Arcod Architects was established in 1988 by the architect
couple Orit Simantov-Pinchas
and Doron Pinchas, after
they graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Technion.
At first, like any starting-out young architects, they took on any job that
came along in order to survive. They designed concrete furniture, decorated
interiors, planned additions and renovations, and furnished their resume with
the design of
many private homes. In 1993 they won a competition for the design
of a modern school in the exclusive Mashtela
neighborhood in North Tel Aviv. The school was never built, but the credit they
were awarded became an important turning point in their careers. By
participating and even winning more competitions, teaching in architecture
schools, taking part in professional committees and judge panels, the couple
established a mature architectural outlook. Today, having survived the
Postmodern flamboyant era, it can safely be assume that they will be among the
leaders of a more user-friendly line, that is, a more modest-in-style
discipline in which technology is no longer the end but rather a means.
During
the main years of your careers, the Postmodern world has created a reality
where every problem has endless solutions - each as legitimate as the next. How
did you develop your own intelligible method?
"Our
point of reference has always been the expression of architecture as a way of
life. We focus on the content and on the essence, in a world that focuses on
exterior images and the latest fads or fashions. Perhaps the common denominator
in all our projects is our striving to relate the parts to the whole. In other
words, our constant efforts to orchestrate a hierarchy of situations through
defined spaces. This principle has helped us in our personal soul-searching and
has contributed to our architectural results."
Your
recent work reveals an almost emotional struggle between the prevailing
tendency to use "contemporary" components and your healthy instinct
to grant them purposeful significance. I can actually identify a decorative
"sacrifice" to the "gods of fashion" in almost every
building you designed - something beyond an absolute necessity like, for
instance, the walls which encircle the courtyard at the Ramat Hasharon High School.
"We
perceive the building as a system of layers and volumes of space, and in those
terms it is hard to accuse us of "working for the gods," at least not
consciously. Every element of the building has purpose, even if it is not
always visible, such as an emotional or spiritual aim. The courtyard walls at
the school are a good example because they were supposed to give the courtyard
more intimate proportions. We used a similar technique in the Discount
Investments offices, in a competition for the design of the Museum for Modern
Art in Brisbane, a competition for the design of the Royal Theatre in
Copenhagen, in a project we presented at the Biennale in Venice (there it took
on urban proportions), and even in a house on Keren Kayemet Street. In each case, we employed the multi-layer
"wrapping" technique, mainly to give significance to the space
within."
One
of the problems of contemporary architecture is the loss of identity. Private
houses are sometimes treated like museums of modern art. Does the multi-layer
technique not blur the building’s functional destination?
"Even
if the rationale behind the buildings plan is similar, there is a significant
difference in the actual expressions of the purpose. Our interpretation of the
hierarchy between the domain of individuals and that of the public is similar
to the texture of lace, where the invisible and the void are more important
than the visible. The house in Keren Kayemet street is located on a very
noisy road, which is not at all pleasant for their residents. Here, the outer
layer shields the private domain from the exterior chaos. The house and the
yard are built as one unit, between two angled walls that form barriers against
the noise and dirt outside. In contrast, our own home is located in a quiet
neighborhood, and the hierarchical division is a direct mirror of our
lifestyle. The Arcod office is in the basement, and
the rest of the house flows upward towards the endless freedom near the sky.
Mentioning
the sky, how does a secular, "in", firm
reach the Rabbi Ifargans "Court" in Netivot?
"The
Rabbis courtyard is a good example of the hierarchical division of space and
functional significance. The site is both a spiritual place and a place where
the Rabbi meets with his visitors who come to seek his help. The
"backyard" becomes a meeting place between an intimate spiritual
world, where people have emotional and religious experiences, and the spaces
that are designated for the physical, functional, world. The division of space
between the interior and the exterior is a gradual process. As the visitor
enters the structure, he progresses step by step through different layers of
the space; at each stage he sheds another layer of his identity, until he
reaches the final enclosed space where he can take part in the spiritual
experience he came for. By the way,
our experience with the Rabbi was a lot more interesting than any other
experience with the secular celebrities that surround us."
What’s
the significance of the weekly Kabbalah lessons you
take and how do they influence your creativity?
Orit: "From about the age of twelve, the search for
the meaning of life has engaged me. I have always felt that there is something
greater and more meaningful than the routine of our daily lives. Something more than the chase after money, social prestige,
control, and academic degrees - things that are never truly fulfilling.
Nevertheless, we both believe that we also have to engage with the material
world – at least in order to support ourselves. When we first opened our
office, we developed simultaneously in both directions. Only during the past
three years have we been able to let the spiritual lead the material. Since
then, our architecture has matured, with all the physical signs of growing
older and wiser - tone of voice, wrinkles, etc. In other words, the physical environment
is now an expression of our spiritual aspirations and state of mind.
"Kabbalah enables us to understand the laws that govern the
material world. Through our studies, reason and the sixth sense, we develop and
produce a better and broader world. It is hard to point to the exact relation
between the will and the way, but today we are much more in touch with our
emotional and spiritual conditions, and that is probably expressed in our
architecture.
"One
should remember that we are a couple - a man and a woman with different
personalities and desires. Throughout the years we have learned to work
together, and to create the situation in which the "combination" is
greater than the sum of the pieces."
