After being shuttered and neglected for decades, this small theatre is being renovated and refurbished to deliver a high quality, versatile setting for productions and screenings, poised to return to the cultural center of its town. The project includes a 300 seats theatre, equipped with advanced multimedia and sound systems. An outdoor entrance hall also serves as a coffee shop and is connected to large public square in front of the building.

HQ Architects is leading an international design consortium for the program design of seven transportation centers, including metro and light railway, together with the urban development of the above and surrounding areas. The project, for NTA –Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd., the agency responsible for the design and construction of mass transit systems in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, will shape the urban environment of Tel Aviv for the years to come.  One of these Hubs, the Savidor Transportation Hub, is planned to leverage  its strategic location and available space for substantial development, integrating multiple layers of transportation. The  Hub is strategically located at the edge  of Israel’s primary business centers and near Tel Aviv’s key highway, Ayalon, offering a unique opportunity to develop an integrated urban Transportation Hub that combines different transportation routes, while bridging the two banks  of the Ayalon River and linking the two business centers. The Savidor Hub development will transform the area into a vibrant, mixed-use urban destination. Featuring the Metro M1 Line, two light-rail lines, the national railway, and a 17,500 square meters bus station, the Hub will greatly enhance connectivity and accessibility. This transformation will create a dynamic space that supports business activities and public amenities, fostering economic growth and urban vitality.

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Responding to the curatorial theme, EAST, while dealing with a sensitive historic context, HQ Architects designed 90 Degrees, a large scale installation that shifts the building’s orientation. Hansen House’s dominant character is oriented from south to north, creating a complex circulation between the interior spaces. Can a building change its orientation?90 Degrees responds to both the curatorial theme, and to the spatial needs of the various exhibitions taking place during the Design Week. The content of the Design Week is built of distinct joints that create a temporary sequence through which the visitor will wish to move. 90 Degrees transforms the appearance and organization of the building by taking into consideration both the permanent structural limitations and the temporary needs of the Design Week.The installation is comprised of a diagonal scaffolding system that climbs the building from west to east, from ground level to above the roof, and rotates the orientation 90 Degrees forcing the visitors to face towards the East. The steps form a physical platform approximately 14 meters high. This elevated space creates a link between the old and the new and suggests an alternative journey through Hansen House, while offering views beyond the building and the exhibition. The flexibility of the scaffolding as a material, together with its structural qualities enables the addition of a new space by gently surrounding and penetrating the existing building. 90 Degrees presents an ephemeral structure that creates new spaces, stimulates interaction between the building and the visitors, and suggests alternative sequences of movement by engaging issues of history, culture, orientation and experience.

The new multi-purpose arena in the city of Ashdod, in the south of Israel will house 5,000 seats and will host basketball, volleyball and handball games along with music concerts, conferences and other events for the city.The arena is planned as part of a new sports center in the north of the city, adjacent to the Ashdod port and the newly developed Sorek Wadi Park that connects to the sea. Additionally to the arena, the planned sports center also includes a football stadium and an olympic swimming pool, and occupies one of the last open spaces within the city.The area was historically characterized by sand dunes, and the project looks to recreate a topographical outdoor public experience and incorporate the arena spaces within the landscape, creating a large facility while maintaining ample open public spaces and connecting and expanding the adjacent park. The design of the arena separates the program vertically, locating all of the sports and management spaces on one level, allowing for easy and efficient movement and operations. An upper level, that is exclusively for the viewing public, houses impressive entrance halls that can also be used as gathering spaces.

The new multi-purpose arena in the city of Ashdod, in the south of Israel will house 5,000 seats and will host basketball, volleyball and handball games along with music concerts, conferences and other events for the city. The arena is planned as part of a new sports center in the north of the city, adjacent to the Ashdod port and the newly developed Sorek Wadi Park that connects to the sea. Additionally to the arena, the planned sports center also includes a football stadium and an olympic swimming pool, and occupies one of the last open spaces within the city.The area was historically characterized by sand dunes, and the project looks to recreate a topographical outdoor public experience and incorporate the arena spaces within the landscape, creating a large facility while maintaining ample open public spaces and connecting and expanding the adjacent park. The design of the arena separates the program vertically, locating all of the sports and management spaces on one level, allowing for easy and efficient movement and operations. An upper level, that is exclusively for the viewing public, houses impressive entrance halls that can also be used as gathering spaces.

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The planning area is located at the intersection of Shi Agnon and Histadrut streets in the southwest of the city of Ashkelon, close to the national park and the beach. In the area of ​​the program there are 112 units concentrated in 4 residential buildings, a branch of the Bnei Akiva youth movement, several kindergartens and neighborhood commerce.

The complex is located on Herzl Street near the metro station 'Kibbutzim Station' and east of the Palm Park. The plan offers about 200 units in structural construction, additional commercial and employment areas on the side of Herzl Street, public uses integrated in the construction and public land for urban needs.

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The House of Singing and the Moran Choir Center is a performance hall and education center for classical choral singing, located among the green fields in the rural area of ​​Emek Hafer. The House of Singing is a 2,750 square meter building consisting of a main concert hall with 550 seats, a smaller hall with 100 seats, a recording studio, and two rehearsal rooms, along with a generous lobby area and office space. All indoor facilities will be under one roof, while unique outdoor facilities will be located outside the building, where on an area of ​​2,600 square meters, a park dedicated to sound is planned, music and singing. The park will consist of various outdoor spaces suitable for holding concerts and outdoor shows, and teaching classes, and will provide a social place for families and the community for recreation. The center is currently under construction

This is a central thoroughfare in the Bekaa neighborhood that starts in the north at the border of Hamsila Park, passes between several streets, crosses Yehuda Road and continues towards Gad Street in the south.The purpose of the project is to plan a central pedestrian mall that will be the center of the neighborhood and will prioritize pedestrians and cyclists, will allow continuous walking and safe crossing and will be a mechanism for the development of the public areas next to it. Ended with public participation and acceptance of the project. Waiting for the next budget.

