The Samsarat Yaha-Ibn-al-Qasim is one of seven caravanserais near the market in the historic centre of Sana'a. The structure of the buildung is typical of these former trading and lodging houses, with an inner courtyard for the loading, unloading and accommodation of the camel caravans, storage rooms, as well as small rooms in the upper storeys which served as accommodation and workrooms for merchants and others travelling with the caravans. It thus represents an important cultural artefact in the ensemble of historic buildings and urban elements (such as mosques and Koran schools, bathhouses, merchants' houses, markets, traditional residential buildings and gardens) in Sana'a, but in contrast to many of these, it has lost its original function owing to social and economic changes.

The restoration and conversion of this building, which is intended to preserve the historic fabric and thus also the special quality of the historic centre of Sana'a, has two main aims:

A new programme to convert the building into a work and research centre for a number of European art academies will give the Samsarat Yaha-Ibn-al-Qasim a new function as a place of cultural exchange in the Yemeni capital and the southern Arabian region, thus providing an adequate replacement for the original function of the building. The necessary renovation work will secure the fabric of the building using traditional materials and construction techniques, but also provide a clear structure for ist new function. Many basic features of the building's original use will benefit its new function. It was and will remain a place of contact with the outside world.

The conversion of the building will entail the following functional divisions:
a ground floor (on street level, to connect the building with the city and public life), with the central courtyard, exhibition rooms, workshops, as well as the small shops along the side facing the street, which will be retained.
The first floor will have approximately six bedrooms and a simple bathroom. The private character of this storey thus provides a clear transition from the semi-public working area on the ground floor to
the quiet spaciousness of the bright and airy workrooms on the second floor, which are optimally adapted to the prevailing climatic conditions.
This vertical division reflects the traditional urban integration of work and living space within one building, still a conspicuous feature of the urban fabric of Sana'a, which, with ist lively diversity of urban qualities and diffferentiations, is one of the most important cities in the Arab world.