Kikar Hameyasdim
Rehovot City Hall Plaza
No problem can be dismissed with the same way of thinking that created it — Albert Einstein
Program Mixed Use, Public Square
Client Rehovot Municipality
Location Rehovot, Israel
Appointment 2020
Status Shortlisted on competition
Completion -
Size 62,000 m²
Project Architect Tslil Shai
Team Erez Ella, Matan Sapir, Lealla Solomon, Elad Goshen, Martin Neiman, Smadar Efrati, Sharona Kramer, Yotam Oron, Eliahu Cohen
Context
Rehovot is a fast growing city in Israel. In order to design its City Hall plaza, we conducted a research and came to three main observations:
The plot size is disproportionate to an adequate urban use, in fact the scale of the square is equivalent to a national square like Rabin Square in Tel Aviv.
The existing plaza suffers from a limited number of programs and activities, the open space is not rich and interesting enough to attract the city’s inhabitants.
The existing plaza fails to form a clear coherent connection with the city’s urban tissue and nearby public and cultural equipment.
Our approach
Our proposal was based on Albert Einstein's statement: "No problem can be dismissed with the same way of thinking that created it" for doing so we determined a few goals that we aimed to achieve such as adding a broad variety of programs to it, having flexibility in the use and the existence of different scales of public spaces, creating an urban connection between the various equipment around the square and making it possible to realize the project in stages. Taking in consideration our contemporary capitalist scenario, we designed a new urban grid for the plot with a flexible central urban space surrounded by public programs, creating a natural connection between the municipal building, the commerce and the cultural axis.
At the heart of the project is the new City Hall Plaza - a square on the axis connecting the city hall, and the market on one side and the metro station, Herzl Street and the cultural axis on the other. The square is flexible and uses a built environment to enable various activities throughout the year - together with the adjacent open spaces, the project creates a spacious public urban space, allowing for many and varied events on varying scale. The proposed buildings around it include a variety of programs: residential, rental, government offices, public buildings and education. The entire building complex is sloping towards the new City Hall Plaza and gives a clear identity to the new city center.
