Israel Housing Project Allows Couples to Be Creative When Adding to Homes JERUSALEM — When Yit- zhak Rabin first offered the finance ministry portfolio to Housing Minister Yehoshua Rabinowitz the latter refused the offer, claiming that he was fired up about housing and wanted to get things moving there. The housing ministry is about to go into an experi- mental project, the first of its kind, to which former minister of housing, Ra•ino- witz gave the green light. Now it is up to the new min- ister of housing, Avraham Offer, to continue in the same spirit and accelerate the im- plementation of the project, which came into being back in the days of Housing Min- ister Sharef. The project consists of the construction of a residential neighborhood for 48 couples in Or-Yehuda, outside Tel Aviv, in original dwellings reminiscent of the "Raby- Grown" model: a dwelling built in stages, in height, ac- cording to the dwellers' needs and with their active participation. The homes in this neigh- borhood are built around a court, rhomboid shaped, which serves also as a gar- din and playground. The buildings are Y-shaped and combined they form vacant space. Each house resembles a frame, three stories high with only the first floor com- Stage 1 - fr. c Overall appearance of some of the houses being built in Or-Yehuda. the first stage 40 square meters (.8361 sq. m.-1 sq. yd.) will suffice; two years later, with the-birth of their first child,- the need for ex- pansion will arise, and it will One level, with living room, bedrocitii; kitchen, and conveniences. plete: bedroom, living room, kitchen and amenities; The rest of the construction, in height, is done later. The guiding principle here is that a newlywed young couple does not require a large two-bedroom home. In be done, in height, by the occupant himself and accord- ing to his choice, from a var- iety of possibilities made available to him by the hous- ing ministry. - The inclination to draw the occupant into the building plan is derived from the awareness of psychological demands whch have hereto- fore been ignored; the hous- ing ministry clients have been complaining about the lack of variety in the lic;mes it builds. In fact, a survey conducted by the ministry shows that 70 per cent of the 800,000 homes which it had built, underwent interior al- terations after their transfer to their occupants. - Architect Yisrael Gudowitz, who is in charge of rural planning in the housing min- istry, initiated and is • now executing the experimental project in Or-Yehuda. The conventional homes which the couples have been receiving from the housing ministry do not provide the occtipants with an opportun- ity to express themselves in home- building. At the con- gress of architects and en- gineers held in Israel last year, the professionals stressed the need for tenant involvement. Gudowitz also had a word of criticism to say about the homes built by the ministry for young couples, primarily because the dwelling given - One of a variety of possibilities for internal division of apartment. 52—Friday, Sept. 6, 1974 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS them is "too large for their present needs, and, in all likelihood, too small for the future." This bothered him, and he began looking for solutions. While visiting the famous Dutch architect, Aldo van Eyck, he saw that the latter had - built his home at a width of 2.70 meters but high. He had divided the in- terior of the house into five levels. "My first reaction was — why not in Israel?" Gudowitz admits, "And I felt that here was the solution - to the housing •inistry's burn- ing problem." On his return, Gudowitz prepared plans and a model, and tried to interest people in his scheme, but for the most part, the reaction was that the plan was not fea- sible. But anyone acquainted with the dynamism ,and per- severance of the young ar- chitect, _who brought the ministry an international award for rural planning, for his work in Hazba and Ker- em Shalom, knows that he does not give up very read- ily. His chance tame in the exhibition -held on the occas- ion of Israel's 25th anniver- sary. 4n the ministry's pav- ilion he set up a model of the "envelope home" for the young couple, in order to ob- tain the opinion of the public about the ministry's plan. The opinion was favorable. Of the 1,000,000 visitors to the pavilion, 300,000 received questionnaires, and all the replies were positive. "The ministry could not oppose this vox populi," says Gudo- witz. And thus will brick and concrete make his plan come true in Or-Yehuda. The home which the young couple receives is planned in three wages, to conform with its age and need's. The first stage is the first level on the 40 sq.m. space, and it contains a living room, bed- room', amenities and kitchen. The second stage is intended for a young couple and one child; should another room be needed, the occupant him- self adds the room, since the preparations for all three stages were made when the exterior "envelope" was built — pipes and sanitary installa- tions and electrical outlets, so tha ► all the occupant has to do is buy items available on the market. The third stage — for a couple with children — af- fords a• variety of possibili- ties never before available in any housing project. It is possible to expand everyday living areas, that is, to en- large the living room on the first floor,.to build a dining room and add others. To top the three stages, there' is a fourth, for a couple with ad- olescent children, an attic- type accommodation which can be used as a. workroom, a hobby den, a guest room, or as another children's bed- roo m. This plan has many advan- tages, for the occupant and the housing ministry. The oc- cupant does not require a building permit from the ur- ban building commissions or approval by some condomin- ium apartment committee, should he wish to add on to his house, since all additions take place inside the dwell- Stage 4 — ing. Also, the cost of the dwelling will be much lower —about IL 50,000 , (about $12,- 000) compared with the IL 74,000 (about $18,000) a 70 sq.m. home now costs the couple. The savings is affect- ed by the less expensive mode of construction (by the use of uniform elements) and even more by the savings in building time. The experiment, due to run its course, in nine months, will take in 48 families select. ed from among young couples registered for housing. They have been briefed as to what they may expect, and the housing ministry will be working with them for the next six years, offering them advice and.gaidance in com- pleting the dwellings. The housing •ministry will provide the new neighbor- hood with a variety of ser- vices, such as a joint laundry r o o in with coin-operated laundromats and a trash room with a central- shredd- ing machine. The occupants will receive facilities for soc- ial activities, such as a room for the area committee and a court for garden and play- ground. (Translated from Yediot Ahronot.) Three completed levels.