Israel studio Schwartz Besnosoff Architects has completed the Technion Entrance Gate for the Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, which also acts as a bridge that connects the campus with a city promenade.
Instead of designing the entrance gate as solely a barrier between two points, Schwartz Besnosoff Architects created a new public platform.
Top: the studio wanted the bridge to be a public platform. Above: the Technion Entrance Gate bridge connects the campus to the city
"The traditional campus gate has a significant role in the disconnection that criticises the university campus and the urban context that surrounds it," Schwartz Besnosoff Architects architects Gaby Schwartz and Omri Schwartz told Dezeen.
"After analysing the exiting potentials on site, we decided to offer a new interpretation to the idea of a 'gate' ? not a barrier or a separator but as a bridge, a new public platform, that connects the city and the campus through a green promenade." The bridge is elevated over a busy road
The studio was chosen for the project after winning an open competition held by Technion and the Israeli architecture association, and worked with Studio Rolka on the concept.
It identified a number of potential starting points when planning the project, including an existing campus promenade next to the entrance and an urban promenade that ended just outside.
The entrance gate now ties these two together in the form of a pedestrian and bicycle bridge...