BETA: The Path of Tomorrow: A Lattice Canopy That Turns a Main Square into Neutral Ground
A perforated canopy beneath a hilltop citadel shelters a public square meant to sit outside political and religious division, anchored by a martyrs' shield
What does a city square look like when it refuses to take sides? BETA: The Path of Tomorrow answers with a roof. A single lattice canopy, raised on slender columns, spreads over a plaza at the foot of a hilltop citadel and filters the sun into a soft, even pattern across the ground. The gesture is quiet but pointed. Beneath it, the project proposes a neutral territory, free from political and religious divides, where anyone who arrives can claim a place without first declaring an allegiance.
Designed by Michal Al-Hussein, the project earned an Honorable Mention in the Memory competition. Al-Hussein positions BETA as the main square of its setting: a public gathering space framed by palms, arched walls and the stone mass of the citadel above. Memory enters through the Martyrs' Shield, a surface composed of the names of those who died defending their families and their rights. The proposal pairs that act of remembrance with an everyday civic room, and the tension between the two gives the scheme its weight.
A Thin Roof Held Low Against the Citadel
The opening rendering sets the tone at ground level: a man in a white robe walks across the plaza while the canopy hovers overhead on columns so slender they barely interrupt the view. Palms rise through the space and arched walls line its edges, so the square reads less as a new building and more as a shaded extension of the surrounding urban fabric. The canopy acts as a ceiling for public life rather than as an object to be looked at.
The context elevation and section explain why that restraint matters. The canopy stays flat and low, with an arched undercroft tucked beneath, while the citadel, its minarets and an orange sun dominate the skyline. Al-Hussein lets history keep the vertical; the new intervention claims only the horizontal. That hierarchy reflects the brief's stated respect for the site's historical and cultural context, and it is one of the more disciplined decisions in the proposal.
View the Full Project
About the Designers
Designer: Michal Al-Hussein
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Project credits: BETA: The Path of Tomorrow by Michal Al-Hussein Memory (uni.xyz).
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