The Israel Agricultural Bank building was established on the agricultural lands of the German colony of Sharona as part of the development of the institutional construction of the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo in the 1950s and 1960s. The building sits at the gateway to the crowded residential area of Tel Aviv. It sits on the main road and is surrounded by a number of urban centers: the Cinematheque complex, Fourth Street and the Gideon complex, the wholesale market, Habima Square and the Hall of Culture. Recently purchased by Brown hotels, the building will be transformed into a hotel while preserving monumental interior pieces and all the facades. The 6 floor building – 4 existing floors that are preserved and 2 floors added, will incorporate 2,190 m² for hotel use and will provide 124 units for this purpose. The new program will also include a ground floor restaurant and a public courtyard, which will contain the restaurant’s outdoor sitting area.

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Bat Yam is a mixed use development attached to the existing Bat Yam Mall from the 1980's. The project involves the demolition of the existing parking lot and the design of a residential tower and a commercial building. The design embraces the concept of a continuous journey through commercial and leisure areas and the creation of several public spaces in between them and the residential building. The project creates an urban plaza and establishes a connection between the southern adjacent neighborhood and the mall.

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Conceptual planning of the area that starts at the edge of Yarkon Park in the Babli neighborhood and ends at Gesher Dori.A proposal for the creation of an ecological park that allows for a significant green space in the city, the retention of runoff, an experiential and easy passage for pedestrians, walking connectivity to the Palm Country and Rosh Tzivor and the addition of significant building rights.The park is proposed as part of an overall concept of a north-south axis starting from Yarakon Park.

Azorim – Ramat Eshkol is an urban renewal project in a low-income neighborhood. The project has a strong emphasis on the strong community ties that the existing residents have and is designed to allow the local demographic to remain in the neighborhood post-renewal, and be part of its future.The project is comprised by a commercial ground floor and community spaces of the roof of that floor that are open to the public, and housing on top.

The complex is located on Yehoshua ben Gamla street from the west, Boruria Street from the north and Elisheva Garden Park from the east. The plan between the square on Ben Gamla St. and Elisheva Garden by a public garden at the core of the complex. The plan offers about 142 units in a variety of buildings, high-rise buildings and textured buildings of various typologies and the addition of commercial areas on the side of the street.

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HQ Architects, leading an international design consortium, is designing seven transportation centers with metro and light rail integration, along with surrounding urban development, for NTA – Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd. This project will shape Tel Aviv’s urban landscape for years to come. The schemes will incorporate non-transit developments to strengthen the hubs, enhance their value and appeal, and ensure seamless integration with the surrounding urban landscape—or shape it where it is lacking—thereby improving the hubs’ connectivity with their environment. The Ben Zvi Transportation Hub, as part of NTA’s Hubs development in the Gush Dan region, is located  on the outskirts of Holon and Tel Aviv, and will serve as a high-intensity urban destination catering to large-scale metropolitan functions like stadiums, sports events, and conference centers. The hub will integrate various transportation modes, including light rail, metro, national rail, and a 30,000 square meter bus terminal - one of the largest in Israel.

This development will efficiently connect significant metropolitan functions and transform the Holon junction from a peripheral gateway to a central urban hub. The design will emphasize a pedestrian-friendly environment, enhancing connectivity and accessibility for Holon and Tel Aviv, and supporting high-density activities to contribute to regional urban development. 

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The site of the new campus for the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design is located on the top of a hill next to the Russian Compound, overlooking the old city of Jerusalem. The Academy is made up of nine departments, eachwith studios, classrooms, and workshops. The building will also house the administration offices and public areas such as galleries, a store, a cafeteria.To promote interaction and communication between departments, the programs are placed on slabs stacked in a staggered manner. From each slab, students can see the other departments and activities above, below, andacross in hopes to inspire multidisciplinary projects, new ideas, and friendships. Ample room is reserved around each program to allow natural light and fresh to enter from above and from the sides, filtering into even the most central part of the building. Once a year, these open spaces are filled with student works to showcase their achievement to visitors.

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Aircraft Carrier focuses the far-reaching transformation of Israeli space after 1973, and the cultural, economic and political influences through which it was enabled. Taking a contemporary standpoint through a unique combination of art and architecture, the exhibition sheds light on the architectures that emerged throughout the country in the past decades. These projects trace an unprecedented embedding of liberal and capitalist mechanisms in a country that was known as a socialist welfare state. Additionally, they trace a cultural orientation towards private capital and American ideas, promoting a restructuring of Israel trough the dynamics of the free market. For their protagonists, these projects embodied no less that a redefinition of Zionism, with a new kind of architecture. Based on the conviction that art and architecture are inextricably related, we chose to collapse the distinctions between them and exhibit contemporary art works as an integral part of the exhibition. For that end, Air craft Carrier will show the works of contemporary Israeli artists (Jan Tichy, Nira Pereg, Assaf Evron) and international ones (Florian Holzherr, Fernando Guerra), in combination with archival materials and background information.

