural project = The scenography of the site (existing) + the scenographic project (exterior) + the scenographic route (interior) = Rediscovery (the boat and its raison d’être).

| THE FOUNDATION OF CARTHAGE | The beginning of the museographic journey, where the discovery of CARTHAGE, a fluid and flexible spatialization under construction (choice of visibility of load-bearing structures).

| CARTHAGE DURING THE WARS | At the heart of the museographic journey, the fluidity of forms, as well as the texture of spatial components, are manifested.

| ROMAN CARTHAGE | The order established by the Romans takes place in the dedicated space.

| CHRISTIANITY IN CARTHAGE | Seek the CROSS?

| INTO THE BOAT | The rediscovery of CARTHAGE. End of the journey:

THE BOAT: a black box, a place of contemplation, meditation, and projection… For the rediscovery of the entire project, the site, and oneself. The interior treatment is like a dreamlike and phantasmagorical world… where the visitor has all the orientations for this visual and emotional journey.