Review of architectural events
Readers WritE
Architect Shalom Kelner writes: The entries for the Shenkar campus competition (AI 74) reminded me of my studies in California in the 60s. There, any student?s project which looked too much like its source taken from a journal, was immediately disqualified. I was astonished to see that most of the proposed projects were very similar to their well known sources. There is quite a difference between blatant imitation and legitimate inspiration - examples of which were seen in the interesting projects you presented in the article about the Sde Boker campus, in the same issue.
Prizes and Competitions
A joint venture group headed by architect Haim Dotan won the competition tender for the planning, constructing and dismantling of the Israeli Pavilion at the 2010 Expo Exhibition in Shanghai, China.
The invited competition for a pedestrian and cycling bridge over the Beer-Sheva Wadi route was won by Marsh Architects. The 120 m. bridge will be built over the pipeline route connecting the old city of Beer-Sheva with the pumping station, completing the leisure axis between the old city and Hapa?amon Park. The pedestrian route will be shaded, and the center of the bridge will have a veranda with benches for resting and viewing the scenery. The competition was held as part of the projects that - upon completion - will turn the wadi route into a metropolitan park. Participating in the competition were also architects Danny Lazar, Eli Armon, and Mati Konas.
Exhibitions
The topic of the 11th Biennale of Architecture in Venice was particularly generous this year: ?Out There: Architecture beyond Building?. Curated by the Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Aaron Betsky, the central exhibition naturally included the usual names under the title ?the Masters?, alongside many young architects sent by their countries. Without expounding on the meaning of ?beyond?, the various ideas presented emphasize the global problem whereby architecture is reduced solely to building.
Some countries were brilliant in their originality, as for instance the Belgian pavilion where piles of colorful party papers strewn across the floor invited the viewers to join under the title ?After the Party?. Japan put her pavilion in the hands of architect Junya Ishigami, who used a sharp pencil to cover the walls with a lexicon of contemporary building, as only the Japanese can do.
The Israeli pavilion was, as usual, disappointing - as only Israelis can do. The low budget allotted to the exhibition ?Additions? caused difficulties and impeded a respectable display, despite the efforts exerted by the curators - Kalush-Chechick Architects and Michal Cederbaum. As a result, the accompanying committee was not satisfied with the proposed exhibition up to the last moment. One of the reasons was that the curators were too busy trying to raise money - an intolerable situation in any case - and tended to forget that the subject was in fact architecture. The jury members were: architects Ram Karmi (chair), Tula Amir, Dr. Ami Ran, as well as Sigal Barnir and Deganit Shocken Stern. Visited and photographed: Prof. Siona Shimshi.
?Total Environment? - exhibition by sculptor Araleh Ben Ariyeh, will be shown between 26/11/08 to 3/1/09 at kibbutz Gan Shmuel Gallery. Curator: Dorit Talmon. www.ganshmuel.org
?Dwelling in Green? - exhibition of Knafo-Klimor architects dealing with green architecture, took place in September at architecture gallery Zezezeh. Works were displayed expressing daring and innovation in climate-aware architecture, among which was the Agro Housing Project, that had won first prize in an international competition for planning ecological residences, China, 2007.
Another exhibition shown at Zezezeh this month was ?Light and Space - Inter-relations?, displaying selected works of Studio Gad.
The exhibition ?1948-1958 - Dictionary of a Contemporary City? is currently being shown at the Haifa Museum of Art. The exhibition focuses on the first decade after the War of Independence, at the time that Haifa ceased to be a bi-nation city, becoming the ?Hebrew Workers? City?. On display are hundreds of posters, works of art, photos, post-cards, documents and texts - mostly taken from newspapers of the period and protocols of the municipality led at the time by the mythological Mayor Abba Hushi. Closing - 15/6/09. 04-8512030.
Model builder Eli Binyamin passed away in winter 2007, leaving behind him some extraordinary models. Eli was born in 1955 in the Jesse Cohen ma?abara in Bat-Yam - the second son of a seven children family. When he was 12 his father passed away, and his mother had to support her family with temporary jobs. At the age of 16 Eli built, together with members of his draftsman class in Ort Holon, a basement in his mother?s home, where he made furniture for neighbors and friends. After his army service in the Air-Force, Eli studied interior design at Givatayim College, and started building models for a living. In his free time he constructed an amazing model of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, without plans and only by looking in books. Last winter Eli contracted pneumonia, passing away at 51. Architects and entrepreneurs who wished to honor his memory collected the models he had built for them and exhibited them in the entrance lobby of the Ashkelon Mayor?s chambers. Brought to our knowledge: architect Giora Shafir.
