Aerial view of the Old Gesher bridge compound. (Photo courtesy Friends of Earth Middle East.)

A team of architects from the Yale School of Architecture’s Urban Design Workshop (YUDW) and Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design is set to move forward on part of the proposed Israeli-Jordanian Jordan River Peace Park (JRPP), to be the first peace park in the Middle East.

In particular, the team is looking to develop the Old Gesher bridge compound in Israel, a site dating back to the Roman Byzantine period, which would become the park’s southern gateway.

Progress on the project was made following a three-day intensive workshop  — or charette — held on site in May to develop detailed designs and recommendations for the park. Among the short-term projects planned are a small interpretive and visitor’s center, a Jordan River promenade, and a craft workshop.

The leaders of the May workshop — Alan Plattus ‘76, project leader at YUDW and professor of architecture and urbanism at the Yale School of Architecture (YSOA), and Andrei Harwell ’06 MArch, project manager at YUDW and critic at the YSOA — have been involved in the project since 2008, when they traveled to the site for a week-long charette. During that first trip they were joined by three faculty members and three graduate students from the School of Architecture, along with undergraduate filmmakers Sofy Solomon ’09 and Reid Wittman ’09, who filmed a documentary about the project.

“We’re very excited to be back on the ground in the area of the proposed Jordan River Peace Park to work with our colleagues from Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) and Bezalel,” said Plattus. “We hope to be able to build on the good work that has already been done and look forward to seeing some of the exciting new developments come to life in the not-so-distant future.”...Continue Reading

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