Naama technion thesis web

Portfolio of school work

Request for Assessment of Academic Qualifications Naama Blonder-Bereznyak, July 2015

The Technion-

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Between Nosh1 and Neshser2

Neighberhood in the city of Haifa, the 3rd largest city in Israel; 2 Suburb of Haifa

Thesis project 2011-2012

Personal Note In my thesis project I explored the connections within academia and between academia and the city.

I focused on the campus I attended for 5 years: The Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. Located in the north of Israel, to the east of the city of Haifa and to the west of the city of Nesher.

Portfolio of academic design // naama blonder

Thesis project

My thesis in a nutshell

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the steep slope on which the campus 1 Overcome is located by concentaring development along a

central and flat street on the +200m elevation line.

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the physical structure of the campus and city to 2 Improve create places for residents, students and researchers to meet.

3 Integrate uses of learning, research, retail and residential. exisiting buildings on campus as a solution for the 4 Reusing current needs of the city.

Thesis project

Portfolio of academic design // naama blonder

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Overcome the steep slope on which the campus is located by concentaring development along a central and flat street on the +200m elevation line

Thesis project

The

URBAN CONTEXT

The project deals with the Technion campus in Haifa. The Technion is separated from the city and fragmented from within. It is located between two neighborhoods in two different cities but it is fenced and disconnected from both.

25,000 people work or study in the Technion and it is a centre of knowledge and education.

Yet, its presence is barely felt in the neighboring cities of Haifa and Nesher. There is almost

NESHER Portfolio of academic design // naama blonder

no student life, no interaction between researchers on the streets, no graduates who stay in the city to launch their startup companies and no residents who feel close to what happens on campus. The Technion suffers from this isolation too. It is forced to provide housing, shops, and culture; and not only is their provision a significant financial and organizational burden, but they also cannot be provided as well by an institution as they can be in a real city.

HAIFA TECHNION

Thesis project

The Technion campus, 1950s

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Te c h n i o n B u i l t a r e a

20 storeys building

DH= 60 m

Cross section through Mt. Carmal, where the Technion campus is located

Thesis project

The vision of the project is to gradually transform the Technion into an organic part of the city with an internal urban structure that would facilitate everyday encounters and interaction between the students, teachers and researchers and between them and other residents.

Portfolio of academic design // naama blonder

Thesis project

STRATEGY EXISITING

Technion today Residential Mixed use: retail / academic / residential

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To achieve the vision, an interconnected street network would be gradually created in the Technion between the cities of Haifa and Nesher. The major component in the network is a continuous and flat boulevard

at height +200 m, that would be created by connecting and urbanizing existing main streets in Neve Sha'anan, the Tehcnion and Nesher.

Because the boulevard would be a level street in

PROPOSED

an otherwise hilly terrain, places on the boulevard would enjoy the best pedestrian and bicycle connectivity. Along the boulevard different uses would be encouraged to

serve both the Technion and the city: research and learning as well as residential, commercial and employment uses.

Thesis project

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Proposed campus structure

PROPOSED PLAN

Thesis project

NEW PUBLIC TRANSIT OPPORTUNITIES

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Connectivity map - proposed

New Opportunity to

Cycle

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New Opportunity to along the +200 line

LRT line

New opportunity for parking lots space thanks to

Driverless Cars

Thesis project

Portfolio of academic design // naama blonder

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Improve the physical structure of the campus and city to create places for residents, students and researchers to meet.

Thesis project

Why campus structure is key to collaboration?

Within academia, learning and research require exchange of information and knowledge. Some of these exchanges can occur in formal settings, however many new ideas require informal exchanges to form. These occur when people who know each other encounter each other repeatedly. This kind of encounters is especially important for researchers and students from different disciplines since there are little formal settings for interdisciplinary exchange between them. Therefore, an important requirement from the physical space in academia is to provide this possibility for interactions and exposure.