The Israel Agricultural Bank building was established on the agricultural lands of the German colony of Sharona as part of the development of the institutional construction of the city of Tel Aviv-Yafo in the 1950s and 1960s. The building sits at the gateway to the crowded residential area of Tel Aviv. It sits on the main road and is surrounded by a number of urban centers: the Cinematheque complex, Fourth Street and the Gideon complex, the wholesale market, Habima Square and the Hall of Culture. Recently purchased by Brown hotels, the building will be transformed into a hotel while preserving monumental interior pieces and all the facades. The 6 floor building – 4 existing floors that are preserved and 2 floors added, will incorporate 2,190 m² for hotel use and will provide 124 units for this purpose. The new program will also include a ground floor restaurant and a public courtyard, which will contain the restaurant’s outdoor sitting area.

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A residential complex in the historic center of the Bocharim neighborhood. A 4.5-story building with 2 wings of a building for preservation with 2 floors each, around a large shared courtyard. The plan also includes commercial areas on the side of the streets and areas for public purposes on the first floors of buildings for preservation.

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Renovation of the Chen cinema hall and its conversion into a performance hall with an area of ​​about 300 square meters including a gallery level, a kitchen and a bar serving the spectators

The new building for the Lod Community Center, one of the few centers in this mixed population city that conduct activities for both Arab and Jewish populations. The center accommodates children, youth, adults and the elderly, and serves as the basis for bringing different cultures together.

Culture, Recreation and Sports Center - Qiryat Gat is a unique “green” project, to be built south of Megadim neighborhood in the southern part of the town, on a plot zonedfor “public buildings and public open spaces”. The sports and recreation center will be built on a 5 acre plot, and will contain a wide variety of facilities and spaces suited for numerous activities all year round, serving all age groups of the town’s inhabitants: children, youth, adults and families. The proximity to the southern main road, to the Big Center and to future commercial spaces will promote the creation of an attractive urban center with a country club accessible from all neighborhoods in the town. The plan includes a 150 space parking lot, which together with extensive adjacent parking areas will provide the highest quality service. The center’s plan is based on “green” principles implementing advanced solutions of sustainability and energy saving, suited to the unique conditions of Qiryat Gat, and on an original layout making efficient use of the land. The main building is integrated in the open spaces which are part of the center as well as in its natural surroundings, including an existing small forest, while at the same time adding significant landscaped are as suited to the various recreation and outdoor sports activities.

29 residential buildings planned in a diverse mix in the number of units and in the areas of the apartments. Most of the lots are narrow and long and there was a challenge and an opportunity in planning the north and south facades of the building, with the main facades being the narrow ones and facing east and west.The design combines small apartments with an area of ​​up to 75 square meters, apartments with an area of ​​120 square meters, some of them ground level apartments with private garden areas, two-family houses, and penthouses with areas of up to 200 square meters with roof balconies facing east and west.The project combines above-ground and underground parking, gardening areas for planting trees

Israel is an Agro-Tech lab for the world’s architecture. This fact is not the result of vast fields, a surplus of resources or a massive investment in technology. The Israeli advantage is actually related to a constant lacking in these ingredients and the making of pinpointed, efficient and extremely specific solutions. The history and current landscape of Israeli architecture can be described as a sequence of solutions and developments in three basic elements: Water, Soil and Seeds. Instead of representing the three elements we proposed a building that will actually be built out of them: every element in the building becomes a series waterfall walls of material which can be controlled. The idea of specification works through mixing and balancing these elements, to allow different spaces for different uses of the building throughout the Expo. While the interactive systems work through the structure of the building, its permanent spaces and systems lie below it, as the building is elevated from the ground. The building lies within a field of Wild Wheat, which was discovered Israel and originated in its geographic area. From it, corridors, restaurant areas and a sculpture garden are subtracted.

Located in southern Tel Aviv, in a degraded area experiencing rapid transformations, this project introduces much needed housing and street-front commercial spaces, while partially preserving the existing building on site.as opposed to the typical Tel Aviv building typology, this project aims to adopt a typology of an inner courtyard, allowing for large common balconies open to the sky, offering both physical and visual connection to the park across the street. The centralized courtyard also promotes low energy consumption by offering shading in the summer and penetration of direct sunlight in the winter.

After a recent ruling mandated that children attend school starting age three, the Bat Yam municipality pushed to quickly construct forty new kindergarten classes to accommodate the new demand. Our design sees this as a valuable opportunity to shape the urban environment and challenge preconceived conventions. The design places simple, rectangular structures at the street wall. These structures are designed to anticipate and allow future growth to take place on top of them. The kindergartens backyards are hidden from the street to allow the children for a safe and shaded playground. The rooftops of the structures are put to use from phase one, being activated by public functions and amenities that complement their respective communities. Community gardens, playgrounds and a skate park are only part of the variety of amenities planed. This projects seeks to serve as a jumping board for an urban renewal process throughout Bat Yam, with emphasis on sustainable design and the well being of its citizens.

Located next to the historic Givatayim city hall, this new building which unites all of themunicipal departments into a complex that is open and accessible to the citizens. Thebuilding consists of seven floors above ground, the first five floors are occupied by themunicipality and the upper two levels are created for office space use. The ground floorisdistinctly open and transparent and will feature an open coffee space and a publicsquareat the street level – enabling a smoother transition between exterior and theinteriorspaces of the building.The building will include the municipal office, the city administrative functions, thearchives, the waiting areas, an urban center, a service center for the residents, aplenaryhall and an emergency control center.The public spaces concentrate all the services and activities. The program is not strictlyorganized according to departments, but also by means of accessibility to the user,which enables direct communication between the citizen and the authorities..

