Qasr Quarter — iwan gateway with bilingual inscription, vaulted arcade behind, golden-hour stone fabric
Keturah / Masterplans / Qasr Quarter
33°30'20.80"N · 36°06'58.64"E · 946 m
Community 09 · The Heritage Palace PHASE E · 2042

Qasr
Quarter.

قصر · The Heritage Palace — Levantine fabric for the fifteen-minute walking life.

A 168-hectare heritage-palace quarter on the As-Salboura plateau at 946 metres, built around a grand iwan-arch civic gateway and a vaulted souk-arcade spine. Aleppo stone, basalt plinths, bronze fins, mashrabiya screens — Levantine traditional architecture written through a contemporary fifteen-minute walking-life code.

Reserve Interest → Read the Place
168HA
Quarter area
12,800
Residents T0
3,340
Dwellings T0
15MIN
Walking life radius
100
Designed views
Begin
01The Place

An arch
that opens
a city.

On the As-Salboura plateau at 946 metres, where the corridor's western fabric stretches above the agricultural belt and the Anti-Lebanon foothills carry the first wind of every season, a deep pointed-arch iwan stands as the quarter's threshold. The arch is structural, not decorative — load-bearing Aleppo stone, basalt plinth, bronze fin shadow line. Above the apex, an inscription in Arabic and English: QASR · The Heritage Palace.

Qasr — قصر — palace. The name carries the architectural register: civic-scale arched gateways, vaulted souk arcades, courtyard fabric, every threshold sized to a person and a season. Not a luxury label, but a traditional Levantine register applied with the discipline of contemporary code.

The site sits on the higher plateau between Sabboura (0.9 km north) and Bustan (1.0 km south-west) — same elevation register as Maqam, same material palette as the corridor's heritage spine. The differentiator is the scale of the public moves: a 38-metre iwan, a 420-metre vaulted souk, a 4.4-hectare civic plaza with reading garden, fitness loop, and four-season planting.

Qasr Quarter — orthographic top-down aerial at dawn
AERIAL · ORTHOGRAPHIC · DAWN
From Above

A grid that breathes.
Iwan gateway. Souk spine. Courtyard fabric.

02The Vision

A traditional
register, written
through code.

Qasr is the corridor's most explicitly Levantine-traditional masterplan, but the discipline is contemporary: every dwelling within four hundred metres of the souk, every household within a fifteen-minute walk of school, clinic, mosque, market, and park — and every threshold designed to read in all four seasons without retrofit.

The civic centreline runs north–south. At the northern arrival, the iwan and a welcome plaza. South of that, a four-and-a-half-hectare civic plaza with reading garden and reflecting pool. South again, the souk arcade with two-storey vault and copper-workshop tradition. Residential fabric flanks east and west — T3 courtyard houses on the eastern slope, T4 perimeter blocks along the souk frontage.

The brand at the iwan doesn't say "heritage replica". It says "حياة سيرًا" — a life on foot. The discipline is to make traditional public scale feel like the default of a working day, not the staging of a tourist street.

PRINCIPLE I
Traditional grammar. Coded discipline.
PRINCIPLE II
Fifteen minutes on foot to everything.
PRINCIPLE III
Every threshold reads in four seasons.
PRINCIPLE IV
Public scale. Domestic privacy.
Qasr Quarter — civic plaza at dawn, iwan elevation behind
CIVIC PLAZA · DAWN
The Civic Heart

Four and a half hectares of paved stone.
The corridor's deepest iwan.

03Four Seasons

A palette that moves with the year.

Every public threshold and every residential street section is designed to read across the corridor's four seasons. The render set carries this — every category captured at dawn, noon, golden hour, blue hour, and the seasonal palette below.

Spring.

الربيع · BLOOM

Mulberry, plum and apricot bloom in the courtyards. Lavender and rosemary go to seed at the bioswale edges. Olive trees throw their thickest shade in the reading garden.

Summer.

