The project of the new HOUSING UNIT 17 in BEER SHEBA, Israel, responds to a call for a new type of community, autonomous in terms of energy consumption and situated in the 'no man's land' areas between the actual city and the surrounding desert.
The Unit works as a testing ground for new technologies related to the use of water recycling and energy production. But the 'industrial' spaces are not relegated to some inaccessible basement. Instead, they become part of the overall project and are indistinguishable from other public and private spaces.
This philosophical and functional choice gives the whole Unit its original, peculiar personality.
The dialogue with the strong, severe, pitiless but gorgeous nature of the surrounding desert is the other fundamental of the design approach.
The Unit works as a testing ground for new technologies related to the use of water recycling and energy production. But the 'industrial' spaces are not relegated to some inaccessible basement. Instead, they become part of the overall project and are indistinguishable from other public and private spaces.
This philosophical and functional choice gives the whole Unit its original, peculiar personality.
The dialogue with the strong, severe, pitiless but gorgeous nature of the surrounding desert is the other fundamental of the design approach.
