Productive Bay
Cities rely on huge, imported flows of energy and matter. However, urban flow patterns are essentially linear- imported resources and goods are being consumed in the city and later discarded as waste or emissions, resulting in resource depletion and environmental stress. The growing estrangement between the urban environment and supporting natural resources is a consequence of the unbalanced flows of energy and matter through human society, with industrial production being pushed away, out of sight, and out of mind.
To facilitate sustainable resource management and environmental equity, the project proposes to reimagine the city as a productive space. The project focuses on the heavily industrialized area of Haifa Bay, a classic case study of the dichotomic, disrupted environment of the current industrial order. Through the alteration of the urban metabolism, a symbiotic environment of urban life and sustainable industrial production is created, enhancing circularity of energy and matter while suggesting new forms of experimental and resilient urbanism that strives to heal both- the metabolic and the urban rift.
The spatial organization enables the integration of new urban functions while preserving the strategic function of the area as an industrial port. Thus, the previously monofunctional and semi disserted waterfront becomes a vibrant urban environment. The urban fabric is organized around the waterfront as its structural center, with each segment having its own spatial characteristics, according to the nature of the waterfront functions.
The whole block functions as a hybrid of urban and industrial activity, with the metabolism network at its core, providing public passage through an elevated corridor above the production area. Vertical gardens parallel to the south façade provide space for the local residents to engage in gardening and grow their own fruits and vegetables.