الصيف · ARCADE

The vaulted souk arcade carries the August midday. Stone joins keep the deep arches cool. Water channels run cold from the underground cistern; cafes spill into the plaza after maghrib.

Autumn.

الخريف · HARVEST

Olive harvest at the western buffer. Pomegranates ripen in the courtyard squares. The reading garden's deciduous canopy turns bronze; the iwan throws shadow patterns onto the plaza paving.

Winter.

الشتاء · STONE

Snow on the plateau three or four times a year. The stone retains the previous day's heat into the cold morning. Mashrabiya screens close to half-aperture; the hammam fills earlier in the day.

04Programme · What's Inside

Six programmes,
one fifteen-minute footprint.

RESIDENTIAL40%

3,340 dwellings.

  • T3 courtyard house · 1,820 DU
  • T4 perimeter block · 1,520 DU
  • Median dwelling · 94 m² interior
  • Multigenerational granny-flat offered as standard on 42% of T3
  • Stone façade · timber mashrabiya · interior court
CIVIC & CULTURAL14%

The iwan spine.

  • Civic plaza · 4.4 ha · iwan elevation
  • Reading garden + library · 3,200 m²
  • Mosque + quarter prayer hall · 1,400 capacity
  • Wellness clinic + maternity wing
  • K-12 + craft school · 1,800 capacity
SOUK & RETAIL10%

The vaulted arcade.

  • Souk arcade · 420 m active frontage
  • Copper, spice, bookshop, bakery, pharmacy
  • Café terraces · 24 outlets
  • Crafts + artisan workshops · 22 lots
  • Food hall + market stall row
PARKS & LOOPS18%

The walking life.

  • Reading garden · 1.4 ha
  • Olive grove buffer · 2.8 ha (western edge)
  • Fitness loop · 2.4 km
  • Memorial grove · 0.9 ha
  • Bioswale + retention park · 1.8 km
WELLNESS & HAMMAM8%

Hammam & gardens.

  • Quarter hammam · 1,900 m²
  • Wellness colonnade · 14 practice rooms
  • Meditation + dry-botanical garden
  • Hammam garden · cold-water cascade
  • Senior fitness + therapy walk
MOBILITY + INFRA10%

BRT + park-and-ride.

  • BRT Station 09 · 280 m to civic plaza
  • Park-and-ride · 980 spaces · solar canopy
  • Cycle network · 4.2 km in-quarter
  • EV fast-charge · 22 bays
  • District cooling + utility vault network
05A Day in the Quarter

Iwan at 06:40.
Reading garden at noon.
Arcade at golden hour.

The traditional register has its own daily rhythm. Fajr at the iwan, dhuhr at the reading garden, asr in the souk vault, maghrib at the cafés on the plaza. The architecture is sized to the hours.

Morning at the civic steps
06:40 · Morning

The iwan.

The civic steps catch the first sun across the plateau. The vendors set up before the call to fajr; the reading garden's first visitors take coffee on the colonnade. The iwan's deep shadow runs across the paving — a sundial the quarter learns by ear.

Midday in the souk arcade
13:30 · Midday

The arcade.

Two stories of vault carry the August sun without artificial cooling. Copper workshop, spice and herb shop, the bakery near the corner, the pharmacy at the south end. School children walk through after dismissal; office workers cross diagonally between the coworking floors above.

Golden-hour café terrace
18:20 · Golden hour

The plaza.

The civic plaza takes the long shadow from the iwan in the last forty minutes before maghrib. Cafés roll out onto the colonnade; the reading garden opens for the evening programme; the call to prayer carries from the mosque on the north flank of the plaza. The plaza is the quarter's evening room.

06Residences · Two Typologies

Courtyard house.
Perimeter block.

T3 courtyard house
T3 · Courtyard House

The Courtyard.

Two-and-three-storey courtyard houses on the eastern slope, each built around an interior court with fountain, olive, and shaded loggia. A separable ground-floor granny flat is offered as standard on 42% of the T3 stock — the corridor's highest multigenerational ratio.

