The
David Azrieli Prize for Urban Planning was awarded this year to the office of Grinstein - Har Gil for the restoration of Ben Gurion Avenue
in the German Colony, Haifa.
The office, headed by landscape architects Dr. Dafna
Grinstein and Dr. Gil Har Gil, focused on emphasizing
typical Templar building elements, at the center of which are climate-awareness
and a sense of place. With minimal intervention they
concentrated on creating orchard gardens and courtyards for activities, thereby
transforming the neglected settlement into an esthetic and lively urban
context.
The
Architects Association has joined AI Project of the Year Award. Prizes will be
awarded in five categories: architecture, landscape and urban planning,
interior design, research (for the first time), and student projects. Projects
designed and built after 2000 are relevant (there is a special category for
unrealized projects). The jury will include professional and academic members
from Israel
and abroad, and for the first time - students from architecture schools.
Winners will receive cash prizes and notes of distinction, and their projects
will appear in a special AI issue to be published in
November. Registration and project presentation will be done only through the
AI website www.aiq.co.il from mid-June.
Participation
is open to all. Entries should include only two JPG images and a short
explanatory text with no more than 40 words.
The
Ben Gurion Airport inland-flight terminal is
already under construction. Architect Yossef Assa’s proposal was selected out of 9 entries in an invited
competition.
Events
The
Architects Association submitted a plea against the Ministry of Finances
general accountant for selecting architects without conducting open
competitions. The Associations lawyer did well in summarizing the injustice
and lack of ethics and public wisdom that typify the choice of architects for
planning public structures, thus depriving the public of its right to make use
of the potential talents and fresh ideas of most of the architects in the
country. It is about time that the right to determine the architectural
appearance of our institutions was taken from the hands of officials with
accounting credentials.
And
in the same vein - architect Zvi Mosesko,
who in 1980 planned the library and cultural center of Afula,
submitted a plea against City Hall for altering the building without consulting
him. The court determined that since a building is a work of art, the
architect’s rights were violated. Hence
they ordered City Hall to return the building to its former condition and pay
the architect compensation. Well done, Zvi, for your
determination, audacity, and energies only few of us are
blessed with.
Exhibitions
The
exhibition “Fields” by artist Michal Rovner (who created the video exhibit in Yad Vashem), shows at Tel Aviv
Museum of Art till the end of June. The show includes
video pieces of gas flames in endless open fields, and was
created after a visit to oil fields in Kazakhstan.
The
photography exhibition “100 years of Tel-Aviv Architecture” is
now being shown in the east lobby of the Shalom Tower.
The exhibition was organized by the Tel Aviv Photography
Association. Worthy, convenient and probably free of charge.
The
office of Kimel-Eshkolot Architects will be
exhibiting its work at Ramat-Gan Museum of Art. A good idea for other offices as well.
I Have an Opinion
A
new column will enable students and young architects to express their opinion
without dreading the establishment. Students and architects are
invited to speak their mind on the academic goings-on of architecture
schools, to state their opinion on the school curriculum and have an impact on
their future as architects and designers. This welcome initiative arose at
several schools simultaneously with students growing tired of teachers who
superimpose their own interpretation of very subjective terms such as sense of
a place, ‘esthetic’ and ‘academic thought’. A special catalyst is the low
stature awaiting them in offices once they have finished their schooling. One
can pour out whatever’s on ones mind without hesitation at amis78@gmail.com
Students
A
common project - Genova and Haifa,
port cities - was conducted in the studio of Orit Pinchas and Peter Keynan from Tel-Aviv University School of Architecture, in
cooperation with Domus
Architecture School
in Milan. The
project focused on five locations in Genova, exposing
the students to an unfamiliar culture and context. The aim was to emphasize the
pre-studying of the site, while neutralizing preconceptions. Domus representatives were Stephan Davidovich,
an Israeli architect residing in Milan,
and Zhan Andrea Barka of the Domus
owners.
An
inter-departmental course focusing on public space design was
held at Bezalel Academy.
Thought urban design is an important field that has gained much attention
abroad, it only recently has had any interest in Israel. The course, which is part
of the centennial festivities of Bezalel Academy,
focused on comprehending the rather problematic context of Jerusalem - one of
the most neglected in the country (see article on page 3).
That’s
all for now.
Rachel.
ai@netvision.net.il
