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2017
מאי
109
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ראיון עם אדריכל אסף לרמן
93
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Youth dorms, Kibbutz Sasa, 2016
New façades added to the 5 existing buildings,
accentuate the complex in the landscape while
creating meeting places for casual interaction.
Asaf Lerman Architects.
life, this is the real potential of contemporary
architecture. When this happens to you, it
broadens your entire world. The buildings
themselves were never the goal of modern
architecture. The ambition was far greater
because it focused on the human being - the
free man. I strongly believe in freedom, and
in the responsibly of us all to strive for it.
Once, when we were eating hummus
at Kerem Hatemanim, you told me you
focus on a limited number of projects
in order to give them your full attention.
I know that’s true, that it doesn’t come
from a lack of opportunity
…
I consciously give up profit; don’t believe that
architecture is a business. That might be like
a bulldog that gets his teeth into something
and doesn’t give up until the end… but that’s
how I am, and it’s the only way I know. I
prefer to have my hands deep in the project,
rather than becoming a manager, let alone
the fact that losing money is nothing to be
proud about...
Just before we finished the olives... you
said that over and above the cliché of
"analyzing the needs of the client", your
design starting point is the budget.
Absolutely true. I find the budget a
fascinating opportunity to challenge the
fixed perceptions of aesthetics, because
when you know the boundaries of the game,
you can play. There is no good material
or bad material, and this is precisely what
preoccupies modern design. Those who
only know how to design with expensive
materials are like people who can make
a good meal out of filet steaks and caviar.
That’s not interesting.
Before the coffee with hawaij arrived..
you mentioned that the best skill you’ve
acquired over the years was the ability
to maneuver between bureaucratic rain
drops.
I have to admit that this skill was acquired
after many mistakes and paying the price
for them. When I opened my office in 2006,
together with my then partner, Tammy Yaniv,
I very quickly… too quickly found myself
responsible for 4 public projects, mounting
together to a billion shekels! It was crazy
and stressful, and very difficult to cope
with. Consequently, I got into unnecessary
confrontations at work and home, which I
greatly regret. I learned the hard way, and
today I have a far better understanding of
my role in the general course of a project -
the importance of good relationships both at
and outside work.
Among your current projects that you
forwarded to me, I came across - how
could one not - the Haifa University
library that brought you the Rechter
Prize for Architecture
.
The library was completed in 2013 and
it is very moving to see that the quality
of the project has stood the test of time.
The original building by Niemeyer was
undoubtedly the most radical modernist
example built in Israel, although he himself
erased it from his resume after the Six Day
War. I am no match for that huge architect
who died at 105 after designing some of
the most important buildings in the world.
But the best I could do was to "tickle" this
giant building’s ribs like one of the dwarfs
who climbed on Guliver's body after it was
washed up on the shore. It is a local project
that serves as an antithesis to Niemeyer's
great international communist manifesto.
Now that you appear to have reached
your destination, what’s next?
I don’t really think I’ve reached my