MKR Architects：In 2014, the Ashkelon Municipality commissioned a strategic plan by MKR for the entire coastal strip of the city, a 12 km continuous stretch of beautiful, yet underused waterfront. The comprehensive plan reinvents the coast as a rich space with nodes of varying intensity, connecting the city’s residents to its prime natural resource by offering the municipality a set of recommended interventions and actions.

Sea Park is at the heart of Ashkelon’s coastal re-visioning. This 5-hectare coastal park, accessible from all parts of the city, is crossed by walking and cycling trails, while the terrain changes according to the visitor’s movement, conditions of the site and diverse programs woven throughout. Visitors move comfortably from space to space, experiencing the landscape and the dynamic sea-land relationship.

The park’s design borrows from its neighboring natural environment. South of Tel Ashkelon lies a lush, untouched natural coast, filled with sand dunes and depressions between them. Vivid and spectacular vegetation has developed in these depressions despite their proximity to the shore, evolving from blooming green in winter and spring to exquisite grey in summer and autumn. Inspired by this effect, seeds of local plant varieties were collected, sown, germinated and planted along the slopes of the park, as part of a rehabilitation of the coastal habitat. These, together with giant trees recovered from areas of demolition, buttress the artificial sand dunes, with paths spreading between them.