Last July we presented a proposal for the new municipality of Eilat (South of Israel), invited by the Israeli architect Peter Keinan. It was very interesting to develop an office building with an open space in extreme weather conditions as South of Israel. We give you all the details of this project.

The urban catalyst: a new centre for Eyla

We believe it is necessary to insist on the moderate expansion of urban space, prioritising the optimisation, diversification and regeneration of the existing city, intensifying and reprogramming urban tissue.

The urban catalyst will be a symbol of the climate conditions of the desert and how Israeli develops systems to win the battle to the environment. Now it is time to introduce those traditional and low-cost systems into the modern  buildings.

The building: a new-old way of construction
The municipality of Eylat is a new activity centre of public and private uses provides spaces for civic engagement, social interaction, and economic activity. It is a gathering place for people of all ages and backgrounds. It is also the place where citizens and tourists meet in a neutral environment. The Civic Square is an open space pleasant in every moment of the day thanks to the bioclimatic conditions, regulated by the technological roof. Light, low-cost building material and common technologies allows each part of the structure to be easily constructed to purchase a reasonable cost. The light and transparent façade reveals the life and colour within the structure to connect inside and outside activity. The centre is a focus point for the surrounding community as well as city-wide businesses, organizations, and tourism. Highly accessible by public transport and pedestrian way from the touristic quarter, he will connect the old housing district with the new extension on the North-East.

The catalyst: multiplicity of use
The optimisation of urban space requires a diversity of inherently urban uses to be seamlessly interconnected. The urban tissue thus generated benefits from a variety of uses throughout the day, the week and the year, some which may alternate, some which will coincide, and leaves no room for blank periods or periods when urban space is substantially underused, temporarily turning into a “ghost” city.

Open air: the public space within
Public space needs to be accessible and usable to be effective. The vertical configuration of the office building and the multiplicity of uses contained within it have prompted the creation of public spaces to match the needs generated from within the catalyst.

Synergies: units working together
Thanks to the technical roof, buildings and public space can help each other as a hybrid system. The office needs a lower skin to protect the inside conditions from the hard climate of South of Israel, and the public space benefits from the humidity conditions, wind cooling and shadow coming from the building. Combining traditional technology, as the nomad tent, the greenhouse, the natural ventilation and innovating technology as flexible solar panels, steel structure and wind miles, the hybrid system generate an acceptable level of comfort without expensive cost.