Ariel University’s architecture students pave the way to better cities

“I want to do things that make better cities and places.Whether it’s in Israel or abroad, all of the world is in front of me.”

By KAYLA ROSEN
The Alliance House before the Ariel University students’ renovations... (photo credit: YULIA SHLOMENZON)
The Alliance House before the Ariel University students’ renovations...
(photo credit: YULIA SHLOMENZON)
As proud parents, family, friends and faculty trickled into Alliance House near Mahaneh Yehuda on July 28, you could feel a sense of joy and relief lingering in the air. Joy, because after weaving in and out of the building’s rooms, it was clear that something incredible had been created. And relief, because this night marked the end to a lot of hard work.
After five years of grueling tests, projects and papers, after five years of perseverance and dedication, after five years of intense schooling, the graduating students of Ariel University’s architecture program showcased their work in an exhibition of their final projects at Alliance House, which they most appropriately named the A+ Expo.
“First of all, this is a celebration of the students,” said Itzhak Elhadif, deputy dean of the architecture school and director of all the projects. “They are here to celebrate the work that they did in an exhibition. They did everything by themselves.”
The exhibition, which took place from July 28 to August 5, was the culmination of the projects these students worked on continuously for the past school year.
The assignment was for the students to utilize the skills they acquired throughout their studies and implement them into one final piece of work.
“Practical experience is the most important skill that the students need to have in the future,” said Elhadif. “In the future, this is the first ticket that they have to show what they have done.
It’s a very big final project, and when a student goes to an office, this is the first thing that they present. So if they excel in their project, it is very likely that they will be welcome in a lot of offices.”
The project itself required each student to pick a city-related issue and a location in Israel. Then, they used their architecture expertise to address that issue within their chosen location and come up with solutions to benefit the city.
For example, one student examined the roofs of the Old City and discovered that another “city” could be built on them. They then created a blueprint for what this city-upon-a-city could look like, and displayed their findings at the exhibition.
“The projects deal with issues of residency, issues of Orthodox and secular people, issues of urban designs in certain cities, [and] issues of how to deal with places that have very low socioeconomic status,” said Elhadif. “There are issues that are very conceptual, like what is the next language in architecture, or one project that deals with disturbances in the city. The subjects are very varied.”
But the work did not end there. Not only did the students create the projects on display – they built the exhibition itself. The job entailed everything from finding a location to building benches for guests to sit on and creating a book and website explaining all the projects in detail. When the students reserved Alliance House for the exhibition, all they had were walls, a ceiling and a floor; the rest was left to their imaginations.
“I have been doing this since the beginning of the year,” said Yulia Shlomenzon, a graduating student and the producer of the exhibition. “For me, this has become my second home. I even left my job in an architect’s office.”
The students were also given the opportunity to oversee renovations of Alliance House, which is owned by an alumnus of Ariel University. The renovations included changes to the floors, lights and pillars, and were done with the intention of restoring the building while maintaining its authenticity.
Alliance House is a hub for innovation.
It is home to seven creative organizations, including New Spirit, the Hirshberg Painting and Drawing School, and the School of Music and Silence.
Therefore, the A+ Expo, which is in many ways the artistic expression of these architecture students, fit in seamlessly with the core purpose of the building.
“For me, it was very important to make the best exhibition,” said Shlomenzon.
“It’s about showing who we are. There’s a lot of talented people here and a lot of good work. That’s why I named the exhibition A+.”
The topics for the projects ranged from the vastly abstract to the very specific, and Shlomenzon’s certainly fell into the abstract category.
She was inspired by a previous school assignment that looked at the phenomenon that occurs at the point where one thing ends and another begins. Specifically, she looked at how this phenomenon applies to music, where one note ends and another begins, which creates a rhythm.
Shlomenzon then examined the ways that music shapes the flow of a city. Her goal was to apply what she learned about music and rhythm to create perfect harmony in a city, even where there are two parts that flow differently.
“I wanted to know how all of this happened in urban life,” she said. “I’m interested in urban planning and how we can make the public space better for people.”
At the other end of the spectrum, Amittai HarTuv’s project took a practical and modern take on housing. For his project, he recognized the changing shape of the family unit and the changing needs that people have when it comes to housing.
“Today’s housing doesn’t serve a lot of people anymore,” said HarTuv.
“Maybe 50 years ago this type of housing was very important, to be able to build a lot of houses cheaply and quickly,” he said. “But today, people live as families that are more complex: joint parenthood, communities, people who are living with friends, or people who don’t have a family per se, but are living with partners.”
So HarTuv came up with the idea to implement what is known as “community co-housing” in Israel. This creates homes that have combinations of shared and private spaces that are different from those in traditional homes, so that several groups of people can live there comfortably. For example, this might mean that divorced parents can live under the same roof, having separate bedrooms on different sides of the home but sharing a kitchen.
As for what’s to come for these students, it certainly looks like they have options. In fact, Ariel University’s architecture program just had its first alumni graduate from Harvard University.
“After the exhibition I want to create,” said Shlomenzon. “I want to do things that make better cities and places.Whether it’s in Israel or abroad, all of the world is in front of me.”


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