the lobby
1st price at the
72-HOUR-URBAN-ACTION
Bat-Yam, Israel
72 Hour Urban Action is a civic design practice that involves residents, decision makers and professionals. It harnesses creative thinking and existing resources within a community to rapidly make places. Through the power of temporality and experimentation, it encourages participation and a lasting change of perception. Through an extreme deadline, a tight budget and limited space, Urban Action sets the imagination free to allow for new possibilities and players in public space. (http://www.72hoururbanaction.com/#!about/c139r, 12/2013)
The task for our team was to design a public lobby for an office building that was transformed in an home for 400 elderly people. The public space in front of the building is intensively used by elderly people to meet up and be part of the public life, this sometimes creates conflicts with the neighbours. In reaction to this complicated situation, we decided on a mix of interventions that each create better public qualities.
On the south side of the building we established an awning that provides welcoming shade to the existing small square furnished with benches that weren’t well used before because they faced full sun during the day. The awning with it’s colorful mix also acts as a big sign inviting people to sit and communicate. At the frontside of the building we transformed three existing benches with small fill-ins into one big Couch bench to offer more sitting space. An almost dead corner of the site was activated with the Lounge chair which is a highly finished public furniture that can be hooked up on existing walls. With it’s proportions the Lounge chair also invites younger people to stay and therefor creates a higher diversity in age in this area. The Chandelier is an attention catcher that provides a private luxurious character to the public space and emphasizes communication during night times through it’s form and light .
Team: Sascha Seidel, Aaron Schirrmann, Alper Kazokoglu, David Baur, Julia Heuer, Mateusz Lendzinski, Onur Ozyurt, Ofra Rechter, Rusty Lamer
Bat Yam 2010