In a hackathon for the development of innovative construction solutions for the rehabilitation of the surrounding settlements, a project that proposes to build the homes that were destroyed in the Western Negev in a more environmentally friendly and efficient manner, which will create a high sense of security among the community, won
The winning proposal in the hackathon. Image courtesy of the multidisciplinary team What happens when a group of experts from all fields of construction in Israel sit down around one table with the aim of finding the smartest and most environmental solution for building the future homes of the settlements surrounding Gaza? In a special hackathon organized by the Israeli Green Building Council, about 17 multidisciplinary teams from the fields of planning and construction participated, including: architects, environmental consultants, academics, government and local government officials and local government representatives. The project that won first place proposes to build the homes in the kibbutzim and moshav that were destroyed in an environmentally and efficiently way, and of course also in a way that will create a high sense of security among the community.
Since the beginning of the war, there has been a lot of talk about the need to restore the surrounding settlements and the intention to do so through the use of environmental and sustainable techniques and bring about an improvement in the living conditions of the residents. The main purpose of the "rebuilding" hackathon, which took place last January, is to help with development Practical and sustainable solutions from the worlds of planning and construction for the purpose of restoring the destruction The heavy physical in the settlements surrounding Gaza following October 7th. The initiatives developed by the teams were transferred to the Takuma directorate, which is responsible for the restoration process, so that they become professional tools for the restoration of the buildings and ultimately enable the residents of the Western Negev to live a prosperous, high-quality and safer life in the future.
Rebuild - better
The idea behind the hackathon stems from a disaster recovery approach called "Build Back Better", An approach that advocates rebuilding after a disaster in a better and better way, with the aim of increasing the resilience of nations and local communities. The approach is expressed by combining measures to reduce disaster risks in the processes of restoring the physical infrastructure and social systems, and in restoring livelihoods, the economy and the environment. In the case of the Gaza Envelope, the main need is to rebuild the houses that were destroyed and to see to the reconstruction of the various communities in a sustainable and safe manner. At the end of the hackathon, two winning proposals were chosen, one focused on the individual structure and one on the scale of a settlement or an entire kibbutz.
"The idea of the hackathon is to gather ideas and have a joint brainstorming session in the field of green construction," says Michal Vital-Baron, a green construction consultant and representative of the team that won first place. "During a full-day marathon, we came up with ideas on how to rehabilitate and rebuild the surrounding settlements in a better, smarter and above all more sustainable way," she adds.
Every house and its needs
The winning proposal in the "Lone Building" track is that of a team of five professionals: architect Keren Milchberg Porat from ID253 Architecture and Design, Michal Vital-Baron - green construction consultant from Vital Harari Planners and Consultants, Chen Merdix from BLOCK-IT - Your natural home' which imports sustainable building materials, Gil Nezer - an energy consultant from Power Consultant and Danny Shabiv - 'Archicad' notebook for drawing and calculations. Their project is called "Beit Otaf La Otef" and they started it by learning about the condition of the old houses in the Otef settlements, most of which were built in an outdated, cheap and energy-wasting manner. "These are kibbutzim with very old houses, some of them were built in the 50s," explains Vital-Baron and adds: "The materials at that time were very simple and hardly insulated. Most of the roofs were built cheaply, some are made of tin with no insulation at all. Every house looks the same no matter which way it faces. You can see that the goal was to build quickly and cheaply, settle the border and populate the settlements.'
The new design offers a prototype for a smartly and sustainably designed residence, energetically reset and built from renewable and natural materials. "We come now in 2024 with a lot of knowledge that was not there at the time and say: let's not make the mistakes of the past," says Vital-Baron. "Our approach is to think about each house individually - about its conditions, where the wind comes from, how it is ventilated, how to set it up correctly, and design the houses with good insulation and renewable materials," she adds. The project also offers a new concept for the MMD space, as described in the article published on the subject In the journal "Ecology and Environment": The house is built on two levels, where in the core of the building, in the center of the house, there are stairs to an underground level, where the family's living room is located. From the living room, you can reach a public protected space through a corridor, which is shared by four neighboring families to avoid isolation if a long stay is necessary .
A green house from the electricity to the block
One of the main innovations in the selected proposal is the use In an alternative building block which is made entirely from a natural mixture of the hemp plant ("hemp" in Hebrew) from the cannabis family, and which is considered an attractive and sustainable crop for farmers and growers. Growing hemp does not require a lot of water, so it is considered more environmentally friendly compared to other crops. Also, what remains after the harvest decomposes into the soil and provides valuable nutrients. The hemp block is designed for the production of natural insulation envelopes in both the exterior and interior walls. The block is indeed manufactured in France, but its use is the same as building with standard concrete blocks and is very suitable for Israeli construction. The set of properties of the hemp plant improve the quality of the stay at home and provide a better and healthier feeling.
In addition to the green building materials, the buildings will also contain renewable energy systems to provide Clean electricity independently Even in the event that the electricity from the central system is cut off in an emergency. "Our solution offers a zero-energy building, which also includes surfaces designed for solar energy with preparations for energy storage," explains Gil Nezer, the project's energy consultant. "One of the challenges that the residents experienced in the settlements and kibbutzim on October 7 was the power outage in the homes. As a result, we propose to install thousands of photovoltaic (solar) systems on the roofs of houses to reach for energetic reset (The energy production by the building is equal to the amount of energy consumed in it, editor's note) full and to ensure a constant supply of electricity to the houses.'
The proposed structure indeed incorporates the principles of green construction together with consideration of the needs of the families and of course attention to the needs of protection. One of the strengths of the project is the fact that it was tested in BIM simulations (Integrative Design Methodology) to meet the objectives set from a climatic point of view - reducing the building's energy consumption and reducing production costs (materials and transportation). "I think the winning of the project in the hackathon is not because we are more talented than other teams, but because we really went all the way - we designed the structure properly and checked that it does meet the standards of green building. Our goal is to take it further to the surrounding settlements and other settlements throughout the country and provide them with this whole envelope of environmental thinking together with calculations and a proposal for solar systems,' says Vital-Baron. "Our message is that we know how to provide the solutions we presented in the proposal at the hackathon in practice," concludes Nezar.
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