A new web-site provides information regarding events at the Haifa Museum of Art, Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, the National Maritime Museum, and the Haifa City Museum. www.hms.org.il Students
Student Yael Cohen of the Faculty of Architecture at the Technion, won second prize in an international competition to redesign terminal A at Dallas airport. Planned in the 70s, the existing terminal was at the time the largest in the world. However, the terminal, which caters to about 10,000 passengers a day, needed up-grading and broadening due to greater passenger movement and complicated security arrangements. Cohen?s proposal incorporates climate aware components, such as shading devices, inner courtyards, solar panels, better exploitation of natural sunlight, and a renewed organization of the space. Tutors: Prof. Iris Aravot and Prof. Moshe Tzur.
A spa design proposed by students Dana Hava and Tamar Hess of the Dept. of Interior Design at the Administration College, was adopted by the owners of a Rotterdam spa. The project ?Fluid H2Otel? was designed during an international workshop for the design of hotels, which took place in Milan this summer. Meant originally for the Dead Sea area, the project consists of two merging spirals that follow the various functions down to the lowest place in the world.
Shirit Fink of the Dept. of Architecture at the Ariel University Center won first place at the annual competition for plan and design of educational buildings announced by the Ministry of Education. Shirit?s project - ?Vocational High School in the Bedouin Village Elsayad?, attempts to solve the problem of the characteristic drop-out by a home-like building. Here, too, thought was given to assimilating climate-awareness, such as courtyards, ventilating chimneys, and shading devices. And no - Shirit is from the religious kibbutz Lavie.
Books
A new touring book ?Green Islands: 120 Parks & Gardens?, recommends a wide variety of green spots in Israel. Author Dr. Anat Madmoni, one of the few foresters in Israel, traveled with photographer Hanan Yisachar from Ancient Katzrin Park in the Golan Heights to the Besor National Park in the Negev; from the Botanical Gardens in Tel-Aviv University to the Japanese Garden in Heftzi-Bah; from the Louie Promenade in the Carmel to Ha?etzel St. in Beer-Sheva. There?s a good discount for subscribers of AI (!). Tel: 1-800-360-636.
Illustrations ahead
Architect Shalom Kelner writes: The entries for the Shenkar campus competition (AI 74) reminded me of my studies in California in the 60s. There, any student?s project which looked too much like its source taken from a journal, was immediately disqualified. I was astonished to see that most of the proposed projects were very similar to their well known sources. There is quite a difference between blatant imitation and legitimate inspiration - examples of which were seen in the interesting projects you presented in the article about the Sde Boker campus, in the same issue.
Prizes and Competitions
A joint venture group headed by architect Haim Dotan won the competition tender for the planning, constructing and dismantling of the Israeli Pavilion at the 2010 Expo Exhibition in Shanghai, China.
The invited competition for a pedestrian and cycling bridge over the Beer-Sheva Wadi route was won by Marsh Architects. The 120 m. bridge will be built over the pipeline route connecting the old city of Beer-Sheva with the pumping station, completing the leisure axis between the old city and Hapa?amon Park. The pedestrian route will be shaded, and the center of the bridge will have a veranda with benches for resting and viewing the scenery. The competition was held as part of the projects that - upon completion - will turn the wadi route into a metropolitan park. Participating in the competition were also architects Danny Lazar, Eli Armon, and Mati Konas.
Exhibitions
The topic of the 11th Biennale of Architecture in Venice was particularly generous this year: ?Out There: Architecture beyond Building?. Curated by the Director of the Cincinnati Art Museum, Aaron Betsky, the central exhibition naturally included the usual names under the title ?the Masters?, alongside many young architects sent by their countries. Without expounding on the meaning of ?beyond?, the various ideas presented emphasize the global problem whereby architecture is reduced solely to building.
Some countries were brilliant in their originality, as for instance the Belgian pavilion where piles of colorful party papers strewn across the floor invited the viewers to join under the title ?After the Party?. Japan put her pavilion in the hands of architect Junya Ishigami, who used a sharp pencil to cover the walls with a lexicon of contemporary building, as only the Japanese can do.