An urban complex in the center of SderotPart of the Sycamore complex located between the Student Village and Beherzl StreetThe project - creating a public, accessible and green space that includes outdoor programs such as seating areas, playgrounds and sports facilities, bike paths and walking paths

A multi-use high-rise building that incorporates a wide range of different uses including a hotel, office spaces, residential apartments and a Sky Lobby designed to host communal and leisure activities overlooking the city. The project is located in Tel Aviv, in a prime location situated close to the Haganah Station and the Ayalon Highway. The multi-use building, will contain a hotel, residential and office space and a raised lobby space. The ground level features an open air area which contains the accessibility areas such as drop off for cars and escalators. The eight storeys high hotel, sits right above the ground level. On top of it is the sky lobby – a unique raised lobby space, which includes a wide range of communal and leisure areas and serves as the main infrastructure landing core, serving all areas of the building. The lobby features gym facilities, an indoor pool, a restaurant/cafe. The building is almost ‘cut’ in the middle by the Sky Lobby, a space which is being moved from its usual ground floor position and is being raised in the middle of the building, providing a lobby of great views and a unique feel. Above the lobby space sits a 12 storey high commercial space and on top of it 6 storeys of residential use, featuring apartments with unparalleled views of Tel Aviv. The design illustrates simple and clean lines where the infrastructure acts almost as an ornament to the facade. The sky lobby also differentiates from the other floors and programs which is also illustrated in the facade through its curved glass windows. The exposed elevators from both sides of the building communicate the circulation and how the building is serviced for different uses.

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The Argazim neighborhood has been suffering from very intense flooding due to its low elevation relative to the Ayalon floodplain. The masterplan concept for the neighborhood was developed in concurrence with an extensive urban renewal process for the neighborhood. The design aimed to work with the flood patterns and the suggested elevations to create a network of seasonal flood pools between the new housing buildings. This new landscape would invigorate the public spaces of the neighborhood and create two public levels - one facing the streets and an additional one facing interior courtyards.

HaArgazim Blocks 1+6, located in the Agrazim neighborhood of Tel Aviv, are residential buildings designed as a series of "Urban Blocks." This concept establishes a structure larger than a single building but smaller than a neighborhood, creating an intermediate urban unit that enhances both private and community life. The project incorporates a diverse range of public spaces, ranging from private areas to communal spaces at the building and block levels, as well as open spaces accessible to the broader neighborhood and city. These communal areas, including rooftops and spaces between buildings, are designed to foster community interaction and social engagement.

HaArgazim Blocks 1+6 features a wide mix of apartment types, from 30m² microunits as part of subsidized housing to family-sized units up to 130m², encouraging a diverse and inclusive living environment. By dispersing apartment sizes across buildings, the project supports a vibrant and heterogeneous community.

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The exhibition ‘Lay of the Land’ was designed for the Israeli Pavilion at the HABITAT III, the United Nations Conference on housing and Sustainable Urban Development, which took place in Quito in Ecuador in October 2016. The 40sq meter surface of the pavilion walls were designed as a wall survey. A scaled city comprised of different urban spatial typologies was built on those walls, and the visitors were invited to choose a figure and pin it on their favorite spot in the city. This way the walls functioned as a continuous visual survey of urban qualities.

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The complex is located in the center of Jerusalem, to the west of the Old City on the side of the Prophets Street. The plan offers about 36,000 square meters in total for residences and areas for the college and includes a building for conservation. The complex is divided into two lots - 60% of the lot for Hadassah Hospital and 40% of the lot for Hadassah College.

In this urban renewal project, we have been commissioned to re-envision a nondescript building with eight units in northern Tel Aviv into a residential structure of 21 apartments featuring spacious balconies and an inner courtyard. Harugei Malchut is designed under Israel’s innovative urban renewal policy of “Tama 38,” which allows architects to redevelop a building and add additional floors for new inhabitants while updating existing apartments and infrastructure for longtime inhabitants. The main challenge in urban renewal projects is to keep the local community in their original building and create higher-quality apartments within the same structure. The Harugei Malchut project changes the typical Israeli typology of a multi-family building by transforming the plot through material and spatial design. The new design introduces an inner-courtyard which creates an internal space for existing dwellers to come back to their local community. The courtyard showcases rich materiality featuring terracotta tiles and generous green spaces, while allowing natural ventilation and light to come in.

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A 4 story residential building + partial attic, garden apartments and common areas for all tenants are planned on the land

The building consists of 9 office floors with a total area of ~15,000 sqm. The facades were designed in 3 different planes, creating natural sun terraces for all floors facing the sun of south east and south west. In order to enhance the difference between the planes, the distance between the aluminum vertical elements differentiates from one plane to another, ranging from 70 cm in the lower floors, through 105 cm in the mid floors and to 140 cm in the upper floors. The overall look of the building as a natural landscape stands out and breaks the rectangle, ordinary look of a typical office building.

The building consists of 9 office floors with a total area of ~15,000 sqm. The facades were designed in 3 different planes, creating natural sun terraces for all floors facing the sun of south east and south west. In order to enhance the difference between the planes, the distance between the aluminum vertical elements differentiates from one plane to another, ranging from 70 cm in the lower floors, through 105 cm in the mid floors and to 140 cm in the upper floors. The overall look of the building as a natural landscape stands out and breaks the rectangle, ordinary look of a typical office building.

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As part of the vast renewal project at the entrance to Jerusalem, which includesmassive changes to transportation and circulation in the area for the upcomingdecade, we were commissioned to create a temporary information space amid thisunder construction area. The project was initiated by Eden, a company establishedby the Jerusalem Development Authority and the Jerusalem Municipality to promotethe city center's renewal and revitalization program. Our design concept for anInformation box, presented a new space that featured an easy to spot structure, set inan accessible location. In addition to providing information and guidance on the currentredevelopment works, the structure would also serve as a landmark and access point tothe city, becoming a friendly and easy to navigate space.

