I still got another month to go before autumn classes start (October 17). I spend my time between the office, where I working this summer doing an internship, and a competition I'm doing with fellow students for the F.A.S.T organization. Other than that, the Mediterranean is a good option, from the twelve floor (where my office is) I can see 180 degrees of it. I start making plans for a dip as soon as I arrive all depending on the color of the water.

F.A.S.T, or the Foundation for Achieving a Seamless Territory, was created about a year ago by a good friend , Dan Handel and Malkit Shoshan. Basically it deals with the architectural angle of the Israeli – Palestinian on-going conflict. Or how government legislations, building codes and other land management authorities ( Nature Society, Archeological Research Etc.) are utilizing they're mandate in order to promote a bias, one sided land development scheme in favor of the Jewish majority.
Since the war of 1948, when thousands of Arab refugees were driven off their rightful land and deprived the right to return to their assets , the Israeli government has led a land war against the remaining Arab minority. A simple comparison between the growth of urban and agricultural centers of Jews and Arabs in the Galilee shows that while area intended for residential use in the Jewish cities and towns has been expending constantly, the size of land intended for residential use in the Arab municipalities has virtually remained the same since 1948, in an act of a complete denial for the needs of a fast growing Arab population.
Building outside the municipalities is strictly forbidden and all unauthorized construction is systematically demolished. This state of affairs leads to new, emerging Middle eastern typologies. For instance the lack of usable land and the growth of population promotes Arab planners to deal with density. The former one story Arab vernacular house is being replaced by the new multiple story family unit, housing three or even four generations in a single block.
I'll try to elaborate on this in my future entries.

The competition F.A.S.T is organizing deals with the village of Ein Hud, on the western slopes of Mount Carmel. The existing village grew as a temporary camp for one of the families that had to evacuate the original Ein Hud village in 1948. It is located about one Km east of the abandoned village. Today about 200 people live in Ein Hud.
Recently, after years of a legal struggle the residents of Ein Hud won the recognition of their village by the State. This change in definition enables Ein Hud to receive electricity, phone lines education Etc.
The problem emerged when the State allowed only half of the planned residential zones to be worked out. This will lead to a lack in housing in the very near future and eventually solves nothing.
The competition sets out to redesign the existing proposal and supply solutions for the clash between the institutionalized planning methods and the evolving village as a complex system.
More later.