Zero-Level of Hoplessness

In Jaffa, between Jerusalem Boulevard and Yeffet Street, there is a large area which is completely gated off on all sides. Within this gated area, which is called "Kerem Dala", live a number of families. a hundred or a hundred and fifty people In total. 'Dala' is the name of the family which serve as caretakers of the gated area. The original plan for this place is quite a generic master plan, meaning apartment buildings scattered on a stretch of land, in this case, between four and five buildings. The project, as I see it, is a mid-point between Jaffa which winds down from the west to the housing complexes which are characteristic of Israeli architecture on the East. It thus mediates between two different and incompatible phenomena. The first action taken was one of continuing the natural topography which flows into the site which was once a swamp. In terms of the topography, there is an incline of 5-8% so that the natural movement dictated by the topography flows into the center of the project and always sustains a sense of central orientation. Another advantage when working with the topography of such a large plot of land is that I was able to gain building rights in the ground, so that the people who enter the project grounds, are met with three to four floor buildings, in accordance with their surroundings, and the deeper they go into the project the the buildings stands at five to six floors.  The majority of the paths continue those already in existence. The buildings are divided into residential and public buildings with a diagonal axis cuts through the entire site and contains public buildings as well as open public spaces. In the east, on Jerusalem Boulevard, at a point where in the near future the light rail will run, there are buildings which combine commercial use.  my goal was not to diminish the quantitative demands of what was needed based on the original plans, rather to reorganize it and create a fabric which weaves the large area on which we were asked to plan, without erasing the past and without trying to repeat it. Creating something new which was always there. paying attention to the interface points between the project area and its surroundings, creating a movement towards a central point, to the heart of the project, which is essentially, an empty, open public space.