避难城贝尔谢巴市贝丝哈罗契姆

By Omri Oz Amar

Domus Magazine 2011

灰色贝尔谢巴，一个即使在寒冬也极度干燥、尘土飞扬的城市。贝尔谢巴向干涸的河床缓缓移动，沿着河床，另一头便是沙漠。当地的标准建筑一般采用灰色的清水混凝土，与城市的黄色尘土相呼应。大学、市政厅、索罗卡医院和“内格夫中心”都位于城市主干道上，全部由清水混凝土建造。

在贝尔谢巴西边，能看到交叉路口上的战斗机；在贝尔谢巴南边，能看到一辆远离战场的装甲车。贝尔谢巴就位于战斗机和装甲车中间。在两年前的“铸铅行动”中，这里曾遭遇多番“格拉德”型导弹袭击。内格夫旅十字路口位于城市东北方向的入口处，这里伫立着一个远近可见的地标——内格夫战争纪念碑（Dani Karavan雕塑）。

纪念碑除了纪念意义，也是一个巨大的雕塑，等待人们进入其中，去感受其内在。纪念碑呈现给人们的是：灰色的混凝土和恐怖的战争。纪念碑由清水混凝土筑成，满载着悲怅和柔和感，就像沙漠本身一样。被侵蚀的部位堆积着尘土。它向沙漠一样，俯瞰着整个城市。

混凝土内格夫旅十字路口西南角，在一个连通广袤沙漠且只有在内格夫内才能看到的地块上，最近建成了“贝丝哈罗契姆”康复中心（退伍军人之家）。康复中心远离其它建筑，周围是无尽的黄土，面对着沙漠和纪念碑。

康复中心主要是为该地区以色列国防军残疾退伍军人及其家属而建。全部由混凝土建造，线条清晰，简单明了。建筑结构设计很简单：两个楼层通过几个点连接，有五个混凝土建造的“岩石状单元”，可以在这里装配升降式电梯。

设计呈现出明显的简洁感。由于康复中心是针对各类残疾军人的（盲、聋、坐轮椅等），因此对视觉通透性的要求比较高。连接楼层的单元，也就是“岩石状”混凝土单元，采用浇筑混凝土，表面粗糙，在结构和视觉上都体现出一种真实感。

每个岩石状单元内都含有各种“私人”空间，因此，整个建筑功能丰富，涵盖：育儿室，诊所，心理咨询师等。各岩石状单元之间，形成深河谷状的公共空间，有的地方狭窄，有的地方宽敞，零散分布，主要涵盖：健身室，室内游泳池和聚会区。

Shachaf Zait是一名现场建筑师，他指出“岩石”和“河谷”象征着建筑物周围的沙漠景象。代表着柔软与坚韧、沙漠与泉水的结合，同时也呼应着阳光的衍射。设计者充分发挥了混凝土作为建筑材料的作用。从一开始的液态混凝土，到最终的固态建筑结构，混凝土使用起来非常方便。建筑在视觉上，呈现出一种整体感，并与贝尔谢巴当地的建筑遗产相呼应。

避难所混凝土是一种有机的建筑材料。可以根据设计者的需求塑形压模。但同时它会受到侵蚀作用的影响。体现出一种柔软性和脆弱性，属于人为影响范畴，暗含着作为避难所的功能。内格夫纪念碑也很好地体现了这些特质。

不是每个人都能意识到，混凝土也是脆弱的，而购房者是手无寸铁的。大多数人只看到混凝土的坚固性，并将这种坚固理解为控制和支配能力。我们受到这样一种观念的启发，即用（几乎占据每一块土地的）混凝土和水泥覆盖，会使人们感觉空间得到了掌控。一直以来人们都认为，清水混凝土，直观而粗糙，像萨布拉人（以色列本土人）一样傲慢麻木。但混凝土建造的结构也并非总表现出柔弱性。混凝土可以浇筑成巨大而坚硬的建筑体，但同时也剥夺了混凝土的本质及其原有的建造潜能。

纵观以色列历史，会发现很多简单的日常场所都使用了混凝土：保险室、战争时期避难所、学校美术课、旧家具储藏室、以及公寓大楼里的儿童游乐室。这些场所都代表着在当地动荡的环境下，人们所需要的保护和关爱。

从这一点上来看，贝丝哈罗契姆采用混凝土建造体现出对内格夫旅纪念碑（仅500米远）所代表的战争的屏蔽。从纪念碑到康复中心，再从康复中心返回纪念碑处，两者所包含的丰富历史信息，建筑的简洁明了，柔软与坚韧的融合，尤其是关爱与保护的功能，都给人留下深刻印象。

整个国家普遍使用混凝土，特别是贝尔谢巴市，这说明混凝土完美融合了建筑的内容、结构与外形。以上所有功能结合在一起，为残疾退伍军人提供一个生理和心理上的避难所。

GrayBe'er Sheva: parched and dusty even on a bleak winter day. A slow-moving city, sending its neighborhoods into wadis which stretch toward the desert. Its canonical buildings blend the yellow tint of dust with the grayness of bare concrete.The University, City Hall, Soroka Hospital, and "Negev Center, are all located on the main road of the city, all constructed of bare concrete.

