Ram Eisenberg, founding director of REED and designer of Letters Hill Park in Ramat Beit Shemesh, presents REED’s innovative approach to locality, practicality, community-engaged and value-sensitive design. The park, designed for the Israel Ministry of Housing, is located at the heart of the new neighborhood of Ramat Beit Shemesh to be occupied by a Jewish Orthodox community. West of Jerusalem, it was a 4-acre site of archaeological remains. In any other community, this would have been a great asset for a park, but there is a long history of animosity in the Orthodox community towards archeology and the design held the risk of being rejected by the community it was going to serve. The design solution lay in cultural accessibility. By incorporating elements derived from the Jewish religious and cultural heritage, REED meaningfully engaged members of the community in the unfolding story of the environment.
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