The complexity of the diverse program and pre-existing conditions was our drive to focus on the circulation elements of the project: the in-between spaces.By separating the different functions, each program is designed and shaped to fit its needs, creating diverse types of spaces for its inhabitants. In this project we challenged the standards of the playbook on how to design office buildings and the final product is an efficient and creative flagship building.

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The proposal for the Israel Dubai 2020 Pavilion represents a new era where global information technology reflects on the possibilities the Cloud offers to connect minds; unveiling some of the challenges and opportunities that the cloud infrastructure brings with. The cloud refers to the global information technology that is currently taking on traditional governing roles such as identity or currency, reorganizing the use of energy and resources in the planet, and enabling new communities and new sharing economies. The Cloud is the latent infrastructure empowered by sensors, algorithms and actuators, offering to the world a new architecture consisting of a dynamic mix of hardware, software and structures. The Cloud Pavilion sits on a dynamic landscape of dunes, fostering the interaction between the digital with the physical world. Upon arrival, the visitor encounters the lightness and immateriality of the cloud sitting on two points, and is able to experience the space between the cloud and the dune landscape, and the reflection caused by a thin film of water. A Sinuous Mobius path takes the visitor up from the dune landscape to a walk throughout the different spaces of the cloud. The path leads the visitor to experience environmental challenges extended throughout different layers of the Planet Earth.

This planetary sense of belonging in the cloud aims to urge humanity to overcome borders and bridge across cultures. The public space under the cloud is a social a space, where plants, visitors, lights and sensors convert this into a lobby space suitable for interaction, wondering and congregation. The space accommodates both the entrance and the exit to the Cloud Experience and a café. This first chamber of vertical spiral movement is followed by the entry to the second chamber where a series of interactive tables immerse the visitor into a different experience.

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A bespoke new building for the world-renowned and international Academy ofperforming arts that enhances the interaction and cross-fertilization between differentdisciplines that are housed in the institution.A new addition to the reputable Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, the buildingwill serve as an Advanced Inter Arts Center. While the existing campus lacked a properperformance space or a stage of any kind, the new building designed by HQ Architectsand Hollwich Kushner (HWKN) will provide the Academy with adequate premises tofulfill its role.The building is arranged around a central double space connecting the different roomsand spaces, providing the infrastructure and conditions for the interchange betweendifferent fields of dance and music, which is vital to the academy. The facilities include amusic recital hall of 115 seats, a dance studio, jazz and improvised music studio of 90seats, a vocal and opera studio of 60 places, and 14 practice and teaching chambers.The building’s high-end facilities together with the dynamic shared spaces, form themagic of the Academy; a sense of creativity happening all around.

e Tennis Center, located in the Jerusalem Sports Complex, near the Municipal Football Stadium and the Arena, offers a significant upgrade to the existing tennis center by adding 6 modern indoor tennis courts designed to the highest international standards.

The new 9000 m² two-storey high building offers distinctive spaces dedicated to different functions. The ground floor is dedicated to sports support and provides spaces such as clinics, alternative sports spaces and sports accommodation. The indoor tennis courts are located on the second floor, allowing play all rear round regardless of weather conditions. The courts also feature natural ventilation that provides optimal comfort for playing in all months of the year and in any weather.  

In addition, the sports center will feature a commercial front facing the light rail station, the new line planned in Jerusalem.
With the existing Tennis Center being an important Jerusalem community and sports hub for many years, it is important to celebrate the new design by breaking down the walls that surrounded the old premices and present it in an inviting manner to the general public, making the tennis center part of the urban sporting experience.

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Demolition project of a 4-story building and an inner courtyard and the rebuilding of a 7-story building + a setback floor that combines living and commerce planned around an inner courtyard, from which the entrances of the building's residents to their apartments and one basement parking are planned15 units are planned on each floor and 8 units on the top floor, a total of 98 units On the ground floor there are a total of 27 commercial units. The building offers most of the apartments an exterior and interior facade, with the exterior being more rigid and designed according to Jaffa's design guidelines and the interior, softer and more modern in form and materials.

Context & Concept

Responding to this year’s curatorial theme, Lies and Falsehoods,  HQ Architects designed the Blackout Protocol installation, which presents a response to the design week’s brief by approaching the theme as a recurring subject that contains the elusiveness of the lie. Is the lie an absolute thing? Or is it a manipulation that makes use of reality itself, twists around it, inflates it, puts it on the sidelines?

Most lies are half-truths. If they didn't make use of the truth, they wouldn't be able to be so effective. It is an illusion perceived for our weakness, humans, in understanding the complexity of reality; Because it is more convenient for us to grasp one side, a given moment, than a multidimensional reality.

The lie is covering parts of reality, and it hides it and surfaces it at the same time.

The Installation

Blackout Protocol, is an installation that seeks to cast a shadow-like object on the facade of the Hansen House, thus carpeting and making a significant part of it disappear. It creates a fragmented experience, just as a lie can take away a piece of truth, yet reveal another dimension to it.

Blackout Protocol is an overbearing parasite, a 3D object that consists of a collection of black planes that merge into a single image. It is a black mark that stretches and crawls like a shadow over the fences, the path, the stairs and the facade of Hansen House. The installation functions as a filter that serves a particular moment and point of view, an ephemeral sense  – same of the nature of casting a shadow, but ultimately it haunts the place and projects itself onto reality. Like the lie itself, the protocol covers parts of reality, it narrows the perception of the world and pushes away the richness and complexity it offers. The lie can be found in the shadows of the truth, in places where sunlight does not harm – and such is the protocol of darkness: an anti-spotlight, which consumes those who stand in its way.

