Gabpa

To unfold the dual condition of rural settlement versus protected continuous nature into one of multiple actors the scenario mediates between the incompatible realms of the village of Ein Hud and the Mount Carmel National Park through a range of gradual territories. These territories include variations and degrees of the two different natures and translate them into a third space, a zone of mutual influence. ‘Gradual Territories’ disintegrates the mono-cultural landscapes into a multitude of performative spaces, which operate outside of ideology, history or tradition. It revises existing boundaries regarding their potential as thresholds - expandable in-between zones - and promotes new transitional practices. The in-between zones become the preparatory for yet unimaginable futures. The natural setting in the foothills of the Carmel Mountain supports a design in gradual territories. The landscape shows no abrupt edge conditions but changes continuously from a mountainous region in the East to the agricultural flat-lands along coast in the West. The diagram of the existing topography shows the gradient of the landscape. The approach to the village from the road no.4 covers the whole range of transition, from geological to flora and fauna. The trajectory of the Mount Carmel National Park runs perpendicular in North-South direction, changing between valley and ridge. The development of Ein Houd allows for a more general negotiation of rural settlement and National Park along the axis from the road no.4 to the village proper, including the other Ein Hod and the kibbutz Nir Etzion, both growing communities in expansion. The existing administrative boundaries together with the new municipality line of Ein Hud and the planned Extension of the National Park ignore geographic and cultural realities and constrain a sustainable development of both rural settlements and national park.
The concept of ‘Gradual Territories’ wants to integrate the village in its surrounding by reducing the limits dictated by opposition and defining more subtle marking of territories. GT addresses the need for development and the conservation of open landscape by introducing a development scheme of fingers and patches along the axis Ein Hud – Nir Etzion – Ein Hod. Each community is assigned an area for future residential and commercial development together with land for recreation or/and agriculture. The continuity of the open landscape of the national park is guaranteed through green fingers intersecting the functional landscape. The visual impact of the development along the East-West axis is reduced by concentrating the new landscapes in one valley. The integration of Ein Hud offers the opportunity for a joint development of the 3 communities into one differentiated network. The future identity of Ein Hud is closely connected to the economic and cultural formulation of this joint development. Today anything from a cooperative farming village to a eco-tourism and culture spot to a commuter’s town with a view seems a possible scenario. Non of these scenarios has to be exclusive; combined they point towards a post-modern condition of differentiated space/ identity. Our project for the village of Ein Hud promotes no definite master plan, but an operative system to activate all the inherent potentials for integrating the existing village and its extension in its surrounding landscape: 1. Definition and demarcation of domestic spaces starting with the existing (extension of housing, creation of bed & breakfast, densification of gardens, opportunity for cottage industry) through programmatic strips; the strips evolve out of the existing built and natural topography, separated and served by communal lands. The in-between is open to the surrounding National Park, allows for a continuous landscape, place of hybridization by combining different vegetation; the strips are means to the establishment of a porous human settlement. The non-rigid contour of the village entails a zone of influence where a variation of the typical Mediterranean landscape becomes possible; the negotiation of two symbolic landscapes can produce a more contemporary and open reading of nature, without ideological intentions.
tion of mixed flora. Mixed flora is a third nature, a fusion of Palestinian, Jewish, and external eco-typologies. Including pioneer plants and endemic species, this nature is not original but voluntarily artificial, a product of today. 3. Definition and demarcation of platforms (commercial, service, culture), squares at the junction of the communal lands with the main road. The central space becomes the multifunctional building, around which are concentrated all public service functions (city hall, school, kindergarten, as well as the medical clinic). Situated at the upper edge of the old village, it weaves existing landscape and buildings together into a network of outdoor and indoor situations. The ensemble is organized in 3 distinct parts and follows in its configuration the natural topography. A set of platforms and stairs separates and connects the different sections and offers a slow walkway from the mosque to the park on the ridge, interrupted by islands of vegetation; the new town center. 4. Programation of the belt zone between village and national park; plausible scenarios: terrace-agriculture and hothouse-agriculture towards the valley, recreational park and multi-functional field (summer camp, fair, festival) on the southern summit. 5. Reinterpretation of the existing forms and geographic conditions for the future extension of the village: a densified linear building type which offers possibilities for multi-family housing. The private garden become reinserted as vertical screens and roof terraces. Together and over time these operations generate new forms, typologies of landscape and building. Native by genealogy they open a new narrative, significant scenery, a new ground for the coming generation.