URBAN KIBBUTZ
April 27, 2021
“The decision to demolish an old building, to construct a new one or to conserve an existing building determines what is destined to be forgotten, what is retained as a remnant and what is worthy of remembrance. There is thus a clear and essential link between the history of the city and its geography. The city’s geography preserves that which history tells it to remember and erases that which it tells it to forget. It occasionally also chooses to emphasize certain chapters of its narrative that are deemed worthy of special note…”
EXISTING CONDITIONS
Drone Photographs, 2021
This project calls for the creation of experimental housing within the highly contentious social and political context of Wadi Salib. Our design proposes simultaneously an act of restoration, adaptive re-use and new construction, a continuity of history in stark contrast to the new developments surrounding the neighbourhood. The addition of new density reinvigorates the urban fabric, a stone architecture which has seemingly been frozen in time and has fallen into disrepair.
The existing, abandoned buildings are appropriated for new public uses, with two and three floors of a highly experimental, collective organization of co-operative housing added above. The plan of the Hunziker Areal in Zurich, Switzerland as well as other collective and co-housing designs presents an effective resistance to the forces of gentrification and market housing through dispersed living both within and between buildings.
The ground floor of the existing buildings is restored for public use, with shops and storefronts along the street, and a café beside the main neighbourhood stair. The steep topography also expands the definition of the ground floor such that the floor above can become productive/working space for the kibbutz, or office space for an association oriented towards adressing issues of reconciliation and the future planning of Wadi Salib. These public programs imply a return of daily life to Wadi Salib without the erasure of the difficult history embedded in the existing architecture.
The stairs and bridgewalks produce a form of co-housing where the boundaries between units are blurred, such that kitchens, living rooms and outdoor spaces are easily shared and dispersed living is intuitive.
The stairs and bridgewalks produce a form of co-housing where the boundaries between units are blurred, such that kitchens, living rooms and outdoor spaces are easily shared and dispersed living is intuitive.
roof of
is an opportunity to bring together
The streetfront elevation is defined by the green folding shutters and subtle variation in facade between the existing stone walls below and new stone cladding of the extrusions above. This north elevation has the highest window to wall ratio, accessing the view to the harbour, while the south and west elevations have few and smaller openings according to passive design principles.
The existing stone walls are repaired to frame a raised patio and shaded court where the programs of cafe, office and housing intersect. A new public stair connects the upper public spaces to the sidewalk below and continues up the steep slope to reconnect with the street and parking uphill. The bridge walks imply casual encounters between neighbors and dispersed living between buildings.
The new concrete structure is inserted within the frame of the existing stone walls and supported on concrete pile foundations to avoid underpinning and excavation of the existing stone walls.
The massive stone construction of the core acts as thermal mass and lateral resistance to the structure, however such massive stone is too heavy for the exterior facade and is substituted for aerated concrete blocks as infill on the exterior walls.
TYPICAL ISRAEL CONSTRUCTION
White Plaster Finish
30mm EPS Rigid Insulation
200mm Reinforced Concrete
400mm
EXISTING WADI SALIB BUILDINGS MASSIVE STONE, GILLES PERRAUDIN
Double Hewn Stone Walls
Blended Masonry Mortar
White Plaster on Quicklime Base
400mm Solid Limestone Blocks
CAN LIS, JORN UTZON
100mm Limestone Rainscreen
80mm Recycled Fiber Insulation
200mm Load-Bearing Natural Stone
400mm
PROPOSED DESIGN
100mm Handset Natural Stone
40mm Air Cavity
60mm Mineral Wool Board Insulation
200mm Aerated Concrete Block
Trass-Lime Plaster Finish (air tight layer)
4TH FFL +11.00m
ROOF PARAPET +15.00m
APERTURES
Folding Shutters Close-Up
EXPERIENTIAL VIEW
Co-Housing Kitchen
On Wadi Salib:
Parry, William. (2016). “Palestinian Homes Abandoned in Nakba Attest To History of Haifa’s Wadi Salib Neighborhood.” Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, 28-29.
https://www.wrmea.org/016-january-february/palestinian-homes-abandoned-in-nakba-attest-to-history-of-haifas-wadi-salib-neighborhood.html
Johal, Am. (2004, August 18). “Sifting through the ruins: Historic Wadi Salib under Pressure.” Media Monitors Network. https://www.mediamonitors.net/sifting-through-the-ruins-historic-wadi-salib-under-pressure/
Shiloh, Shanee. (2012, April 2). “Exorcising the Curse of Wadi Salib.” Hareetz Israel Business News. https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/1.5210746
Glausiusz, Josie. (2016, April 19). “Will Clashing Visions End the Harmony in Haifa, Israel?” Hakai Magazine, Canada. https://www.hakaimagazine.com/features/will-clashing-visions-end-harmony-haifa-israel/
Lu-Un, Hava. “Haifa’s First Conservation Program: The Artists’ Quarter in Wadi Salib.” Pyramida Art Center, Haifa. http://pyramida-art.com/
Schwake, Gabriel. (2017). “Post-traumatic urbanism: Repressing Manshiya and Wadi Salib.” Cities 75 (2018) 50–58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2017.12.016
Nathansohn, Regev. (2017). “Living in a Mixing Neighbourhood: Reflexive Coexistence and the Discourse of Separation.” University of Michigan, Dissertation. https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/137116/regev_1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Heib, Shaden. (2019, May 25). “The Absentees of Wadi Salib.” Peoples Dispatch / Pulse Magazine. https://peoplesdispatch.org/2019/05/25/the-absentees-of-wadi-salib/
Doughman, Najwa et al. “The Rewriting of Palestinian Cities: Spatial Dislocations in Haifa and Akka.” Arab Urbanism. https://www.araburbanism.com/magazine/rewriting-palestinian-cities
Weiss, Yfaat. (2011). A Confiscated Memory, Wadi Salib and Haifa’s Lost Heritage. Columbia University Press, NY.
On the Subject of Housing:
Heckmann, Oliver et al. (2017, October 10). Floor Plan of Manual, 5th Revised and ex. edition. Birkhaeuser, Basel.
Hugentobler, Margrit et al. (2015). More than Housing, Cooperative Planning - A Case Study in Zurich. Birkhaeuser, Basel. https://issuu.com/birkhauser.ch/docs/more_than_housing
On the Subject of Construction:
McKay, Graham. (2014, August 02). “The Buildings of Yemen.” Misfits Architecture Blog. https://misfitsarchitecture.com/2014/08/02/the-buildings-of-yemen/
Bronski, Matthew and Moe, Kiel. (2010, November 4). “We Have Never Truly Been Modern.” Architecture Boston https://architectureboston.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/we-have-never-been-truly-modern/
Fernandez-Galiano, Luis. (2014, November 30). “Mass is More.” Arquitectura Viva. https://arquitecturaviva.com/articles/mass-is-more