Urban Studio

The Urban Studio is a journey that combines research, planning, and design, culminating in a significant final project that distills the students' value statements and talent. Confronting the challenges of urban reality in Israel is the final stage of their studies and a calling card for their future professional careers.

The Urban Studio develops a toolbox for formulating an architectural stance on contemporary Israeli spatial reality, while recognizing the planning challenges faced today in developing optimal urban environments. Students grapple with issues of densification of the urban fabric, creating urban scenarios that maintain a social, economic, and environmental balance and are prepared for future changes.

The investigation of these challenges leads to the creation of a sustainable urban living environment that is healthy for its residents, inclusive of its diverse population, and attempts to address social injustice and processes of social displacement. The studio also deals with a sensitive and alert engagement with renewing old urban fabrics, while identifying their structural and spatial qualities, respecting local memory and history, and formulating a relevant response to contemporary needs.

Special emphasis is placed on the urban public fabric and its anchors—the public buildings—as promoters of the residents' sense of identity and belonging to the city, which also contribute to its branding. In light of the growing trend of privatization, the need to address the demands of a growing urban population, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to challenge architectural concepts and conventions, such as the relationship between public and private. This will lead to a change in the way city dwellers use both open and built public space. The studio is an opportunity for a new reading of this fabric that will generate an architectural intervention contributing to the improvement of the daily lives of its users.