This student village in southern Israel was designed and built in just four months, using repurposed cargo containers to provide housing for up to 300 students from Sapir College — while reconnecting a neglected part of the city to its civic core.

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Located on a hillside site that once held an abandoned school, the project faced both an extreme time constraint and the challenge of creating meaningful urban and social value under complex economic and political conditions. The urgency of delivery shaped the design approach: decisions were sequenced to extend flexibility, allowing the team to refine the strategy as constraints evolved. The result is a clear system: two containers flanking a central shelter unit, which serves both as structural core and protected space — a necessity in this high-tension area. Each 60 sq.m. unit houses two students and includes bedrooms, living space, and kitchen facilities. The containers were prepped off-site while the shelter units were manufactured in parallel, enabling rapid on-site assembly once permits were secured — the entire complex was erected within two weeks. Between the rows of north-south–oriented units, shared outdoor spaces foster daily interaction and a sense of community. Former classrooms from the adjacent school were repurposed into a student center, reinforcing the connection to the city and giving new life to a forgotten site. This is more than emergency housing — it’s a model for fast, responsive, and socially embedded urban design.