HOTEL.LIVING.CITY
Urban Exploration
Urban exploration is a tool for understanding the physical space of the city.
The urban structure:
Mapping of the city's main streets, cultural and commercial complexes,
open green spaces and points of interest. The mapping includes an existing state and plans for regeneration of specific areas.
The height of the area:
There is high built front facing the coastal strip, while the center is saturated
with buildings with 3-4 floors. The height creates a separation
between the city and the sea.
City Centers
The conclusion of numerous mappings is that the city has three centers, the historical, cultural and occupational center.
Renewal Plans
The north-west section of the city is of historic value. In a strategic plan for the renewal of the area, a historic urban route is offered, which passes through the urban fabric and adjacent buildings of historical and architectural value. Another route offered by the program is a landscape route that connects to the historical route. These routes have great urban potential. The project offers intervention at various scales.
The Compact City and The Urban Tourism
Urban sprawling is one of the challenges of the modern world. Dealing with this problem possible with the promotion of Compact City scenario.
Compact City means increasement in density and development to maximize uses, reduce travel distances, encourage use of public transportation, and walk-ability, as well as intensifying social and community interactions. There is a change in recent years in Israel regarding sustainable development of the cities which also entails
a change in perception of tourism. Development of tourism depends on attractions and activities related to the natural environment, local history and culture, if some of these places are destroyed tourism can not exist
anymore.
Urban tourism encourages the creation of a compact city.
In addition to the positive environmental aspects of urban tourism, it offers the visitor a wide range of experiences and activities, interaction with the residents that strengthen the social aspect, and the strengthening of the local economy. In other words, it is a sustainable development that, by definition, is the development of a
balanced relationship between people, the economy and the environment.
The issues
In 2004, The Coastal Law was passed, which defined that new plans for the construction in the coastal environment (300 meters from the coastline) will be discussed by the Committee for the Protection of the Coastal Environment, furthermore construction plans could not be carried out within 100 meters of the water line.
Coastline environmental threats
Environmental awareness is growing, and it is already possible to see environmental movements strongly oppose to environmental threats.
In Israel many coastline struggles mostly against construction on this natural resource because of the awareness of its preservation as an open space for future generations.
Leisure Tourism
The reasons for the visits of tourists are different, some of them linked to business but most of it is for personal leisure. Today there are varieties of tourism, historical, business, urban tourism,etc.
Urban's tourism main destination is the city, which provides all the
tourism services and infrastructure. In the diagram is a
description of center coastline cities and the spread of the hotels, most of which support
the leisure tourism and non- environmental coastline planning.
The city of Bat-Yam coastline threat
Among these coastal threats there is one major in the city of Bat Yam. Hotel "Sun" on the coastline of the city was demolished in 2012, instead there planed a new 4 skyscraper hotels.
That construction was approved before the new coastline protection law.The new hotels planed 100 meters from the
shoreline.
The project focuses on the city of Bat Yam. The coastal strip of the city is mostly open space, except for the southern area that is intended for hotels. Bat Yam, like other coastal cities, sees in the coastal strip a tourist attraction, and therefore began to develop and plan four hotels and short-term apartments in the intended coastal area.
The project envisions an alternative to today’s vacation tourism and offers to enter the city, experience it, the people and of course the seashore as a whole unit. Sustainable urban tourism will enable the insertion of additional functions and programs into the city center and renewal of the city’s northwestern area while preserving environmental and historical values.
Supporting sustainable urban tourism will encourage infrastructure improvement, accessibility, condensation, stop urban sprawling, encourage urban development and, of course, protecting the coastal strip as a natural resource.
Tutors:
Architect Shmaya Serfaty
Architect Jonathan Natanian
TECHNION - Israeli Institute of Technology | 2017
Urban Intervention
Choosing a route for the urban historical track and the appropriate landscape for urban renewal plans.
Local
Along the historic route, blocks of unique texture were chosen, which will function as hotels. Existing blocks will receive additional systems and programs, residents will have a direct relationship with visitors and will have access
to public programs. The block will function as one whole structure and not as a collection of structures.
Structural
The block promotes existing ideas, energy production and co-operative use.
Infrastructure of The Block
Connection: The existing block consists of scattered structures, the hotel structure added to the existing buildings unifies them physically and programmatically. The block is not composed of units but functions as one complete unit.
Preservation: The goal is to add a new construction on the land in a minimal manner. That is in order to preserve the existing open space and make it accessible to the public.
Movement: On the ground floor the movement is open and people can enter The Block. The new paths bring the urban historical route into the block and open a variety of other routes. The structure of the new systems is based on systems of existing buildings. The movement takes place in the inner ring of the block, circular and open. The
openness of this system enables a wide range of views.
Functions: The ground floor of each building was separate and its main function was a warehouse or shops when the building was on a main street. The new plan uses all the ground floors and makes them suitable for public and commercial activity.
Public floors: The new building has public floors, they have hotel support functions such as gym, spa, cafe, lounges, game rooms.
The floors are open for use by visitors and residents in order to create interaction and add useful programs to the city.
The roof floors: A large part of the new building’s roofs are public and provide a view of the sea through the city. On these floors are pools,
a spa and sports fields, the view of the city is wide and allows for an experience.
The Roof: A block that functions as a hole unit has a decomposed roof that acts as a roof that creates energy (using photo-voltaic cells) in
certain places and as a shading element in others, depending on the sun’s angle from the south.
Vegetation: Wide use of vegetation to the height of the structure, vegetation has a great contribution within the city. The trees on the ground floor are deciduous and allow sun penetration during the winter season. The trees on the front and open spaces in the building allow shading of the sun, and also creating oxygen and reducing air pollution.