Tyr, The Mosaic City | Urban Regeneration Architecture

Tyr, a historic coastal city in southern Lebanon, is a fragmented mosaic shaped by centuries of transformation. Once an island and now a coastal urban condition, the city has evolved through layers of ancient civilizations, modern expansion, and archaeological remains that coexist—often uneasily—with everyday life. This project, Tyr, the Mosaic City, explores how urban regeneration architecture can reconnect these fragments while preserving the unique character and memory embedded in each layer.

Designed by Cathrine Skaf, the project responds to Tyr’s complex urban condition by treating the city not as a finished object, but as a porous system—one where voids, boundaries, and archaeological traces become opportunities for spatial continuity and public engagement.

A Fragmented City in Need of Connection

Tyr today can be read as a puzzle of disjointed urban pieces. Archaeological sites—some visible, others buried or erased—interrupt the continuity of the modern city. Internal limits constantly shift, creating sharp edges between historic remains, dense residential neighborhoods, markets, and infrastructural zones. Rather than erasing these limits, the project asks a fundamental question: how can architecture connect urban fragments while maintaining the identity of each?

The proposed strategy is rooted in urban regeneration architecture, where boundaries are transformed into interfaces. By creating porous links across the modern city, the project reveals three types of archaeological fragments: the visible, the invisible, and the built-upon. These layers are not isolated but woven together through a sequence of public spaces, courtyards, and architectural interventions.

Living with Saturation: Defining the Urban Void

By 2030, Tyr is expected to reach full urban saturation. With no room for horizontal expansion, the city’s remaining voids—often associated with archaeological land—become critically important. Instead of viewing these voids as constraints, the project redefines them as generators of value.

Through architectural delimitation, the void is preserved while activated. The project explores multiple ways of inhabiting these spaces: living on the edges, floating volumes above sensitive ground, occupying roofs, and inhabiting the in-between spaces of existing structures. Each intervention treats the void as a landmark—an essential component of the city’s collective identity.

At the core of this approach is the courtyard, a spatial typology that traces the evolution of the agora across centuries—from ancient gathering spaces to U-shaped khans and contemporary public courts. These courtyards become anchors of social life within Tyr’s regenerated urban fabric.

Agora of the City: Preserving Through Minimal Intervention

The first major intervention is the Agora of the City. Here, the archaeological site is preserved by building along its limits rather than over it. Minimal ground contact ensures the integrity of the ruins while allowing the space to function as a civic heart. This agora responds simultaneously to the needs of the modern city and the protection of heritage, embodying a key principle of urban regeneration architecture: coexistence rather than domination.

Museum of the City: Revealing the Real DNA of Tyr

The Museum of the City addresses visible archaeological fragments through a dual-path experience. One path follows the archaeological remains directly, while the other traces a curated museum route. These paths intersect and overlap, allowing visitors to oscillate between direct engagement with history and interpretive narratives.

An urban canopy shelters the ruins while remaining lightweight and reversible. Above, a Khan U-shaped configuration creates inhabited edges—spaces that allow people to live on the limits without erasing what lies beneath. The museum becomes not an isolated object, but an extension of the city’s living structure.

Existing Buildings on Archaeological Sites

Rather than displacing residents from buildings located on archaeological land, the project proposes adaptive living strategies. Semi-private zones are introduced at ground level, on rooftops, and within the narrow spaces between existing blind walls. This approach preserves social continuity while carefully integrating daily life with heritage protection—a critical balance in sustainable urban regeneration.

Squares as Urban Interfaces

Several key squares act as connectors across Tyr’s fragmented landscape:

• Cultural Square addresses invisible archaeological remains by creating a virtual and symbolic public space above them, preserving the site without physical intrusion.
• Al Bawabah Square is revalued through programmatic layering, combining parking, public space, and market functions to reconnect it to city life.
• Roman Agora is reactivated by inhabiting its perimeter, framing the archaeological core while encouraging contemporary use.
• Al Jaffarieh Square introduces a craft school on the roof of an old market, linking heritage, education, and economic activity.

Each square functions as a social condenser, reinforcing the role of public space within Tyr’s urban regeneration framework.

Architecture as a Cultural Door

At a larger scale, the project positions architecture as a cultural threshold between refugee camps, archaeological zones, and the modern city. By aligning cultural and artistic functions along a continuous urban sequence, the design establishes a ‘cultural door’—a spatial narrative that reconnects fragmented communities and histories.

Reweaving Tyr Through Urban Regeneration Architecture

Tyr, the Mosaic City demonstrates how urban regeneration architecture can operate with precision, sensitivity, and restraint. By living on boundaries rather than erasing them, the project transforms archaeological constraints into spatial opportunities. Voids become landmarks, limits become inhabitable edges, and history becomes an active participant in contemporary urban life.

Rather than offering a single monumental solution, the project proposes a network of interventions—each modest in scale, yet powerful in collective impact. Together, they reweave Tyr into a coherent mosaic, where past, present, and future coexist through architecture.