Re-Education

Project idea

Using academia as a central driver of urban regeneration in Tiberias, establishing it as a Sea of Galilee city that preserves heritage while undergoing renewal, connecting the Upper City, city center, and Old City through integrated academic, educational, cultural, and employment hubs.

Project description

Tiberias is a city of layers. A city in which history is not a frozen remnant, but a living foundation for renewal, identity and future planning. Our vision seeks to read the city through its historical, topographical and social continuities, and to propose a new urban model for it: an academic city by the Kinneret, connecting past and future, preservation and renewal, the local community and new populations.

At the heart of the proposal lies the idea of dispersing academic centres throughout the city, rather than concentrating them within a detached campus. Academia becomes an urban catalyst: it enters historic buildings, reactivates them, and charges them with programmes of education, culture, leisure, research and public life. In this way, preserved buildings are not left as nostalgic evidence alone, but become active, accessible and open centres of everyday urban life, strengthening the existing urban fabric.

The intervention within historic buildings is carried out with respect and sensitivity. The new architecture does not seek to overshadow the existing, but rather to emphasise it through a subtle visual and structural buffer, creating distance, breath and distinction between layers of time. Preserved buildings become anchors within mixed-use complexes, incorporating commerce, public buildings, housing, student accommodation and communal spaces, thereby generating full urban life throughout the day.

The city is understood as a continuum, rather than as a collection of disconnected parts. The proposal connects the upper city, the city centre and the old city through a network of active streets, green boulevards, parks, gardens and a complementary transport system, including mass transit along the main axes. The physical connection also becomes a functional and social one: between institutions, neighbourhoods, public spaces, tourism, housing and employment.

The steep topography of Tiberias is not perceived as a limitation, but as an architectural opportunity. Changes in level allow for multiple entrances, vertical passages, atrium courtyards, contextual buildings and circulation systems that connect lower and upper levels. In this way, a multi-layered city is created, in which movement itself becomes an urban experience and an integral part of the architecture.

Tiberias contains a rich variety of styles and historical periods: from Roman remains, through Ottoman fortifications, walls and mosques, to the European influences of the nineteenth century, the modernist buildings of the British Mandate period, and the Brutalism and immigrant housing estates of the 1950s–70s. Rather than erasing this diversity, the proposal seeks to transform it into a rich urban language, in which each period receives presence and meaning.

Our aim is to densify the city from within, strengthen its existing centres, and prevent uncontrolled outward expansion. Urban renewal is based on adaptive reuse, the connection of urban nodes, and the creation of a collaborative and diverse environment for all populations. Through academia, preservation and mixed use, Tiberias can become a living, young and multi-generational city - a city that attracts new residents, strengthens the local community, and redefines its identity as a city of the Kinneret, culture and knowledge.

Technical information

The project includes a site plan at 1:500 scale, roof plans at 1:250 scale, multiple urban sections (A-A, B-B, C-C, D-D and sections 1-1, 2-2, 3-3, 4-4), circulation schemes, intervention schemes, and level change diagrams. The urban strategy incorporates a green grid, academia integration, pedestrianized shared streets, and public transportation networks. Existing and proposed building configurations are compared showing densification and adaptive reuse strategies.

Documentation

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