Free Trade Souq

If post-war Mocha, a historic trading city, were to once again become a link in the chain of Yemen’s interactions with the rest of the world, the most likely future for it would be similar to the cities of neighboring Arab countries, which would be to evolve into a Free Trade Zone: uniform, highly disconnected and isolated from local culture and social fabric. If Mocha’s only options are to remain in ruins or develop into a Free Trade Zone, Mocha is in a true dilemma indeed, between the devil and the Red Sea. Can the spatial practice of trade in the remaining historic trading structures of Mocha be used to create highly connected commercial and domestic spaces by using buttressing as an architectural technique to develop an interconnected trade zone that respects and blends the local fabric with the global commercial system?