Netanya to builders: Redo ugly rears of Ir Yamim high-rises
By Guy Lieberman
The city fathers of Netanya have discovered something unsettling about the fancy new community of Ir Yamim: It may be lovely in and of itself, but it ruins the neighborhood.
More specifically, the residential high-rises of Ir Yamim may have a lovely facade facing the sea. The residents of Ir Yamim have a lovely view of the sea. But their rear faces the city, and it's ugly, and that's the view that the rest of the city has. The city fathers don't think it's right, and have now ordered the Ir Yamim developers to redesign the rear face of the towers.
Advertisement
Ir Yamim is northwest of Poleg intersection, in southern Netanya, and it's by the Mediterranean Sea, which automatically makes the apartments worth more. Another feature of the new neighborhood is tall towers: Just ten of them will be housing 4,000 apartments.
The discovery that the towers' rear is not as pretty as their sea-facing facade arose as construction progressed. While the glass and porches face the sea, all the pipes and infrastructure face the city.
The unaided eye can clearly see the differences between Ir Yamim and the nearby neighborhoods of Ramat Poleg and Kiryat Nordau. Driving by the site, Netanya mayor Miriam Feirberg-Ikar was struck by the differences and summoned an urgent meeting with representatives of the builders, which include Azorim, Y.H. Dimri, B. Yair, Africa Israel, Shikun Ovdim and Dankner Investments - in short, a who's who of constructors in Israel.
The city is perfectly aware that some of the buildings are already in advanced stages of construction, and also, that many of the apartments have already been sold, making changes to the buildings all the more tricky. But following the meeting with Mayor Feirberg-Ikar, the architects of Ir Yamim met in secret to discuss what could be done.
Representatives of the city at the meeting complained that the planners had devoted their sincerest effort to the buildings' seaside facade, while their rear facing the east received the least investment.
At the meeting, Netanya city engineer Paul Vital noted that other residential towers in Israel, such as the Yoo complex in Tel Aviv, are symmetrical, or at least designed from all directions. In Ir Yamim, however, the builders wanted all the apartments to face the sea: they could get better prices.
Whatever the arguments, the city has demanded that something be done. Its suggestions include changing the color of the buildings' rear, using glass on the rear and not only on the front facade, and building porches in the rear as well. The city knows it isn't easy, Vital acknowledges: The architects will have to tap into their creativity.
The companies are mixed in their reactions. Housing & Construction has already notified the city that it will change the external color of its building to a lighter shade. But most are balking.
"We were asked to check how we could change the look of the buildings' rear," said one builder. "But you have to remember that some of the apartments have already been sold and nothing can be changed." And if any changes are made, he added, they will be minor.
The city of Netanya says that it has learned its lesson from the case of Ir Yamim, and from now on, will place an emphasis on the design of the eastern side of new complexes.
Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
