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Richard Kauffmann’s Garden Cities
Prof. Micha Levin
Richard Kauffmann’s main work
in the first decade after emigrating
to Israel in 1920 was in the field of
urban planning. At the time, there
was no consistent urban planning
policy and virtually no precedent for
the existing settlements. At the time,
the first city-gardens in England
were just completed - Letchworth
and Welwyn, planned by Raymond
Unwin and Barry Parker, and
Ebenezer Howard’s model became
a source of imitation all over the
world.
Introduced to the subject of urban planning
during his studies at the Technische
Universität München as Theodor Fischer’s
student, Kauffmann was involved in
the design of several neighborhoods in
Germany in the spirit of the garden-city.
Arriving in Israel, he used his experience to
formulate standards and design principles
in accordance with the developing society
that was still searching for its expression in
a non-directive eclectic style.
In addition to his activity in town planning,
Kauffmann's influence is also evident in
the formation of the modernist trend of the
thirties. This found expression in his design
of buildings devoid of “Mediterranean”
symbols, focusing instead on local climate,
topography, and social ideas that were of
interest to the new settlement in Israel.
One of the principles of the garden-city
was to limit the size of the city to 10,000
inhabitants, as an answer to industrialized
cities characterized by over-density. As
the settlements here suffered from sparse
population, their primary interest lay in an
affinity to land, nature and agriculture.
Kauffmann’s first garden-city in Israel was
Moshav Nahalal, to be followed by dozens
of other garden-cities. The concept was also
used in the design for six neighborhoods
in Jerusalem – starting with Rehavia, and
most neighborhoods in Haifa - Bat Galim,
How did the concept of a Garden City turn into a major method
for planning cities, neighborhoods, villages, Moshavim and
Kibbutzim in Israel, from the beginning of the Mandate until the
establishment of the State?
Hadar, the Carmel and Ahuza - all of them
characterized by simplicity, minimalism and
architectural purity.
His emphasis, planting along streets and
in house gardens, contributed immensely
to the green and rural nature of his
neighborhoods - a green axis across the
neighborhood, enabling one to walk almost
without encountering vehicles. The hill top
was intended for schools and other public
institutions.
Over and above these physical traits,
Kauffmann was able to correlate design
principles with the social ideas characteristic
of the settlement. In the design for Nahalal,
for instance, he formulated the concept
of equality and brotherhood, the plots
radiating around a common area devoted
to public institutions. These included a
community center, school, secretary’s office
and a common production compound, as
well as the residences of non-agricultural
professionals - teachers and craftsmen.
From the surrounding houses, it was
possible to control the spread of private
farms into agricultural areas.
At the end of the twenties, Kauffmann was
commissioned by Moshe Novomeysky
- founder of the Dead Sea phosphates
plants - to design the workers' residences.
In order to resolve the extreme climate
problems, he designed double roofs, where
the upper one, supported by columns, was
ventilated and protruded from the building
to create a roofed terrace on the ground
floor. Interestingly, in Novomeysky’s villa,
the double roof was designed only above
the living area and not above the bedrooms
that were used primarily after sundown.
During these years, Kauffmann designed a
similar ventilated roof for the school and the
children's house on Kibbutz Degania.
Sensitivity to topographical conditions and
climate greatly contributed to the comfort of
settlement life. For instance, the location of
the cow farm and fields on kibbutzim took
into account the direction of the wind, in
order to avoid smells in the living area. In the
Beit Hakerem neighborhood of Jerusalem,
built during the twenties and thirties, small
buildings, relative to the size of the plots,
were designed, lending the neighborhood
a touch of prestige preserved to this day.
Likewise, garden-neighborhoods designed
on the Carmel were provided with a view of
the wadis and landscape – an important trait
that still gives them real-estate value.
Kauffmann’s significance for Israeli
architecture is primarily noticeable in the
way in which he applied international style
principles in order to express local content.
For instance, Kruskal house in Tel Aviv,
built in 1931, is characterized by calculated
concrete shade canopies to prevent direct
sun rays in summer, while enabling the
penetration of low sun in winter.
In addition to his master-plan, Kauffmann
also designed a number of buildings
in Rehavia during the first half of the
thirties: Pomerantz House and Goitein
House, designed opposite each other,
creating a dialog by means of their bare
concrete cornices, as opposed to Mandate
construction regulations requiring external
stone cladding.
An affinity for topography finds expression
in the sanitarium he designed on the
Carmel during the mid-thirties. Here, shady
cornices become a long balcony with round
pillars behind the open white façade, à la
Le-Corbusier; Kauffmann's emphasis on
horizontal lines, characteristic, for instance,
of the Community Center in Nahalal, attests
to the influence of Frank Lloyd Wright; while
breaking up the mass is reminiscent of the
Weichmann silk factory in Gleiwitz, designed
by Mendelsohn in 1921-23, reflecting the
Mondrian-like cubes of the De Stijl Group.
Horizontal lines also characterise the roofs of
the Degania School and Rehavia apartment
houses. The use of curving lines - at Aghion
House, Talbieh, the Generali building, and