Between the Mountain and the Valley

Between the Mountain and The Valley

2021
With Libat Eden

Second place winner of the David Azrieli prize

Recipient of the Environmental Sustainability Project Award by Bezalel Academy

Exhibited in the 'Designing a Sustainable Future' exhibition and panel for the 50th Annual Conference of the Israel Society of Ecology and Sciences

Published in Portfolio Magazine

This project explores the Israeli National Water Carrier, a 130-kilometer network that transports water from northern Israel to its arid southern regions. Crucial to the formative years of the Israeli state, this infrastructure provided essential resources while also carrying significant socio-political implications. Its route, along with the areas it bypassed, reflects a top-down planning approach that often overlooked local ecological and social concerns. The construction of five desalination plants in the late 1990s further transformed the Water Carrier's function, making portions of its tunnels obsolete.

Centered on the Beit Netofa Valley, an agricultural landscape intersected by this now-obsolete canal, the project explores one of Israel’s last intact seasonal floodplains, which sustains ancient Arab small-plot agriculture and a delicate ecosystem. It investigates how this former infrastructural barrier can be reimagined as a connector for nearby Bedouin communities, leveraging existing agricultural and tourism developments.

A methodology developed by combining spatial textures and local user creates a non-hierarchical understanding of the local landscape. This is used to re-define the National Water Carrier, a derelict canal, from a disruption to an integral part of the existing biosphere system, preserving the unique tension between the mountain and the valley.

Valley Section: Between Eilabun and Bu'ina-Nujidat

Historic Global Infrastructures

The National Water Carrier Tunnel in Beit Netofa Valley

The National Water Carrier Tunnel in Beit Netofa Valley: Model

Izbeh (plural: Izbot, عزبة, עיזבה) refers to a temporary agricultural structure originally used by farmers during harvest season. These structures allowed farmers to remain close to their fields, eliminating the need for long journeys from home to their plots. Over time, the izbeh evolved into more permanent residential structures, accommodating both farmers and their families.

Today, in the Beit Netofa Valley, these structures have been further developed into leisure, residential, and tourism facilities, offering a variety of activities that reflect the agricultural heritage of the valley. However, the region's underinvestment in infrastructure has led to significant private interventions in water and electricity systems. While these interventions enable the local community to engage with the land, they also have Harmfuleffects on the local ecosystem.