Yarışmalar-Competitions

International architecture competition launched for ‘unrecognized village’ — as design alternative to the creation of an apartheid state in Israel.

Amsterdam, 10 July 2004

The architecture competition, for which a call for entries was announced this month, invites architects, professional planners and others to design alternatives for Ein Hud, one of the so-called ‘unrecognized villages in Israel. The competition is part of One Land, Two Systems, a public project that makes visible how spatial planning is used as a political instrument in Israel. The launch of the architecture design competition follows last month’s initial public event organised by F.A.S.T. in collaboration with the Amsterdam-based ‘De Balie’ centre for culture and politics.

The competition is a constructive intervention by architects and others to develop sustainable designs for Arab villages which have been neglected by the Israeli spatial planning system Just as the much-debated construction of the ‘wall’ between Israel and the Palestinian territories makes clear, the spatial planning policies in Israel lead to a state of ‘apartheid’, in which the Arab population is denied possibilities for development. Two systems, two existences, two physical realities. For Israeli villages, investment in their future encompasses good services, roads, and green areas, while the ‘unrecognized’ Arab villages remain white spots in the eyes of the government, often literally removed from its maps. Arab villages often have no possibilities for future economical, demographical, or cultural development.

The architecture design competition is urgent because the results will be used in the case for the Israeli High Court against the Government Masterplan for the unrecognized village of Ein Hud and the demolition of Arab houses. The importance of this competition is wider than the realm of human rights for the people of Ein Hud. The competition challenges professional planners, architects, geographers, artists, filmmakers, photographers, journalists, writers and others, as well as students, to use design and other tools in order resolve conflicting territorial claims and (planning) cultures. Its aim is to develop a plan for a sustainable community, with new architectural solutions.

The multi-disciplinary international expert jury will oversee the architecture competition. Exhibitions, conference, and a publication, planned for 2005 will stimulate both the debate and the dissemination of the competition results.

Timetable
Official call for entries: July 1, 2004

Registration starts: September 1, 2004

Registration ends: December 20, 2004

Submissions deadline: January 10, 2005

Jury meets: January 2005

A project of F.A.S.T. www.seamless-israel.org  and De Balie centre, Amsterdam www.balie.nl

F.A.S.T.
F.A.S.T. (Foundation for Achieving a Seamless Territory) was founded in 2004 by the Israeli architect Malkit Shoshan.

While at university and in her professional work, Shoshan became aware of the planning methods the Israeli state used to permanently enlarge Jewish control in Israel and the Occupied Territories.

F.A.S.T.’s aims are:
- Researching and analyzing Israeli planning policies

- Pushing planning-, legal-, media- and political agendas toward exposing the injustices of the current

planning policies

- Creating new discourses on planning in the Israeli public sphere

- Fostering international exchanges for the development of planning instruments

- Developing instruments for alternative planning policies that ensure coexistence

De Balie
De Balie, Amsterdam is an independent centre for culture and politics, acting as a public platform for debates, lectures, theatre and cultural events. , www.balie.nl.

For further information, or for a DVD of the opening event at de Balie, contact F.A.S.T (Malkit Shoshan or Dan Handel):

www.seamless-israel.org, [email protected]