Readers Complain

“Dear Rachel. My name is Noy Tyshler, and I was greatly honored by your mentioning my entry to the competition for the futuristic bathroom, in which I had gotten second place. I was particularly proud since my mother has been collecting and reading your honorable magazine for years, and she got a real kick out of finding my name there. Unfortunately, there was an error concerning my gender, not uncommon with my name. I’m actually a 28-year-old guy, 1.88 m. height, 97 kg., and sport a thick beard. And by the way, you also misspelled my name in English.

Dear Noy, with such features you must also have a sense of humor… let me take this opportunity to ask all material submitters to add their names in English, or we shall have no choice but to go on misspelling. Also - with the unisex names, please state gender.

And another sad mistake

In the article on interaction spaces in schools published in issue 85, we presented a joint proposal of Mosessco-Mansfeld-Kehat-Rechter for the police training center. Angry protest reached the editorial, emphasizing that there is no connection between the presented proposal and the one that will actually be built - by the way, not in Or Akiva but in Beit Shemesh. Further examination revealed that the competition - held by entrepreneurs, not architects - granted the highest score to David Nofar and Nettanel Ben Yitzhak, but de facto the proposal of the Housing and Development Company will be the one actually built, due to its lower budget proposal. The gigantic center, to be planned by Feitelson-Shilo-Jacobson, will include 20 schools, and it’s just a pity that again the judging was conducted by clerks and not architects.

Awards & Competitions

Winner of the Rechter Prize for Architecture, 2010, is the Kimmel-Eshkolot office, for the Beit Halohem in Beer Sheva. Chaired by architect Ami Shinar, the committee held four trips and three debate days. Out of only four proposals submitted, the other projects that reached the final stage were: the School for Management and Economics at the Tel Aviv Jaffa College, planned by Naama Malis; and the train-station at Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva, planned by Danny Lazar. No work was deemed worthy in the young architects’ category. The very few entries may indicate that the veteran prize is reaching its end. Just for comparison, 300 entries were submitted to the Project of the Year Competition.  

Architects Sharon Neuman and Ofer Erez won the invitation competition for the extension of kibbutz Shefayim. The 112 linear houses are intended for kibbutz members, and will not be put up for sale, so that the ordinary folks don’t live too close to the sea. The proposal centers around ventilation and vista.

Events and Exhibitions

Architect Aryeh Rahmimov will replace Prof. Mike Turner as UNESCO Chair in Urban Design and Conservation Studies. Rumors say that Mike, who had worked relentlessly to have the White City of Tel Aviv declared an International Conservation Site, was dismissed from his post due to his criticism against future building on the Western Wall plaza.  But since when do we listen to rumors…Considered a right-wing architect, Rahmimov is a conservationist, ecologist, and a Jerusalemist, who has dealt with some of the most important historical master plans in the country. Once, he was insulted when we told him, with no malice intended, that he is a better architect than photographer. With that ability to foresee the future - this is the place to apologize.

Architects Dan Hendel and Erez Ella, with curator Milna Gitzin-Adiram, will represent Israel at the 13th Biennale of Architecture, opening in Venice on September 2012 - their exhibition chosen from among 20 proposals submitted to the judging committee chaired by curator Sigal Barnir. Entitled “Aircraft Carrier”, the exhibition will deal with the architecture of liberalism, examining the influence of American culture (and budget) on Israeli architecture from 1973 on. 

“Making Place” - a new exhibition by Israeli artist Michal Rovner, will be shown in the culture space of the prestigious Louis Vuitton brand. Based on her successful exhibition in the Louvre, the show documents the events behind the scenes of constructing two buildings - one built in Jerusalem with light-colored stones dismantled from existing buildings, and the other from dark ones taken from the Golan. Barring a political meaning, the exhibition is connected to destruction and creation - our raison d’etre.

