Rabin Square Competition, Tel Aviv
Location: City Hall Square, Tel Aviv
Client: Tel Aviv municipality
Area: 1,500 sqm
Team: Alon Sarig, Adi Samet, Avinoam Sharon
Year: 2016
Competition: No winner announced
Collaboration: Heide & Von Beckerath, Berlin, Inside-Outside, Amsterdam
Project Description
The primary notion guiding our proposal is retaining Rabin Square as it is engraved in the collective memory of the citizens of Tel Aviv and as it actually functions in the urban context for over 50 years.
The attributes and chronicles of the square made it the most significant civic stage in Israel, a theatrical site of performance and protest, ceremonies and fairs, euphoria and mourning. Our project therefore suggests only subtle interventions that may improve the way the square, the City Hall and the balcony perform together according to a contemporary perspective.
The assemblage of all elements, existing and newly defined, is our promise for the future use of this public space. Based on the given technical design for a two-level parking garage, our approach combines it´s accessibility (cars, people) with revised infrastructure elements (mirrored stairs).
The necessary reconstruction of the balcony allows for a critical review of its functions and options. This review includes the refinement of construction, surfaces, railings and shading. It allows for the reinstatement of the original main entrance of the City Hall and proposes new spaces for public use as well as connections to all levels. A series of gardens, an integrated water basin and fountains will raise the welcoming qualities of Rabin Square.
The current, large-size balcony does not function, possibly has never functioned, as an elevated ceremonial entrance plaza to the City Hall and remains an empty and bare structure that obstructs contiguity and movement between the square and the City Hall. It requires a transformative measure. We propose to turn it into a shaded terrace with a voluptuous garden (corresponding to Gan Yaakov at the other end ofChen Boulevard) and to reinstate the original main entrance of the City Hall on the balcony. Easy public access to the balcony is ensured by several additional circulation elements such as escalators (aligning the building’s façade on the North-East corner of the balcony, leading the visitor straight to the main entrance along a new, integrated security checkpoint) and a spacious spiral staircase (on the South-East side of the balcony) as well as a handicapped accessible elevator - together connecting all (under- and above ground) levels to one-another.
In our proposal, the vertical bris-soleil grid of the City Hall‘s south elevation is copied and horizontally laid as a steel-based concrete pergola partly filled with thin wooden lamellas, covering the entire balcony and turning it into a welcoming and well shaded space, articulated in the same formal language, proportions and scale of the City Hall and the square. The building’s entrance hall will become equally pleasant thanks to this new shading structure. The newly built space designed under the balcony is connected to the underground levels and will be as transparent as possible. It may function as an information center for visitors and tourists, as an urban gallery (displaying, for instance, on-going architectural and urban projects in Tel Aviv), as communal work space for NGO‘s and individuals operated by the municipality and as storage space.
In order to retain Rabin Square’s collective memory, we propose to maintain the existing pavement and the current 'international'* trees. During construction works of the underground parking, the existing pavement can be stored onsite, and then all tiles must be cleaned and replaced carefully, maintaining the current pattern. A stretched version of this pattern covers the new surface under the water basin, using the same tiles as the existing on the square, but with a smooth surface. On the balcony the pattern is simplified to parallel white lines.