A black cross mark greets the visitors of Jerusalem Design Week, as it seems suspended over the building and garden. As the visitors move forward and towards the building, the suspended shape seems to fall into pieces. The perceived X mark in reality is an accumulation of various fragmented pieces, dispersed through the compound. These pieces, formed by the distorted projection, lay on the floor, the walls, stairs and the facade of Hansen House.

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A typology that not only welcomes and addresses the needs of its various participants at all levels of the litigation process but also strengthens the notions of scale, equality and transparency as applied to architectural forms. Here, the elongated ‘X’ is made up of four components that bear their own internal identities and their respective functions. Each wing of justice connects seamlessly at the center of the structure to create a focal point that functions as a main entrance to the general public and, more broadly, as an urban square to the local community. In a bold move that reduces density, fosters simplified circulation patterns and emphasizes the use of natural light in the courtroom, HQ proposes to segregate judges to their own floors. In doing so, public corridors are completely eliminated, courtrooms are more spacious and every single public space can be experienced as an integral part of the building’s design

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This design, together with meticulous design of the materials and the facades of the buildings, created a project that provides quality and unique housing within a neighborhood of “standard” construction. In the compound, a mini-neighborhood was created in one lot, and it provides fertile ground for the development of a new and cohesive community. We have proposed to dismantle the square masses of the conventional H structures into six long and narrow structures. The buildings were shifted in plan in order to create further distance between the apartments and to open the view to the landscape. At the same time, by creating buildings of gradual heights, a flow of light and air was made possible and a connection was made to the urban fabric surrounding the lot.

Our proposal was based on Albert Einstein’s statement: “No problem can be dismissed with the same way of thinking that created it” for doing so we determined a few goals that we aimed to achieve such as adding a broad variety of programs to it, having flexibility in the use and the existence of different scales of public spaces, creating an urban connection between the various equipment around the square and making it possible to realize the project in stages.

New residential construction of a 5-story building + a retreat floor and one basement floor. On the ground floor, two entrances to the building are planned, spaces for the use of the tenants and a patio that bathes the spaces in the basement floor with light.A typical floor offers 2 units, with each apartment facing the front or back, on the fourth and fifth floors, a duplex is planned that benefits from extensive roof balconies, a total of 7 units.The rear facade faces an inner courtyard which is part of the planning of a building for the preservation of the Agricultural Bank intended to be a hotel.

The 186,000 m² Lea Goldberg Masterplan is located in Lod, a historic city south-east of Tel Aviv with a mixed demographic of different communities of Jews, Muslims and Christians. The city has been largely neglected through the decades, despite its prominent location and close proximity to Ben Gurion Airport.

Lod has a chronic shortage of housing, low quality of public spaces and infrastructure, and is divided by railroad tracks, a determining factor on street hierarchy and creation of public spaces. The scheme focuses on enhancing connectivity, infrastructure and providing quality public spaces together with providing additional housing and commercial areas to enable families to live and work in the area. It opens marginalized spaces and vibrant walkable areas, setting the foundations for Lod’s future growth and transformation into a destination, while boosting its real estate value. This is key as the Israel Regeneration Urban Renewal Authority, in order to proceed with the masterplan, relies on a sustainable financial model mechanism. To enable this mechanism, we worked together with Lod Municipality to create social and public interventions to raise the land value before the masterplan's implementation.

The scheme includes 4 plots with 104,598m² residential use (782 apartments), 7,130 m² commercial spaces, 8,000 m² office spaces, 2,250 m² public areas (mainly day care facilities) and 4,7000 m² parking spaces. Mixed use spaces are located on the 2 first floors with residential towers on top. This arrangement presents an urban volume with a continuous facade and an uninterrupted high street, providing a sense of urban coherence in the area. To provide sufficient low cost quality housing, a standard fast implementation process construction method is used that results in a minimal, symmetric structure. However, it creates nondescript ground level urban spaces. Therefore, we broke down the rigidity of the facade by turning the first 2 floors’ concrete beams sideways, making them asymmetric and allowing the highstreet and the interior spaces to have a more playful feel.

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The ground floor of the restored historic Bank of Agriculture in Tel Aviv was converted into a temporary showroom for Lexus cars, including a gallery and event space. The Israel Bank of Agriculture was built in the '50s and has been standing unused for over a decade. The building goes through an ongoing process of preservation and renovation, which includes the addition of two stories and its conversion to a residential building. In the meantime, the ground floor was converted into a temporary showroom for Lexus cars, including a gallery and event space. The entrance lobby includes an impressive exhibition space with a central atrium. The original wooden windows and other architectural elements are also reflected in a subtle intervention in the existing space. A glass wall connects the lobby to its surrounding and introduces the bustle of the city into the building

HQ Architects has been commissioned to design the new Cultural Center in the city of Lod, central Israel. The Lod cultural center, due to its unique location near the Old City and proximity to many other cultural and touristic sites as well as to major transport routes, including the light- rail and future metro stations, will be a focal point for the entire population of Lod in various ways. The design features an interplay of interior and exterior spaces that aims to complement each other’s activities and will bring to the city new layers of indoor and outdoor experiences. The unique shape and extensive program the building offers, will allow for a wide range of regular day and evening activities, which will be suited to fit residents of all ages and backgrounds. The new building will feature a public internal plaza that will allow for spontaneous and planned open-air performances, and so will the public outdoor terraces. The enclosed halls, from the fringe hall to the large hall containing 900 seats, will cater for all types of performances. The community center will be open to children and teens during the day and afternoon, and will include library, classrooms and dancing studios as well as active roofs.