“Stories in the Sand” - a night exhibition at the Eretz Israel Museum, will show sand sculptures and installations depicting well-known fairytales such as Cinderella, Snow White, etc. Artistically lit up, the works were created by artists of The Hague Academy for Sand Sculpture, and their Israeli colleagues. Ending on August 31st, the show will take place from 21.00-23.00. www.youtube.com/watc

“The New Wave - Contemporary French Design” is presently showing at the Holon Design Museum, closing 20.8.11. Curator: Cedric Morisset.

Verging on Architecture

“Whether king or peasant, he who finds quiet at home is the happiest of men” (Goethe). The connection between Goethe and architecture usually alludes to whoever called it a “frozen art”. In this context, one might assume that Goethe wasn’t too pleased with the condition of architecture, but also that people should be able to be happy in it. Precisely for this purpose has the term ‘home styling’ recently been coined, with the intention of making the home pleasant - be it for king or peasant. Ravit Reznik and Maayan Manor - both academically qualified in the area of styling - know how to give a caressing touch to houses and apartments, re-brand businesses, and improve the results of architecture photos. 054-5399278 052-6569754

Gal Stern, a Shenkar textile-design graduate, developed a stockings brand specially produced for her in Turkey. The collection receives her final touch at her Ra’anana studio, and is sold in the USA, Russia, Austria, Hong-Kong and Japan. Her stockings are sold at the Razili chain, and other select boutiques in the country. www.gal-stern.com; or www.farfetch.com

Natalie Mann - a leading event designer in the country - knows how to turn every event into an unforgettable occasion. 

054-6691624  www.nataliemann.co.il

Students

TAU’s Azrieli School of Architecture graduates exhibited 50 works at the Jaffa Port throughout July.  Entitled “Tel Aviv - Global City” - some of the exhibits were thought provoking.

Shai Gerner dealt with a conceptual project connecting speech and space, based on phonaesthesia - a theory connecting certain letters and the meaning of the word. Entitled “Talkative Space”, he searched for a connection between speech and architecture. 

No question about it Shai, when architects embed dispensable details in their plan, you feell the foreign accent.88

Final project of student Netanela Elgar, “Majdal - the Story of a Town”, tries to revive a neglected shopping center in Ashkelon, built on the Arab village of Majdal (Gaza), itself built on the Biblical home-town of Samson. To put it briefly, an attempt to connect the old and the new, past and present, and all of that - with the modern culture and academic center she has planned.

Technion Student Ziv Steiner was less optimistic - preparing us for the time when food and water are scarce, following the wasteful climate-ignoring architecture. Denoting it “Agricultural Residence”, he proposes an ecological neighborhood in Tel Aviv (why there?) combining urban life - which centers around the constant search for a parking spot, and agriculture with an abundance of parking and food. 

Taking place at the German Colony, the graduate exhibition of the Wizo Haifa Academic Center dealt this year with urban architecture. With the aim of delving into the connection between the building and its environment, emphasis was put on critical thinking based on research. Gai Isaac’s final project - a community center for the studies of advanced agriculture - focuses on the aqueduct in Mazra’a, built in 1914 by Suliman Feha to bring water from the Kabri springs to Acre. Gai's purpose was to grant the broken axis new life, by a continuum of spatial events.

Wizo Haifa Academic Center, in cooperation with the Yizrael Valley regional Council, held an exhibition in June, entitled “From Ideology to Architecture - Zionism and the Settling of the Yizrael Valley”. Tutored by Prof. Baruch Baruch and Lenka Cederbaum, the exhibition presented projects planned in the 4th year research studio, dealing with the overt and concealed connections between Zionist ideology and the settlement in the valley. Among the connections, one finds a chicken coop converted to a student dorm; an old dining hall, collective clothes storage and laundry in kibbutz Alonim converted into a restaurant and cooking school; and the bee hive in Kibbuts Dalia, converted into a museum and visitor center about the life of bees.

And, the graduate exhibition at the Holon Technology Institute gave a stage to first year students as well. Gil Renov designed a space adapted to the dimensions of a person throwing stones during a demonstration, and a cell inspired by Leonardo da Vinci. Next year a tent - it works well these days.

illustrations ahead