2019 in Holon, Aegina

ECOWEEK 2019 Projects in Holon, Israel Placemaking in Public Places

On September 1-6, 2019, the ECOWEEK design workshops made Big Transformations with Small Means at the Neot Shoshanim community center in Holon, Israel. ECOWEEK took place in cooperation with Holon Institute of Technology (HIT) Faculty of Design, the Strategic Planning Department and Sustainability Department of Holon Municipality, the Hirya Environmental Educational Center, the Israel Union of Architects, the Israel Green Building Council, the Romanian Cultural Institute, the Union of Romanian Architects, the Norwegian Embassy, Goethe Institute, and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hildesheim, Germany. Hosted at HIT, ECOWEEK 2019 hosted the exhibition ‘7 Jewish Pioneers of Modern Architecture in Romania’ at the Architects’ House, curated by the Union of Romanian Architects, the Israel Union of Architects and the Romanian Cultural Institute. ECOWEEK speakers included architect Lorin Niculae (Romania), architect till Boettger (Germany), riva Waldman (Israel), artist and designer Ayelet tarlovsky (Israel), designer roni Mero (Israel), and architect Iris Givoli Faiman (Israel). The organizing team included Elias Messinas (ECOWEEK / HIT), Bracha Kunda (HIT), and Iris Givoli Faiman (HIT), joined by till Boettger (University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hildesheim, Germany). “In modern design and urban development, mega projects are designed top-down. There is no small scale. In contrast, Placemaking is the creation of spaces for people by people. Activating Placemaking at ECOWEEK, students of architecture and design, work with the local community to re-claim public space, and transform it, using reclaimed and recycled materials.” E.M. WorKSHoP Leaders: Architects Lorin Niculae, till Boettger, Braha Kunda, Iris Givoli Faiman, and Elias Messinas. Consultants: Ayelet tarlovsky and roni Mero.

WorKSHoP team: Esther Sheli Abergel, Dar Asuri, Daniel Moris Barra, Alon Ben Ami Erickson, Maor Bezner, Lihi Bronstein, Gili Cohen, Hadas Cohen, Lior Cohen, Meshi Fishbain, Saar Goren, Noy Hadad, Or Hadadi, Zemer Hai, Shir Harari, Liron Hori, Sabrina Kakol, Karin Levin, Guy Levkov, Jennifer Marr, Dana Nolman, Noha Sewoester, Lynn Shabbat, Aviv Shamir, Shahar Sokot, Shai Shoshan, Daniel Tzipori, Adi Ventura, and Tom Wirt.

W1: Branding

The workshop, which consisted primarily of visual communication students from HIT, engaged in re-creating a new logo and brand identity for the Community Center, adding to the logo the form of people in an otherwise abstract form.

W2. Center Outdoor Spaces W2.1: Entrance

The workshop focused on the design and construction of a welcoming installation to the entrance of the Center. ‘We noticed how children want to enter the center “their way”. So, we created for them a playful mountain form, for children to climb and a bench for parents to sit. In the process, we also learned what wood enables us to do’, said student or Hadadi.

W2.2: Fence

The workshop focused on the fence of the Center as a lost opportunity to connect to the neighborhood. The students created a gap in the fence, by removing part of it, and then filled the gap with seating for the community. ‘When we took down the

metal fence, we saw how people came and sat on the concrete base’ said student Noah Sewoester. ‘It was only natural to create seating were people wanted to seat’.

W3: Community Center Lobby Interior Design

W2.3: Outdoor Library

The workshop team responded to the need of the Center to provide to the community, namely an outdoor community library, which would also free up the overcrowded lobby. The students identified the covered space under the structural beams as ideal. ‘We saw parents sit there, but there was no furniture or something for them to do,’ said student Shahar Sokot. ‘By using wooden pallets – which were, by the way, exactly the right dimension to complete the gap under the beams, we created outdoor bookshelves, scattered pillows and seats and voila! we had a library!’

W2.4: The Green Wall

The students identified the hardness of fences around the Center and the need to soften the edges of this heavily used public space. ‘We felt the need to “green” the walls but without blocking the view to the outside. So, we created pockets with plants, using nylon from bags from a construction site, attaching them to the metal fence,’ said student Lior cohen Avioz. In addition, the group created a ‘how to create your own pocket’ guide.