The Israeli pavilion was, as usual, disappointing - as only Israelis can do. The low budget allotted to the exhibition ?Additions? caused difficulties and impeded a respectable display, despite the efforts exerted by the curators - Kalush-Chechick Architects and Michal Cederbaum. As a result, the accompanying committee was not satisfied with the proposed exhibition up to the last moment. One of the reasons was that the curators were too busy trying to raise money - an intolerable situation in any case - and tended to forget that the subject was in fact architecture. The jury members were: architects Ram Karmi (chair), Tula Amir, Dr. Ami Ran, as well as Sigal Barnir and Deganit Shocken Stern. Visited and photographed: Prof. Siona Shimshi.
?Total Environment? - exhibition by sculptor Araleh Ben Ariyeh, will be shown between 26/11/08 to 3/1/09 at kibbutz Gan Shmuel Gallery. Curator: Dorit Talmon. www.ganshmuel.org
?Dwelling in Green? - exhibition of Knafo-Klimor architects dealing with green architecture, took place in September at architecture gallery Zezezeh. Works were displayed expressing daring and innovation in climate-aware architecture, among which was the Agro Housing Project, that had won first prize in an international competition for planning ecological residences, China, 2007.
Another exhibition shown at Zezezeh this month was ?Light and Space - Inter-relations?, displaying selected works of Studio Gad.
The exhibition ?1948-1958 - Dictionary of a Contemporary City? is currently being shown at the Haifa Museum of Art. The exhibition focuses on the first decade after the War of Independence, at the time that Haifa ceased to be a bi-nation city, becoming the ?Hebrew Workers? City?. On display are hundreds of posters, works of art, photos, post-cards, documents and texts - mostly taken from newspapers of the period and protocols of the municipality led at the time by the mythological Mayor Abba Hushi. Closing - 15/6/09. 04-8512030.
Model builder Eli Binyamin passed away in winter 2007, leaving behind him some extraordinary models. Eli was born in 1955 in the Jesse Cohen ma?abara in Bat-Yam - the second son of a seven children family. When he was 12 his father passed away, and his mother had to support her family with temporary jobs. At the age of 16 Eli built, together with members of his draftsman class in Ort Holon, a basement in his mother?s home, where he made furniture for neighbors and friends. After his army service in the Air-Force, Eli studied interior design at Givatayim College, and started building models for a living. In his free time he constructed an amazing model of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, without plans and only by looking in books. Last winter Eli contracted pneumonia, passing away at 51. Architects and entrepreneurs who wished to honor his memory collected the models he had built for them and exhibited them in the entrance lobby of the Ashkelon Mayor?s chambers. Brought to our knowledge: architect Giora Shafir.
A new web-site provides information regarding events at the Haifa Museum of Art, Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art, the National Maritime Museum, and the Haifa City Museum. www.hms.org.il Students
Student Yael Cohen of the Faculty of Architecture at the Technion, won second prize in an international competition to redesign terminal A at Dallas airport. Planned in the 70s, the existing terminal was at the time the largest in the world. However, the terminal, which caters to about 10,000 passengers a day, needed up-grading and broadening due to greater passenger movement and complicated security arrangements. Cohen?s proposal incorporates climate aware components, such as shading devices, inner courtyards, solar panels, better exploitation of natural sunlight, and a renewed organization of the space. Tutors: Prof. Iris Aravot and Prof. Moshe Tzur.
A spa design proposed by students Dana Hava and Tamar Hess of the Dept. of Interior Design at the Administration College, was adopted by the owners of a Rotterdam spa. The project ?Fluid H2Otel? was designed during an international workshop for the design of hotels, which took place in Milan this summer. Meant originally for the Dead Sea area, the project consists of two merging spirals that follow the various functions down to the lowest place in the world.
Shirit Fink of the Dept. of Architecture at the Ariel University Center won first place at the annual competition for plan and design of educational buildings announced by the Ministry of Education. Shirit?s project - ?Vocational High School in the Bedouin Village Elsayad?, attempts to solve the problem of the characteristic drop-out by a home-like building. Here, too, thought was given to assimilating climate-awareness, such as courtyards, ventilating chimneys, and shading devices. And no - Shirit is from the religious kibbutz Lavie.
Books
A new touring book ?Green Islands: 120 Parks & Gardens?, recommends a wide variety of green spots in Israel. Author Dr. Anat Madmoni, one of the few foresters in Israel, traveled with photographer Hanan Yisachar from Ancient Katzrin Park in the Golan Heights to the Besor National Park in the Negev; from the Botanical Gardens in Tel-Aviv University to the Japanese Garden in Heftzi-Bah; from the Louie Promenade in the Carmel to Ha?etzel St. in Beer-Sheva. There?s a good discount for subscribers of AI (!). Tel: 1-800-360-636.
Illustrations ahead
בניית אתרי אינטרנט