In 2015 NASA launched a project to find technologies that would use materials indigenous to Mars and 3D printers to fabricate houses. In Phase 1 teams were tasked with proposing preliminary design and in Phase 2 they developed and printed new materials relevant to Mars geology. Currently, in phase 3 the challenge is to develop a high fidelity BIM model, hydrostatic testing and 3D printing and robotically autonomously assemble a sub-scale Mars habitat. Our team has developed two key concepts that present several advantages. The first one is to print only with local materials on Mars, a unique technology developed at the Hebrew University. The second one is building the structure out of small bricks rather than a single continuous print. This concept presents benefits in redundancy, speed, structure and more.

This office space dominates an entire floor of 800 m² in the heart of Tel Aviv. The space includes an open work space, conference rooms, an auditorium and communal space, all designed to meet top cyber security, advanced technology and business requirements. The material palette is driven by contrasts – industrialized vs. natural, soft vs. hard, bold vs. neutral colors, and the contrast between work and gathering spaces. The choice of fabric both as acoustical panels and as a mold for the concrete tiles is an example of this contrast. Applying advanced material processing, the concrete tiles replicate the textile texture in high resolution discerning the material only to the touch.

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The Merchavim center will serve the children and the community from all the surrounding towns. The existing location consists of various small buildings around a central outdoor space, which we have decided to implement as the “center of attention”. This flexible space is designed to allow for different activities to occur, ranging from everyday after-school activities through weekly markets to yearly special events.

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A new multi-modal Transportation Hub is being developed at the Moshe Dayan Interchange in Rishon LeZion, located on the Ayalon Highway. This 120,000 square meter project will integrate the new Red, Green, and Brown Light Rail lines, multiple bus routes, and an expanded Moshe Dayan Israel Rail station. The Hub’s daily capacity is expected to be approx. 50,000 passengers.

A 8 story residential building in the historic 'Old North' neighborhood of Tel Aviv. The building has 21 apartments, and features a double height communal space in the center of the building. The monochromatic facade incorporates precast concrete panels.

Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area, Israel The 500,000 m² Ben Zvi Hub scheme will be an urban destination with very high intensity and will provide a programmatic response to large metropolitan functions such as stadiums and sports, conference centers and various infrastructures.  The Ben Zvi scheme will also incorporate a newly developed Transportation Hub that will include several means of public transportation, including Light-rail, 1 Metro line, National Rail and a large Bus terminal of 30,000 sq. meters. The new scheme places the Hub in the heart of an intense urban fabric that requires special solutions for the bus terminal to ensure a pedestrian-oriented environment in the core area.

HQ Architects has been commissioned by the city of Netanya and the Netanya Development and Tourism Company to design the new Cultural Center in the city of Netanya, north Israel. The new Cultural Center will seat in a focal urban spot, located right next to Kvish Ha'hof – the main regional highway that crosses Netanya – and across the Netanya Stadium. The Netanya Cultural Center sits in a generous urban plot of 22,500 square meters, which was originally intended to hold a sports arena. Our winning proposal will feature a 10,000 square meters design, developing a round-shaped cultural concept that leaves a generous amount of external space intended for other peripheral uses and landscaping. The building will incorporate a wide range of different spaces dedicated to performance, including a 950 seats auditorium, a 250 seats Black box the arena 400 seat roof theatre, and an approximate 50-100 seat fringe theatre. Also, it will include a main lobby, a community center, offices, and two restaurants. Our key design principle was to keep the building's footprint as small as possible, stretching the building vertically and making it visible from the highway. This is in contrast to a common approach in cultural building design, which tends to spread on the plot’s surface. The center’s functions are stacked, with the main auditorium at the bottom, and its ceiling being the lobby floor and the main entrance. The Black box theater, gallery, and some community center functions will be placed on the first floor, whereas offices and the community center will be on the 2nd floor, leaving the VIP room, fringe theatre and the cafe on the 3rd floor, which also provides access to the roof theater. All backstage functions, including the performers’ areas, stage support and loading docks, will be placed underground, enabling a small footprint above. The building will be surrounded by a wide forest-like park, featuring cafe space, pavilions, paths, and a patio right next to the main building. The design also features a boardwalk connection to the surrounding office buildings, aiming to enhance the connection of the cultural center with the existing urban fabric.

This urban renewal project re-envisions a nondescript building in northern Tel Aviv into a residential structure of 21 apartments featuring spacious living spaces and balconies. Oley Hagardom is designed under Israel’s innovative urban renewal policy of “Tama 38,” which allows architects to redevelop a building and add additional floors for new inhabitants while updating existing apartments and infrastructure for longtime inhabitants.

Or Sderot is a mixed-use residential project in the city of Sderot, South Israel. The development is part of an effort to create new contemporary homes and high standard living, beyond the already cluttered cities in the center of the country. The Or Sderot concept is based on the idea of creating a neighborhood that allows residents to work, live and enjoy recreational time within the development, enabling a more social and active lifestyle. The development consists of 23,000m² for residential use, with 200 units gathered in 8 buildings in total, 2 of which are destined for rental only. Also, it features a communal ground floor of 2,000m², which will incorporate a variety of facilities such as daycare, laundry, coffee shops etc. The variety of residential units offered in the development covers a wide range of sizes, with the smallest ones starting from 22 units of 60m² to medium 52 units of 80m² and 52 units of 110m², and the largest ones being 52 units of 125m² and 22 units of 140m². Also, it provides 1,000m² dedicated workspace providing 40 professional units, which are sold with the apartments, allowing the residents to work in close proximity to home. The complex also features an open parking floor with a lower than average number of parking spots out of the desire to minimize the dependency on private cars and the "wasted" area needed in the ground floor. In order to achieve this, the management will run a shared vehicles service, providing battery loading stations placed for electric bicycles and scooters, making Or Sderot a more sustainable and healthy place to live. The limited number of spaces allows for a more generous open air, safe space for children to play and neighbors to meet, creating a meeting place for residents of all ages and bringing the community together.

