FAQ Israeli Style
editorial
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions - is an Internet substitute for the sentence “Everything you wanted to know about this website and never dared ask.” A kind of marketing attempt to tell you whatever will keep you from clicking to the next site, in case of doubt. So for instance, a dating site I’ve entered says that all the messages sent are written by them, but they can assure you that all the pictures are of real women.
Over the twenty years of existence, many questions have been directed to AI - some sharp, others less so, but if I had to choose FAQ questions for AI, I would focus on three:
The first: “Why does a magazine called Architecture of Israel systematically present also projects planned by gentile architects?”
For this question I have two replies, the first: Not everybody called Carpenter should go into the furniture business. And the second: with all due respect to Israeli architecture, which has developed pretty well over the years, its presentation has no didactic value if not put in a wider context. If you don’t believe me, check how many people in the world know the fascinating creation “Ner Li, Ner Li Dakik”, as opposed to “Michelle Ma Belle”.
As the following question deals with me personally, I’ve put it second out of modesty:
“Why does the editor write about subjects that aren’t par excellence related to architecture?” - Someone even dared call them “thoughts”.
The ultimate answer is that there is nothing in the world that is not related to architecture, from the politicians that dictate building laws according to their electors’ whims, to the chair upon which the Turkish ambassador was stupidly insulted. And the real answer - let’s see you fantasize about “Israeli architecture” 1000 times, without boring whoever insulted the Turkish ambassador.
The next question consists - like everything Jewish - of three parts: “Who is entitled to publish in AI; how do you send material; and how do we decide what is worthy of publishing?”
The immediate answer is that everyone is invited to send whatever they want to our website www.aiq.co.il - that’s what the magazine exists for. Since one of our aims is to improve architecture through a controlled exposure of worthy projects (not to use the loaded word ‘selection’), we focus on three parameters we believe every building should express: functionality, creativity, and feasibility - all in the right dose, of course.
The more official answer is that AI is the only architecture magazine in the country backed by an international advisory board. In order to refrain from making mistakes, we hold an annual international competition, through which anyone may submit his project to an independent jury composed of leading international architects and scholars.
Since this issue is dedicated entirely to the winning projects of the Project of the Year Competition, I would like to extend my thanks to all the jury members, chaired this year by Bjarke Ingels and Thomas Christoffersen of the BIG Group; Arch. Yitzhak Laiwand - head of the School of Architecture at Tel Aviv University; Arch. Osvaldo Stav - chairman of the judging committee of the Architects Association; Arch. Baruch Baruch - head of the School of Architecture at Wizo Haifa; Glass artist Jeremy Langford; Dr. Tigran Haas, Assoc. Prof. in Urban Planning & Design, Stockholm; Artist Prof. Siona Shimshi; Arch. Prof. Benamy Turkienicz, Brazil; Arch. Prof. Moshe Tzur; Arch. Yosi Sivan; Arch. Prof. Jan Olav Jensen, Oslo; and Arch. Arad Sharon from Sharon Architects that annually grants the Arieh and Eldar Sharon Award for Creative Students.
As every year, management of the competition was in the hands of Rachel Ben Aharon, without whom I would never have entered any dating websites.
architect dr. ami ran
