Arad | entrance to the city as a landmark | Maria Sorokin | Itshik Alhadiff, Architect and Tsvi Geresh, Architect

You will notice Arad from a distance, but the more you approach it, the more it disappears from sight. It will forever hold the undetected streets, all meeting at the center of town. There, you will find Bedouin businesses. Sitting between them are the local veterans, sighing silently as they remember the glory days the city once had.

Arad had a remarkable potential and great promise: A modernly planned city with a clean air and gorgeous desert view. And indeed it was a very desire real estate in the beginning. But ultimately, the dream was shattered; the modernity of the city was not enough to prevent the younger population from running off to the Center.

The purpose of this project was to bring Arad back to life. It is placed on a very strategic junction that leads to The Dead Sea, Eilat and Messada. There's much movement around the city, but not inside of it.

Today, the entrance to the city is not at all inviting. In this project I've created a cultural center, which already meets the passing cars at the side of the roads before the main entrance, compelling them to pull over and engage in the offered activities and perhaps even enter the city.

The cultural center will be built as an Oasis. Its shape and materials will hold a dialog between the urbanity of the city and the earthliness of the desert. The surrounding trees and inner courtyards will create a shaded micro-climate and shield people from the desert heat. The materials of the structure create a play between transparent and solid; the roof of the structure is limestone, popular in this desert region. The walls are modern-urban, made of glass and metal, thus contributing to the interaction between the people, the desert and the structure.