Kikar Hamedina competition, Tel Aviv

Initiator: Land owner committee

Status: 2001

A competition of invited firms to compete for the planning of the square, which included, according to the master plan, three residential towers, commercial center and the lowering of the Jabotinsky road under the square. What guided the planning procedure was the will to optimize on one hand the marketing advantage for the developers while conserving and enhancing the quality of the open public area and so to relate to the visiting pedestrians. The planning determined that first of all, the towers, should be moved aside from their current position by the general plan, so that they will not block the views from the streets that lead to the square. In order for the square to be open and accessible to the public, we turned the commercial wall, that surround the square in the general plan, into a green hill and the commercial area was centered and lowered to underground level, and by doing so the roof of the mall actually functions as the slopes of the square, which turned into a park with topographic qualities. The underground mall entrances are from the inner square that is located in the center of the square's park, which in itself is multilevel experience, enabling the visitor to walk directly through the main entrance path way, or by special corridors that stretch from the towers to the center by penetrating directly into the slopes, creating a sort of small gorges there. Another way to enter the mall is by going up the hill to the top and from there to go down directly by elevators into the commercial center. The thirty stories high towers, were planned so that in each typical floor were six apartments. All of the towers were planned identically, but each one covered with a different stone cladding, complementing by the material to where the tower is facing; north, south and east. The sum Total of 368 residential units and 25000 sq/m of total built commercial area. *Rothman-Raz Architects