B.S.M El - Okeily International Consultant

Analysis of Ein Hud’s current state:
∑ Ein Hud is not a classic village; the villagers are not farmers but have a strong relationship with the cities, Haifa and Nir Etzion. This fact will help orient the future of Ein Hud in more commercial and tourist activities than in agriculture ones.
∑ Ein Hud has no city centre and the random growth, especially with non-stony material, will tighten to a breaking point (the transmutation to a shantytown).

The new municipal line proposal:
∑ Apart from the houses currently under construction, it is urgent to stop increasing the density and to create a new center point outside the current building zone.
∑ It is necessary to anticipate the habits of the inhabitants (50% under 18 yrs.) while focusing on the cultural activities to avoid a transformation of the village into a housing estate.
∑ In spite of the commercial and tourist orientation, we have to preserve the soul of the village by increasing the green belts, pedestrian zones, and especially to take into account the new building area, which includes the typological and morphological characters.

Alternative Master plan
The alternative master plan includes the existing one and an alternate extension to the South East. While keeping the military area a green zone, we foresee a pedestrian walk which connects the existing with a new extension area. Concerning the existing, we will do some minor modifications. A deep reorganization is required and has to be made with the inhabitants on the spot.
The new extension area is composed in six parts:
I - The Utopia Esplanade (situated at the contour line 270) is the new center point, the future growth of the village will be carried out around this center. It connects the other areas together and it is itself connected to the existing area by two roads among them a pedestrian walk. The Utopia Esplanade is a profound and symbolic place of meaning and as we have seen is imagined through the fable (see A0).
II - The green belt includes the existing green zone and continues along the southern slope of the mountain. It also borders the Utopia Esplanade. This area could be used for agriculture, as well as, a landscaped garden. The green belt has the function of a lung and it ends at the contour line 250. Through the green belt there are roads with stairs which have landing passes that allow you to connect to the Utopia place and the housing area.
III - The housing area is situated between the contour line 250 and 215, it is oriented to the South and is neighboring the existing housing zone (two roads connect them). The lots divisions are regular and also follows the curves of the mountains. The habitat units will be implanted in an irregular way to form an amphitheater on the slope of the mountain.

IV The cemetery forms a part of the village's memory and should not be placed by accident. It must be placed in continuity with the living environment of the habitants and should also favor from the Southern orientation.
V The public buildings area, which includes a car park and a tourism development area, are located together between the Utopia Esplanade and the entrance road of the village coming in from the North (connected to road no. 4)
VI The future area is an important space without any guidelines. To have a realistic master plan, we should not resolve all the problems today, however leaving some for tomorrow. Tthe politics, social, and economic orientations and needs of the village will be decided on the future area use.

The Utopia Esplanade

The Utopia Esplanade is an alternative to the multi-functional center and is composed from five different constructions; the common element between them is the fable (see A0). The following built area could be adapted to the real needs.

I - The rotunda is an exhibition space (300 m2). It has a strong presence because it is the only curved space in the village and a circle is the primary form, which incarnates easily the meaning of union and convergence.
II - The water towers play the part of a memorial also, which assents the twin villages and the partnerships between Ein Hud and Ein Hod. This construction is reveals from a memoral, an architecture whose purpose is to remind of the past and also to reconcile with it.
III - The kindergarten (100 m2) has a semantic meaning and is situated at the opposite end of the memorial because it has no relationship with the past but only goes towards a future. This construction reminds us of the naive part of our childhood, when everything is possible and even the impossible is met by various identities.
IV - The hospitality house (70m2 per floor, total =140 m2) is a simple cube, like the cubes of the inhabitants houses. It should have a good sense of hospitality where a guest can feel at home.
V - The sundial made from seven concrete panels (seven demolition orders) is the last act of this Utopia Esplanade. It is a constant reminder of the spirit of the architectural project which talks about separation and the determination to break it.

From the beginning of history, the Wall is the primitive act of separation. In this project the concrete panels were chosen to underline in an more abstract level, the Palestinian and Arabian causes. What kind of peaceful future can be considered in the Middle East and with all the Arab people, if the Arabs of Israel can not find their place?

This project has only one main idea:

It takes the vocabulary of separation and suffocation and transforms it.
It takes barbed wire and wall panels to create a space of freedom,
It takes a rude reality to tell a fable,
It tries to keep in an adult world, the naive part of our childhood,
when everything was possible.