Building

The complex is made up of 14 houses in four groups, all around a central courtyard. Taking inspiration from the traditional arab village, the joint courtyard is meant to be the center of life of all the surrounding houses. They are all accessed from this center. The plans imply a project which grew from a core outwards, rather than taking the outline of the lot as a starting point.

City

Despite efforts of planners to create a new neighborhood that has the qualities of the old Arab Malha, there are distinct differences. In the old neighborhood it is possible to walk among the houses in a net of winding lanes, with all entrances opening directly into this public space. In the new neighborhood, all projects function almost like gated communities. The lanes running through each complex do not invite bypassers, to say the least. The lanes that run between the projects are have no entrances and are in general silent and uninviting.

Environment

The neighborhood of Malha sits on a steep North-South slope. The Neighborhood master plan, as laid out by Moshe Safdie, divided the area into parcels in which a small number of apartment building would be planned by the same architect. Also, the main visual concept was that all building should be low rise and follow the topography, so as to appear to fit into the hill from a distance and resemble the geometry of the Arab village. Our project follows these guidelines and is made up of four main blocks of houses with slightly winding paths running through.






























Most of the projects higher up on the hill are long rows of terraced apartments.



Old Malha










New Malha

Technology

The stone dome, used often in the local pre ’48 architecture, was a logical way to build a strong roof without cement, which was not in use yet, or wood which was scarce. This and other forms of arches, which stemmed from a constructive necessity, have become a symbol of “traditional” architecture and are emulated in modern Israeli housing projects (usually the more upscale ones)- but with materials (cement) that render them meaningless. There is no constructive justification to use these shapes, and so what is left is a formative decoration.

Some of the openings of the new projects- in Malha and beyond- are imitations of traditional local architecture. Arched windows and doors were an effective way of creating safe openings in heavy stone walls, but when the walls are built of cement, the supportive system of a stone arch loses its meaning. The stone we see is just a thin coating pasted on the wall. The keystone which has the familiar trapezoid shape is just an illustration of a historical reality.

There are also minor gestures, such as a row of perforations in the low wall of the roof. The effect they have is in fact the same in both new houses and old. The altered building technologies haven’t rendered them meaningless. What has is the changed lifestyle. When roof was an important place for various household chores such as washing, there was a need to enable air flow while retaining privacy. But in the modern Israeli houses which incorporate this system, it is not of practical use and is nothing more than decoration.

Implementation

Density

Despite the intentions of the planners of the complex, the lanes and courtyard of the Guggenheim project, like most other residential projects in modern Malha, are deserted. The densest area is also the only with pedestrian traffic on it. The most pedestrian friendly and popular stretch was at the top of the hill- a plain street lined with simple three storey apartment blocks- but with a wide footpath and grass patches alongside (photo below). Within the lanes of the Guggenheim project there was practically not a soul.

Neighbors

The semi public courtyard, which is meant to be the center of weight for the whole community of houses in this project, is bordered on- in this section- by two private yards protected by two metre high walls. The courtyard and the private yards are two distinct areas, meant for different groups of people. The residents use these private yards for recreation and have no need or interest in making use of the courtyard, which is desolate. The public benches placed there by the developer seem out of place, if not something of a parody.

Neighboring

These images illustrate one of the problems with the attempt to replicate the pedestrian lanes of Old Malha in the new projects. The scale is lost and the clear facades created by the two facing rows of houses are replaced by a blurred area of protruding balconies, private flower beds (or are they public?), entrances to houses and the public lanes.












Neighborhoods















This is a scheme of an ideal neighborhood according to the principles of "New Urbanism". The 10 principles, as they appear on the New Urbanism website are:


1. Walkability


2. Connectivity


3. Mixed-Use & Diversity


4. Mixed Housing


5. Quality Architecture and Urban Design


6. Traditional Neighborhood Structure


7. Increaded Density


8. Smart Transportation


9. Sustainability


10. Quality of Life





To summarize a long and elaborate explanation, New Urbanism promotes creation of neighborhoods which emulate small American towns from the beginning of the 20th century, where everyone knew and trusted everyone, people would go for strolls, facilities were within walking distance, buildings where small and ornate, and pollution was low.


One criticism of New Urbanism is that it is not much more than a nostalgic idealization of a lifestyle way out of date, and that doesn't confront burning contemporary issues such as urban sprawl and the need for densifying cities rather than creating new suburbs.


The New Malha neighborhood can be seen as an attemp to materialize such ideals, as shown in the scheme below. It consciously tries to recreate the village life of Old Malha, and the neighborhood is criss-crossed with pedestrian paths, meant to connect the commercial and public buildings and create the coveted pedestrian traffic.


But the neighborhood plan has no such effect. The lanes are abandoned. The residents venture out only in their vehicles. The housing units are homogenous in their design and in their cost.

Malha Residential Complex

Guggenheim/Bloch Architects
South Jerusalem
Completed 1994