Entrance Gate
2014-2019
First prize open competition winner, 2014
First prize in Dezeen Awards 2020 - Infrastructure category, public vote
within the framework of Rolka Studio. A joint entry with Arch. Gaby Schwartz.
1,200 sqm
CATEGORY
Infrastructure, Public, Landscape
LOCATION
The Technion, Haifa, Israel
PHOTOGRAPHY
Amit Geron
After analysing the existing potentials on site, we decided to offer a new interpretation to the idea of a 'gate' – not a barrier or a separator but a bridge, a new public platform that connects the city and the campus through a green promenade.
Number of potential starting points when planning the project, including an existing campus promenade next to the entrance and an urban promenade that ended just outside.
The entrance gate now ties these two together in the form of a pedestrian and bicycle bridge, which is elevated above an existing road and was designed using parametric software.
Where the bridge widens, after the security checkpoint, a new informal square has been designed for the students to meet their friends.
The bridge acts as a dynamic platform that enables the campus to host various types of events and to explore the potential of the new connection between the city and the campus.
Even though the Technion Entrance Gate isn't a traditional gate, it still has to fulfil the functions of a gate.
A glass pavilion, which was placed to the side of the bridge and extends over it, contains an elevator and two checkpoints. Pedestrians and cyclists can also use automated speed gates that open with a magnetic card.