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As to the relation between academia and the city: since the post-war era, most academic institutions were developed as isolated campuses, sometimes physically outside cities. This isolation results in missed opportunities for cross-fertilization, both in denying city amenities to students and researchers and preventing their involvement with the urban communities.

EXISITING

PROPOSED Thesis project

Kineret School Library, Israel

Orestad Gymnasium, Denmark Portfolio of academic design // naama blonder

Fuji Kindergarten, Japan

Ryerson student learning centre, Canada Thesis project

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Integrate uses of learning, research, retail and residential.

Thesis project

Proposed city-campus structure The campus today

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1:2500 Proposed campus structure along elevation line +200

CONNECTIVITY -Proposed

Thesis project

Because of the internal organization in the Technion and its hilly terrain, it is hard to walk between faculty buildings and every building has to provide its own auditorium, labs, library, cafeteria, learning spaces, classrooms. This leads to a needless waste of resources: many of these spaces are often barely used. In addition, students rarely meet students from other programs in circumstances that encourage interaction.

exisiting research building with addition of residetial units

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exisiting research building

The project proposes that when new spaces of these sort are required, they would be built fronting the 200+ Boulevard and be shared, very visible and easily accessible.

exisiting research building

mixed use: academy + residetial

mixed use: academy + residetial

exisiting research building with addition of residetial units

mixed use: academy + residetial

exisiting school of Architecture with addition of rental offices

Thesis project

EXISITING

Portfolio of academic design // naama blonder

PROPOSED

elevation line +200m Thesis project

Portfolio of academic design // naama blonder

Thesis project

EXISITING

Portfolio of academic design // naama blonder

PROPOSED

Thesis project

Portfolio of academic design // naama blonder

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Reusing exisiting buildings on campus as a solution for the current needs of the city.

Thesis project

Today, along elevation line +200, at the east side of the campus, there are exisiting buildings with no current use.

The Danziger labaratories building by architect Alfred Neumann is an example of those buildings. It was designed in the Brutalist era, and after the mechanical Engineering faculty moved out of it to a newer building it was used for storage and its exposed concrete walls were painted in blue and yellow.

In line with my approach of less rigid use separation, I proposed to convert this special building to residential uses. This would not only provide much needed housing in an economical way, but would also bring new life to the area.

Danziger labaratories by architect Portfolio of academic design building // naama blonder

Alfred Neumann, 1963

Reusing exisiting warehouses as labratories and residential units

New infill: open classes and learning facilities

Reusing heritage designated building as residential

Additional stories to exisiting one-story warehouse

Elevation line +200m

Thesis project

Existing structure Proposed intervention

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Danziger labaratories building by architect Alfred Neumann, 2012

Thesis project

Portfolio of academic design // naama blonder

Existing structure Proposed intervention

Thesis project

conclusion I lived in and around the Technion Campus in Haifa during all my five years of studies, but I cannot say that I really knew or hung up with people from other programs. We did not go to the same courses, the same library or even the same cafeteria.

Moreover, the Technion is one of the most successful education centers in Israel; yet, even the residents of the adjacent neighborhood don't enjoy this amazing resource and it has not become attractive to the people who go through it on their daily commute into the campus.

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These are the issues I was proposing to address in my thesis. The Technion can become the source of knowledge that it can be. I chose to concentrate on four themes: A. The campus plan and its connection to the city - I proposed to concentrate the campus development on a central street that goes along a single elevation line, and avoid the steep slopes of the Carmel Mount.

B. Re-configuring the structure of buildings from one building per program to a network of places that

are inviting for visiting and learning.

C. Mixing the different uses of Academic, residences, commerce and offices to allow residents, researchers and students to have better access to resources and amenities and to blur the distinction between the campus and the city.

D. Reuse underutilized buildings in the Technion to serve the needs of the adjacent neighborhoods.

The Technion is an important institution that would keep developing, and I believe that re-configuring its physical structure is crucial in order to allow for better internal and external integration.

Thesis project

Portfolio of academic design // naama blonder

Thesis project