Fragments That Connect

The Station Project – Netanya
Advisor | Prof. Arch. Nir Chen
Winter Semester 2024

Studio Focus
Guided by the instructor, the studio explored urban regeneration through transport-oriented planning and mixed-use development, integrating a central Netanya site with a transport hub, commercial and office spaces, and approximately 300 housing units to create a vibrant urban center.

Project Abstract
The design addresses disconnections in the urban network and site edges, establishing connectivity across scales, from city to building to apartment, through the Fragmented Buildings concept. Controlled building fragmentation, height variation, and mixed-use programming respond to the site’s context, creating a dense and lively urban environment.

Connectivity is reinforced through diverse public and private spaces, enhancing the urban experience for residents, visitors, and tenants. The combination of open courtyards, public functions, and private areas encourages social interaction, leisure, and exploration, ensuring that every resident, local, or visitor arriving via the transport hub finds an activity or space suited for them.

Urban Context Analysis – Street Network and Site Edges
The design responds to disconnections within the urban network and the site’s edges. The site is situated along two main streets: Herzl St, linking it to the coastline and Netanya Market via Shoham St, and Binyamin Blvd, active with commercial life throughout the day. Two quieter residential streets, Alon Tzvi St and Ehad Ha’am St, also intersect the site, creating a contrast in urban character. This diversity guided building placement, height, and program to integrate the development with its surroundings.

Existing Street Sections

Western street section

South street section

Eastern street section

Northen street section

Initial Intervention Model – Fragmented Buildings Concept

The model establishes site-wide connectivity, responding to urban edges, context, and mixed-use requirements. Each street intersection was analyzed to adapt the design to existing conditions. The fragmentation concept enables a dynamic urban experience, allowing flexible control of building disintegration, heights, and function placement within a vibrant urban context.

Changing Spatial Experience – The section and spatial perception transform along the walking path, creating a dynamic experience.

Design Development Stages

1-Identifying the Urban Context – Analyze the character of each street frontage.

4-Movement & Central Axis –Connect site edges via a central axis on Herzl St. and a secondary axis linking Binyamin Blvd. commercial areas to new ground-floor spaces.

2-Maximum Mass Placement – Placing the largest building mass on-site with a 5 m setback.

5-Abstracting Axes from Mass – Emphasize key spatial axes through building form, reconnecting the neighborhood (Ehad Ha’am St.) to the commercial area (Herzl St.).

3-Connecting Urban Axes – Integrate the design with the existing street network.

6-Fragmented Concept – Gradually disintegrate the mass toward the base to express conceptual fragmentation.

Initial Realized Fragmentation Form

Fragmentation – Height and Program Distribution Based on Urban Context

The fragmentation process defined each building’s height and program in relation to the surrounding streets. The tallest, ten-story building is positioned at the intersection of Binyamin Blvd. and Herzl St., where both streets are widest and most active. Toward the quieter intersections, such as Alon Tzvi St. and Ehad Ha’am St., the buildings gradually decrease in height and intensity, creating a smooth transition and integration with the existing urban fabric.

Fragmented Buildings – Program and Height by Urban Context

Form Concept – Repeated Typologies

Typology 1

Typology 2

Typology 3

Typology 4

Form Concept – Repetition Across Floors

Fragmentation Typology – Urban Contrast

As a result of the unique fragmentation typology, a clear contrast emerges between the two façades of each residential building unit. The exterior commercial façade is straight and uniform, presenting a clean white appearance toward the city, while the interior façade is fragmented, clad in wood-like mahogany aluminum, and forms a green internal courtyard between the building edges. This contrast reflects the two apartment typologies: courtyard-facing units feature balconies wrapped with green planter elements, while street-facing units have no balconies, reinforcing the distinction between inner and outer faces.

Contrast Between Exterior and Interior – Commercial vs. Courtyard Spaces

Rooftop view

Internal Courtyard – Landscape Development and Urban Connectivity

Maintains the fragmentation concept while preserving main urban axes, creating calm, open spaces with diverse seating and meeting areas that encourage social interaction for residents and visitors.

Maintaining the Fragmentation Concept in the Landscape Design

Preserving the Main Urban Axes

Different Elevations from the Landscape with Various Seating and Meeting Areas

Commercial Facade – Entrance from Binyamin Blvd & Herzl St to the Inner Courtyard

Commercial Facade – View from Binyamin Blvd

Ground Floor Functional Division

Public Building – Gym

Public Building – Art Studio

Residential Lobby Atrium – Connecting Floors & Bringing Natural Light

Residential Corridor with Views to the Ground Floor Lobby, Atrium, and Other Floors

Residential Building Units
Each building unit features diverse public functions on the ground floor and a private residential lobby atrium with an internal courtyard. A skylight at the top floor connects all apartment levels, fostering visual interaction between residents across corridors. Internal connectivity within each building links all apartments through the atrium, accompanied by various seating and communal areas. This vertical connection encourages eye contact and interaction between neighbors, supporting a strong sense of community within each building.

Apartment Typologies

Type A – Street-Facing Units

These units face the urban streetscape, featuring clean white plaster façades without balconies.

Type B – Courtyard-Facing Units

Overlooking the inner courtyard, these units feature balconies with green planters and wood-like mahogany aluminum façades that express the project’s fragmented concept.

Shared Space Between Building Units

A connection exists between residents at the building scale: each pair of adjacent building units is linked by a private open space exclusively for residents, featuring seating and meeting areas that foster interaction and community.

Longitudinal Section | Herzl St and Alon Tzvi St through the Three Units

Shared Space Between Building Units – Zoomed Out View

View from Apartment Balcony – Facing Other Residential Buildings

Shared Space Between Building Units with Seating and Meeting Areas

Cross Section | Ehad Ha’am St and Binyamin Blvd through the Internal Courtyard

Internal Courtyard Longitudinal Section – Urban Space Along the Central Axis Connecting the Market and the Neighborhood

Cross Section – Urban Space Along the Axis Connecting the Existing Commercial Area on Binyamin St. to the Planned Commercial Area