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The competition called to design a complex with 300K square meters of office space on a 40 Dunam lot in the business center of Petach Tikva. Situated next to a park with a lake, the site is surrounded by a sea of generic office and residential buildings. The goal of the design was to create a distinct identity to the complex while keeping in mind the human scale in this large project. To achieve this, the proposal focuses on two ideas:Landscape | designing a terrain on the ground floor of the complex that is easily recognized and oriented through. Cityscape | creating a landmark for the industrial park that can also become an icon for the city. The typical office complex typology, usually arranged around a large square, was transformed into a checkered grid that created small, human-scale squares. Each of the squares was defined with a distinct landscape identity to simplify the orientation in the large site. The buildings’ masses were cut twice – once to turn to project towards the business district, and again to create an urban facade towards the adjoining residential neighborhood. The buildings were connected on the upper floors to create various flexible floor plans according to the different needs of potential renters. The diagonal roofs, the face of the “mountain”, is carved into forming outdoor balconies for the offices.

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Currently under construction, the new Transportation hub incorporates 9,000 sq.m of bus terminal with additional 9,000 sq.m of commercial space and six floors of office space on top.

The breaking the traditional rectangular plan enables the creation of squares, urban spaces and commercial facades towards the surrounding streets. The design integrates elements that allow for further the development of the existing city center while still preserving the building’s clarity and usability. The terminal building offers a balance between the need of the user to reach the platform as fast and efficiently as possible, and the desire of the developer to encourage the visitor’s journey through the commercial space. By utilizing the natural topography of the site, the structure keeps a continuous connection with nearby urban focal points and allows quick and convenient entrances for all users of the complex such as buses, light rail, train, taxis, bicycles and private cars dropping off passengers.

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The tower is assembled from three different structures which make the building appear larger than it is, creating a unique landmark at the main traffic intersection of the developing CBD. By positioning the building perpendicular to the street, the building fulfills its urban responsibilities, allowing pedestrian passage through the structure.

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A central urban square in Sderot that spreads over 8,200 m² and is located in the center of several commercial and entertainment areas at the foot of the city hall. The square, involves a complex design of passageways in different heights, diverse rich programs, and enhancing connectivity to other city parts. It is surrounded by the city’s municipality building, a cinema house, restaurants and stores, and it contains 3 levels of spaces, all combined together by paths and stairs. The square is designed to incorporate a variety of different programs, such as sitting areas, a beer garden, while the main open square space can accommodate various events, provide commercial spaces and more.

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Due the success of our first student housing village in Sderot, completed in 2014, which included a student housing complex of 110 beds and was designed and built within only 5 months, we were commissioned to proceed with the design of the second phase of the project. The conclusion of the project’s phase 1 resulted in the revival of the city’s center, therefore the municipality decided to design and build a second phase for the project, which included 300 beds in 150 apartments this time, expanding the housing capacity. The second phase of the student housing is larger than its predecessor and is also being built with a more traditional construction method using concrete, contrasting the container structure used for phase 1.  Our main concept is based on two goals. The first is the urban context; the project establishes a connection between its location from the northern part of Sderot to the city center, where one can find the main market and other civil and public buildings. The second one was to allow students’ social life to occur on the balconies overlooking the main public path that connects the two city parts. The balcony area acts as gathering points for students and enhances the social aspect of the project. This allows views over Sderot, creating a direct link between the student village and the city. With those objectives in mind, we designed four finger-like structures climbing down from the hill towards the city center. These buildings establish three different urban spaces; the first one is on the main street, while the second and third ones are designed to house more private gatherings. Moreover, the buildings’ design provides the village with a new public square hosting several commercial uses. Each student unit has the capacity to accommodate 2 -3 students, providing them with a full range of facilities such as a living room, kitchen and baths.

A new tennis center in Sderot that provides the community with stellar sports facilities by reimagining and extending the existing leisure center facilities in the southern Israeli city of Sderot. The existing facilities include a swimming pool, basketball and soccer courts and several currently unused sports courts spaces. The project includes a circular shaped bridge that together with a staircase surrounds the four and a half tennis courts in different levels, with the lowest touching the ground, which allows for the bridge to incorporate three buildings. The bridge also functions as a running path, and integrates in its lowest part with the existing park below. Under the bridge there are 3 buildings housing several facilities that include changing rooms, showers, and spaces for administrative use.

The challenge of this project was to add 20,000 square meters of office space by using various typologies and introducing an additional 500 parking spaces to an existing structure.The existing building is detached from the surrounding streets and the pedestrian access is blocked by various obstacles. Therefore, instead of placing the programs next to one another and burdening the site even more, we decided to stack the different programs one on top of the other. At the encounter between the programs, wherever they conflict with each other, we took advantage of the distortion created, and placed interesting architectural moments – a Sky Lobby above the parking floors, a panoramic administration conference room on a high floor, and a main entrance to the parking floors on the ground level.The tower created a landmark entrance to the city, allowing the opening of the site to its surrounding and linking the new building to the existing one, in order to create one structure that is coherent and whole.

Our design for this Soho Tel Aviv boutique and residence in Tel Aviv promotes a socioeconomic ecosystem that embraces community and sharing. By introducing a variety of housing typologies with various micro-units and shared facilities, our proposal allows different communities to live side-by-side in the heart of the city. 248 hotel rooms.