Someone arriving in Be'er Sheva from the west encounters traffic circles decorated withfighter planes; from the south, an armored car from a distant war. In-between lies the city, which only two years ago, during Operation Cast Lead, suffered rounds of Grad missile attacks. The Negev Brigade intersection, located at the northeast entrance of the city, is also reminiscent of war-named for the Negev monument by sculptor Dani Karavan, a Landmark visible far and wide.

The monument, a memorial as well as a huge environmental sculpture which implores one to enter its spaces and experience it from within, embodies the two images: both the gray concrete and the terror of war. It is built of bare concrete, full of pathos and tenderness just as the desert itself. Like the desert it holds dust wherever the cement has eroded and, as the desert, the monument too overlooks the city.

ConcreteOn the Southwest corner of the Negev Brigade intersection, on a plot opening up to the infinite desert, of the kind that can be seen only in the Negev,”Beit Halochem”(lveterans' home) has recently been built. Far from any other structure,surrounded by yellow loess, staring across the desert and the monument.

The building, meant to serve the public of disabled IDF veterans and their families from the area, is constructed entirely of concrete, cast in sharp lines, clear and clean. The design of the structure is simple: two stories integrally connected at several points, withfive “rock like units” of concrete, enabling vertical circulation and elevators.

The simplicity of the plan is evident. Since the entire structure is adapted for veterans of different disabilities - blind, deaf and those confined to wheelchairs,visual clarity of movement is mandatory. The points connecting the two interlocking levels, those “rocky" concrete monoliths, with rough surfaces of poured concrete,also express a constructive and visual truth.

Each rock-like unit contains spaces for some of the various functions of "privacy"that the compound provides: from babysitting children of patients to clinics for body and soul. In expanses between the “rocks”, Like a deep river gorge, which becomes narrower and sometimes expands, are scattered spaces for public functions:exercise room, indoor swimming pool and gathering areas.

Architect Shachaf Zait, who was architect-on-site, notes that “rocks” and “gorges”symbolize the desert image surrounding the building. They represent a meeting of tenderness and hardness, of dryness and spring water, accompanied by a diversion of diffracting sunlight. The designers transformed concrete into an ideal material for design. Liquid in the beginning and rock-hard at the end, convenient for processing.visually uniform, and associated with the architectural heritage of Be'er Sheva.

RefugeConcrete is a material with an organic character. It can be shaped and molded according to requirements of the designer and it responds to erosion processes. It embodies softness and vulnerability, a kind of human dimension,and a capacity to be a refuge. The Negev monument refiects those qualities in an astounding manner.

Not everyone is aware of the vulnerability of concrete and the defenselessness of home buyers. Most see its strength, and interpret its rigidity as controlling and dominating. We were inspired by the notion that a cover of concrete and cement that dominates every tract of land, leads to an ideology of control over empty spaces.We were taught that bare concrete, direct and crude is as insolent and insensitive as a sabra (native Israeli). Even structures built of concrete did not always express its softness. There they are, cast in rigid patterns and oversized dimensions, while at the same time taking away from concrete its sincerity and construction potential they purport to show.

In contrast, throughout Israel’s history in spite of these attempts, we encounter concrete in simple daily use inside our homes -as safe rooms and as shelters that are routinely used for art classes in schools, for store rooms of old furniture and,in times of war, as playrooms for children in apartment buildings. These represent protecting and compassionate spaces we are building for use in our local and violent reality.

In this sense, use of concrete in Beit Halochem reflects closure with respect to the Negev Brigade monument, located at a distance of onlyfive hundred meters.Walking from the sculpture to the concrete structure and back again to the sculpture one is impressed by the informed and constructive honesty, by the tenderness and stiffness, especially compassion and protection, evident both in Beit Halochem as well as in the monument.

The ubiquitous use of concrete in the entire country and Be'er Sheva in particular, points to concrete as a perfect fusion of content, construction and shape. All these features coalesce to produce a physical and psychological refuge for disabled war veterans.