A Factory in the desert – Ada Karmi-Melamede

Arel factory is a high-tech industry that constitutes the first stage of building in a four stage expansion program. The complex will consist of factories grouped around a set of common facilities, amidst a continuous landscape of sand dunes. The most prominent quality of this desert environment is the intense heat and harsh light and therefore, the building turns inward in order to provide a communal space that both shades and protects. The plan of each plant is triangular in shape. The hierarchy of tasks is expressed primarily in section, with perimeter offices and laboratories placed at half a level above the production area, and half a level below the administration area. In this way, the production space becomes a focus, both functional and symbolic. It relates to the idea that team work in these types of buildings is essential and is celebrated by a taller space of an almost urban scale. The organization of each plant, and the group as a whole, is consistent in glamorizing the public spaces throughout. The communal space forms a diagonal in the plan which stretches from the entry to the dining area and terminates in an open piazza that is used by everyone. The symmetrical parti is enriched throughout by the use of indirect daylight and changes in scale. The orthogonal and diagonal orders are combined to form an urban complexity which uses corridors as "streets" and public spaces as "piazzas". Planted with gardens and aligned with arcades, this inner public route acts as the major public space which provides relief and protection from the desert climate outside its walls.