In their design proposal for the Netanya City Hall, Zarhy Architects aimed to create an urban square that functions as a space which creates a direct connection between the public entities, the residents, and the rest of the city. Their approach was to refrain from building one tower which is indifferent to the street and instead, to introduce a “campus” of municipal buildings that provides an integral public space designed to serve the residents of the city of Netanya, as a generous and active urban square. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The city square allows for a true democratization of the urban domain and at the same time it functions as the heart of the city. In this way, it represents the most appropriate architecture expressing the purpose of the municipality in a democratic society that is meant to serve all of its residents. Their construction of a city hall provides a tremendous opportunity to create an urban icon, but in our view, not an arbitrary and ostentatious image erected above the citizens, but rather one of a shared democratic vision that evokes equal participation.