1,820DU
Units
2–3F
Storeys
64DU/HA
Density
  • Interior fountain court · olive shade
  • Loggia · roof terrace · granny flat option
  • Aleppo stone façade · timber mashrabiya
  • Sizes · 92 / 120 / 152 / 188 m²
  • Mix · 2-bed → 5-bed multigenerational
T4 perimeter block
T4 · Perimeter Block

The Block.

Three-and-four-storey perimeter blocks lining the souk arcade and the civic spine. Active ground-floor retail or workshop frontage; interior courtyards stay public-shaded and quiet. Mashrabiya panels on the upper levels, basalt plinth at street level, bronze fins on south-facing apertures.

1,520DU
Units
3–4F
Storeys
108DU/HA
Density
  • Active ground floor (workshop / retail / café)
  • Rooftop terrace per stack
  • Stone + bronze fluting · mashrabiya panels
  • Sizes · 64 / 88 / 116 / 148 m²
  • Mix · studio → 3-bed
07Connectivity · The Site, Today

The plateau's western shoulder.
Walk to Sabboura. Walk to Bustan.

Qasr sits on the As-Salboura plateau between Sabboura (north, 0.9 km) and Bustan (south-west, 1.0 km). The BRT spine has Station 09 inside the quarter, with a direct service connecting to all five plateau communities.

SATELLITE Open in Google Maps ↗
DAMASCUS OLD CITY
19.4KM
By corridor expressway · ~26 min
BRT · STATION 09 · IN-QUARTER
280M
Civic plaza-side · 6-min headway
SABBOURA QUARTER · COMMUNITY 01
0.9KM
Walking distance · 12 min on foot
BUSTAN QUARTER · COMMUNITY 03
1.0KM
South-west · 13 min on foot · belt edge
MAQAM QUARTER · COMMUNITY 02
2.1KM
East · 24 min by BRT shuttle
ELEVATION
946M
Higher plateau · four-season palette
08100 Views

One hundred views.
Four seasons through.

Each render is named for its subject category, season and time-of-day. Click any to open at full resolution. Use ← → to navigate or swipe.

09Specifications

The numbers,
in one place.

Project Name
KETURAH Qasr Quarter · The Heritage Palace
Arabic Name
حي القصر · قصر التراث
Community Number
09 · The Heritage Palace
Coordinates
33°30'20.80"N · 36°06'58.64"E
Elevation
946 m above sea level · As-Salboura plateau
Location
Between Sabboura (N, 0.9 km) and Bustan (SW, 1.0 km) · ~19 km W of Damascus
Quarter Area
168 hectares
Residents (Target)
12,800 at maturity
Dwelling Units
3,340 (T3 1,820 · T4 1,520)
Civic Anchors
Iwan gateway · 4.4-ha civic plaza · library · mosque · K-12 + craft school
Souk & Retail
420 m vaulted arcade · 22 craft workshops · café terraces · food hall
Average Density
~76 DU/ha (T4 block 108 DU/ha)
Storey Range
2 — 4 storeys (no high-rise)
Material Palette
Aleppo stone · basalt plinth · bronze fins · timber mashrabiya
Walking Life
15-minute radius to school, clinic, mosque, market, park
BRT Connection
Station S09 · 280 m · in-quarter park-and-ride (980 spaces)
Phase Mapping
Phase E · 2042 — 2047 (corridor's late-cycle heritage anchor)
Status
Master Plan v1.0 · pre-construction · evidence stage
Qasr Quarter — iwan gateway at night
Reserve Interest · Phase E · 2042

The palace
opens
in 2042.

Qasr Quarter is the corridor's late-cycle heritage anchor — iwan gateway, vaulted souk arcade, civic plaza, four-season palette, fifteen-minute walking life. First registrations are open to verified counterparties — sovereign cultural anchors, foundation patrons, qualified institutional and individual purchasers.

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