The Technological Center - Ashdod

The Technological Center - Ashdod 

Daniel Azerrad Architects

The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron

MANUFACTURERS
Danpal, Hpl, Shaharabani Doors, Winnex

LEAD ARCHITECTS
Daniel Azerrad

CONTRACTOR
Sh.a.y. Enterprises & Investment Ltd

ELECTRICAL ENGINEER
G.b. Engenier Ltd

ACOUSTIC ENGINEER
B.g.acoustic Consultants

TEAM
Hila Davia, Shoham Ben Hamo, Noya Moran, Danel Vasana, Itzik Ohayon, Stav Gohar

STRUCTURE ENGINEER
Eran Schiller

PROJECT MANEGER
Miky Gronsky

CONCRETE CONSERVATION CONSULTANT
Luis Bosernitzan

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Noga Alter

HVAC CONSULTANTS
Eyal Niv

FIRE SAFETY CONSULTANT
Dany Levin

PHOTOGRAPHS
Amit Geron

AREA
3000 M²

YEAR
2023

LOCATION
Asdod, Israel

CATEGORY
Elementary & Middle School, Community

The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron

This project is located in a modest district north of the port city of Ashdod. The site is part of a complex of educational buildings. The original building, designed by Architect Itzhak Perelshtein, served as a secondary school.

In recent years, only a third of the building continued to function as a secondary school, while the rest was abandoned. Intervening in an existing project presents a great dilemma.

The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron
The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron

When approaching this great 1960s brutalist structure, the goal was to consciously create a new historical layer. Our strategy was to reuse the original building in a way that is responsible, respectable, generous, and unique.

The Technological Center is a new initiative of the Ministry of Education that seeks to revive old abandoned schools with a new educational program composed of laboratories and workshops that promote research in various fields- biotechnology, robotics, sustainable energy- classrooms' offices, and a multi-purpose room.

The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron
The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron

The original partition was classic: a covered central patio surrounded by hallways and classrooms facing the outside.

For the spaces facing the south elevation (extremely hot for most of the year), we proposed to move the hallway to the south façade, and in this way, the laboratories would face the central space.

The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron
The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron

The hallway serves as a heat protector and can also be used as an intermediate space for students.

The laboratories and classrooms face the north, enjoy soft light, and are completely glazed. In the heart of the atrium, we locate the multi-purpose room. A box with a Danpal red skin is conceived as an allegory to technology.

The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron
The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron
The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron

The grey concrete, with its aesthetics of imperfection, is contrasted by the red box, which is shiny, reflective, and perfectly smooth.

The box, slightly rotated, creates a subtle gesture to break the orthogonality of the structure. The interior façade was created by closing the open hallways with a UGLASS-profile glazed skin.

We created a porch that is also used as a shadowed space to define an access space. The new exterior skin is made up of two layers: the first is an HPL skin with colors ranging from white to gray through warm yellows to red.

The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron
The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron
The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron

The second is an exposed concrete brise soleil structured in independent rhythms. The outer skin has depth, and when it meets the sun, a new dimension is created.

Each floor is characterized by a specific color. Green is at the entrance, violet is on the first floor, and yellow is on the second, while the handrail leads us to the corresponding colors.

Two new functions were added: vertical circulation and bomb shelters. The "tower" of the elevators and that of the shelters, mostly blind facades, were placed in the north of the building, which is also its rear, while the new emergency stairs were placed at the entrance.

The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron
The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron
The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron

The existing trees on the site provided the structure for the landscape design, which was composed of benches under the generous shade of the trees, flooring connecting the exterior spaces with the access porch, and carefully chosen vegetation in the green spaces under the trees.


The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron
The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron
The Technological Center - Ashdod
© Amit Geron


The Technological Center - Ashdod
Plan - 1st floor
The Technological Center - Ashdod
Plan - 2nd floor
The Technological Center - Ashdod
Plan - Entrance floor
The Technological Center - Ashdod
Plan - Situation
The Technological Center - Ashdod
Plan - Site


The Technological Center - Ashdod
South Elevation
The Technological Center - Ashdod
East Elevation
The Technological Center - Ashdod
Section
The Technological Center - Ashdod
Sketch


The Technological Center - Ashdod
Stairs Elevations
The Technological Center - Ashdod
Concept
The Technological Center - Ashdod
Sketch
The Technological Center - Ashdod
Sketch