Northern Entrance to Beer Sheva – competition – First Prize

The competition program called for the design of the open spaces along the northern entrance road to Beer Sheva, located in the Negev desert. Future plans for new neighborhoods and employment areas to the north raised the need to create a programmatic and aesthetic vision for the extensive open spaces that are left on both sides of the road.

Our design envisioned a linear urban park that would function as the representative entrance to Beer Sheva while creating at the same time an active addition to the open space system of the town. The park would include pedestrian and bicycle lanes for family outings, sports and extreme bicycling, taking advantage of the natural topography of gentle hills and desert drainage ravines. We suggested treating the pathways along the road and in the vicinity of the town, in a more formal way, with a mixture of palms and shade trees, while the trails along the drainage runnels and in transition to the natural desert environment would be planted with local tree species, relying only on naturally available rainfall and water-runoff.

The park would thus reflect Beer Sheva’s image as a growing and active city that is aware of the natural assets and beauty of its desert location.