Vidor Center

Based within the Arava Research and Development Center, adjacent to Moshav Hatzeva, the Vidor Center aims to present the Arava region, along with its unique vistas and inhabitants – and to tell the story of its advanced agriculture, which employs scientific and technological innovation to deal with the area’s desert climate and sparse natural resources.

Erected on the site of a former greenhouse house, the visitors center was meant to capture the unique relationship between people and the environment. This led to our decision to build exclusively from natural materials, especially the area’s red clay soil, while lining the walls with industrial materials.

Suitable for the entire family, the visitor experience explores the compelling link between life, environment and advanced technology. The direct encounter with natural materials, animals in their natural habitat and desert crops makes for an unusual visitor experience, filled with a sense of living warmth. “Live” exhibits, a visit to the greenhouses and encounters with the unique inhabitants of the Arava provide visitors with varied, interactive experiences, based on advanced, inventive display technologies. Among the center’s main attractions is a “smart” interactive sand table, where visitors can use Kinect technology to create a dynamic topographical map, demonstrating how topographical changes affect water flow across various terrain types.