Environments by Design
Abstract
Cities of today face issues of migration, integration, rapid urbanization, climate change, capitalism and pandemics. In response to this, as architects in the era of information, we utilize technology to manage urban risk and design resilient cities.
Can data help us understand better the ongoing shift in our societies and urban environment? How can we use data to create sustainable smart neighborhoods, improving the quality of urban life while providing opportunities for all?
We are advocates of data-driven solutions that can shape long-term smart city strategies. We believe in the systematic use of data and technology as tools to help us understand social behavior and community needs, translating them into physical space. Our methodology building from ‘the bottom-up’ with data, investigates how to design places promoting well-being, economic diversity and sustainable growth.
With data analysis we envisage the design and function of environments of different scales and programs, ranging from cities and neighborhoods to institutions and public spaces. Our vision for the world’s 9th best hospital, includes transforming it into a healing place embedded within the community and the urban fabric. With rapid medicinal advances we see the hospital of the future functioning not as a standalone building, but as a living organism that develops along with its surroundings.
We put our faith in data to create flexible urban environments that can absorb future shocks and stresses. In a neglected industrial area in Tel Aviv, by using large amounts of area usage data, we developed a software for the municipality to maintain the neighborhood’s balance and existing uses, while being developed as a mixed-use urban quarter.
Our data-influenced design for a new smart city in the desert, creates a new social model for its citizens and municipality, providing a new home for thousands of people by integrating diverse neighboring populations.
Erez Ella was born in Jerusalem and studied Architecture at the Tel Aviv University and the TU Delft in the Netherlands. Erez founded HQ architects in Tel Aviv in 2008 after spending several years as an Associate at OMA (1999 and 2005) and as Co-founder & Principal at REX (2006 to 2008). There, he led the TVCC project in Beijing, directed the design of the second scheme of the Whitney Museum in NY, oversaw the design of the Wyly Theatre in Dallas, and the design and completion of the VAKKO Fashion Center in Istanbul. From Tel Aviv, Erez leads HQ Architects’ international design work, exhibiting an expanding portfolio that includes public spaces, infrastructure, cultural and educational projects, offices, hotels and retail projects. Erez co-curated the Israeli Pavilion at the 2012 Venice Biennial of Architecture, and is the co-editor in chief of the architectural book “Aircraft Carrier – American Ideas and Israeli Architectures after 1973”. In 2011, Erez established and currently leads the ‘Mechanism of Design and Urbanism’ research unit at the Bezalel School of Architecture. Erez Ella was named “The Most Promising Architects Under the Age of 40” by Wallpaper Magazine, and in “The Most Promising Professionals Under the Age of 40” in Israel by The Marker Magazine.
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Friday 18th June, 2021