W2.5: Outdoor seating areas

The workshop focused on the outdoor space between the entrance to the Center and the indoor sports facility, where parents sit and wait for their children. In addition to the large tent and kiosk coffee shop, the group created more seating areas needed, through a variety of seating arrangements around existing palm trees, using primarily recycled wood and metal frames. ‘We set a module for seating height, middle height and table height’ said student daniel Moris Barra. In addition, the group created a community movie theater, using movable furniture.’ The workshop provided design solutions for the entrance lobby and waiting areas of the Community Center, to provide a trigger for the development and future implementation of ideas. ‘We identified problems with circulation, density, acoustics and visual confusion’ said student Karin Levin. ‘Our aim was to unify the space, by unifying seating and colors’. The design introduced elements to resemble trees and plants to clean the air and soften the space, proposed new floors, ceiling, lighting, colors, integrating blackboard and bulletin board, and pockets of plants with wooden pallets. At the end of the week, Gil Masika, Director of the Neot Shoshanim Community Center, said: ‘You managed so much in one week! ECOWEEK and the students did magic!’

ECOWEEK 2019 Exhibition in Holon, Israel

‘AT EYE LEVEL: Sustainable Design in the Public Space’ was the title of the exhibition curated by Braha Kunda in collaboration with Elias Messinas (ECOWEEK), roni Levit, Ben Sharabi, and ran Biran, hosted at the Julia Mizrahi Vitrina Gallery of Holon Institute of Technology (HIT) between May 13 and June 13, 2019. The exhibition offered new perspectives on people and locality in addressing global threats through eco-human centered design and creative placemaking. The exhibition was curated with an aspiration to promote conceptual and behavioral change through sustainable design, and to amplify the concepts of ‘non-place’ and ‘place’. At the entrance a video screen showed environmental and social design projects that combine community and creative placemaking by ECOWEEK coordinated by architect Elias Messinas and courses by architect Braha Kunda at HIT. The central piece of the exhibition was ‘The Green Raft’designed and built by Braha Kunda and Ben Sharabi, constructed in the entrance lobby, out of dimension bamboo sticks connected with ropes, so that the material could be returned after the exhibition. The installation integrated seating and urban agriculture for healthy eating and space refreshment. The exhibition integrated images from the non-place multidisciplinary art project by architect Braha Kunda and photographer ran Biran (non-place.biz), with Kaiser-Antonino dance and choreography and Wolfrum Lukazus Media design, investigating the vast, neglected, inhuman “non places“ created by the large, top-down infrastructures projects. Also, it integrated infographics installation by designer roni Levit, with Ben Sharabi and Braha Kunda reflecting the extent of the environmental crisis through three dimensional data graphs.

ECOWEEK 2019 The Mosaic of Aegina, Greece

On August 7, 2019 the opening of the exhibition on the Mosaic of Aegina took place at the Archaeological Museum of Aegina, Greece. The event was organized by ECOWEEK in collaboration with the Eforate of Antiquities of Piraeus and the Islands of the Ministry of Culture and Sport and under the auspices of the Municipality of Aegina. The opening event was attended by the Minister of Rural Development, Makis Voridis, along with his wife danae Michelakou Voridis, Deputy Mayor Nikos Economou, who addressed the event on behalf of Mayor dimitris Mourtzis, daniel Benardou representative of the Central Board for Jewish Communities of Greece on behalf of the president david Saltiel and Gabriel Negrin Chief Rabbi of Athens. Speakers at the event were Stella chrysoulaki, Director of the Eforate of Antiquities of Piraeus and the Islands, the architect Elias Messinas who curated the exhibition and Yvette Nahmia Messinas coordinator of the Friends of the Mosaic campaign. The exhibition remained open until August 24, attracting visitors from Greece and abroad. The exhibition aimed to raise awareness and funds for the preservation of the mosaic and the construction of a protective roof. The design and construction of the roof will be made possible thanks to the generous support of Samuel Makis Matsas.