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Although the state of Israel was officially founded on 15 May 1948, its architecture dates from the turn of the 20th century, when waves of Jewish immigrants arrived in Palestine. Over the century, architecture was fashioned under a number of successive political and geographic changes, wars, riots, economic fluctuations, waves of immigration, and demographic changes that forced it to adapt and respond to constantly shifting pressures and conditions.
The architecture of the Jewish settlers, who arrived in the 1880s, was limited essentially to residential structures and tended to follow the style that was in fashion at the time in Palestine, the Southern Mediterranean, mixed to various degrees with local Arab idioms. Buildings had stone or stucco exteriors, red tile roofs, and shuttered windows.
The need for public buildings that would constitute and express the new identity and aspirations of the settlers and symbolize the new, yet old, Hebrew culture emerged at the beginning of the 20th century. Unlike other colonists in other parts of the world who were able to draw on the architectural heritage of the mother country when building their new settlements, the Jewish pioneers had no architectural tradition to call their own. Not even the architecture of synagogues, which served as centres of Jewish religious, cultural, and communal life in the diaspora, could be used as inspiration, as they reflected the styles and fashions prevalent in their surrounding societies.
The "Oriental" movement that formed during this period influenced painting, literature, theatre, dance, and music. The new settlers saw their return to Zion as the establishment of a direct link with their Biblical ancestors, and the eclectic aspect of the Oriental movement enabled architects to incorporate Biblical and local Arabic elements within the contours of monumental European buildings. This is evident in the Gimnasia Herzeli, Tel Aviv (1910), designed by Yosef Barski, and the Technion, Haifa (1914), by Alexander Berwald. However, the movement was not restricted to public buildings, as exemplified by the Bialik Residence (1920) by Yosef Minor and the Palm House (1920s) by Y. Tabachnick, both in Tel Aviv.
By the end of the 1920s, as reflected elsewhere in Western Europe, eclectic architecture that borrowed motifs from the previous century slowly gave way to a modern architecture; that is, one based on a unique formal language. This is best demonstrated by the school on Kibbutz Degania (1928) by Richard Kauffmann and the dining hall at Kibbutz Tel Yosef (1931) by Leopold Krakauer. Both structures were designed to fit the new conditions, and their forms explore solutions to the existing climatic problems.
In the 1930s, the rise to power of the Nazis in Europe led to new waves of immigrants who brought with them architects schooled in the new theories of Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, and the Bauhaus. At the same time, a number of young architects returned to Palestine after a period of studies in places such as Paris, Berlin, and Ghent (the Netherlands). The common opposition of these two groups to the prevailing eclecticism and their acceptance of the contemporary concept of building within the local context in turn led to the demise of historical architecture and marked the beginning of the pursuit of purely abstract functionalism.
However, although the European newcomers unequivocally proclaimed the superiority of the International Style, the returning architects, having knowledge of the local milieu and familiarity with the way of life of the established community, were in favor of a more gradual adaptation of European concepts to Israeli conditions. Among this group were Zeev Rachter, Arieh Sharon, Dov Karmi, and Joseph Neufeld, who were to become leaders of Israeli architecture.
The restrictions on land use imposed by the British Mandate resulted in a decline in the construction of private residences and an increase in cooperatively owned apartment buildings. Structures such as the Kiryati House, Tel Aviv (1941), by Shmuel Mestiechkin, the Cooperative Workers Residences, D, E, and F, Tel Aviv (1935), by Arieh Sharon, and others of the period reflect the Spartan Bauhaus philosophy. Flat-roofed, monochromatic monoliths of stuccoed concrete, with surfaces broken only by cubist protrusions or slotted recesses of balconies, these Bauhaus-inspired structures eschewed any articulation of nature, ornamentation, or relief work.
Erich Mendelsohn, renowned for his idiosyncratic style, came to Palestine from England to design the residence for Chaim Weizman near Tel Aviv in 1934. Influenced by the Palestinian environment, he abandoned his usual plasticity in favor of a restrained and somber style and designed buildings such as the Hadassah University Medical Centre on Mount Scopus, Jerusalem (1938). World War II and the decline in construction ended Mendelsohn's activities in Palestine.
In his search for novel, enlightened, hygienic, and efficient architectural forms, Le Corbusier discovered the "white cities" on the Mediterranean, with their flat roofs and white walls broken into small units. Whereas Le Corbusier brought the Mediterranean style to Paris, those influenced by him brought back his "modern" Mediterranean style to the streets of Tel Aviv. Buildings such as the Idelson Street Apartment House, Tel Aviv (1930s), by Dov Karmi; Engle House, Tel Aviv (1933), by Zeev Rechter; and Villa, Tel Benjamin, Ramat Gan (1936), by Nahum Salkind reflect a typical Mediterranean expression infused with the local climate and atmosphere.
During wartime in the 1940s, construction was limited, and architectural development was confined to refinement of previous trends. The declaration of Israel as a sovereign state in 1948 brought the promise of a renaissance in all phases of activity in the country, including architecture. The departure of the British and their building codes and land restrictions provided the opportunity to develop new building ordinances that were seen as more fitting to the condition of the new state of Israel. New energies that had heretofore been directed toward political and armed struggles were freed for architecture and construction.
However, a sudden influx of thousands of immigrants created an urgent need for mass housing. Because of time and budget constraints, quality of design and construction gave way to haste, uniformity, and low cost. By the mid 1950s Israel had a great number of poorly planned and constructed housing projects that were designed with little if any regard to regional concerns such as climate and landscape.
In response, a new wave of Israeli architecture began, and the Israeli architects turned to the Western world for inspiration. Europe's resources were devastated by World War II, and European architects, engineers, and designers, therefore, had little to offer in terms of architectural development. Within Brazil, however—a county unaffected by the war—a group of young architects who were stimulated by Le Corbusier and led by Oscar Niemeyer emerged. Their work demonstrated, among other things, how solar control could be achieved by brise-soleil, a device both functional and decorative, and how concrete could be translated into both elegant and playful forms. Israel architects borrowed elements of the Brazilian modernism, incorporating these structures and techniques into buildings such as the Administration Building (1960s) by D. Karmi and Z. Metzler and the Hebrew National and University Library (1960), designed by a large group of leading architects both at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
The gradual recovery of European and American architecture in the postwar years created a number of significant buildings that generated additional influence on Israeli architects. The Royal Festival Hall, London (1951), by Robert H. Matthew and the Lever House, New York (1952), by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill found their echoes in buildings such as the Rederic R. Mann Auditorium, Tel Aviv (1950s), by Zeev Rechter and Karmi and the Supersol high rise, Tel Aviv (1959), by Nachum Zolotov.
However, the greatest impact was made by Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation (apartment building) near Marseilles (1952), as exemplified by the Beit Altchul Immigrants' Hostel, Beersheva (1957) by Avraham Yaski and Amnon Alexandroni. The Unité d'Habitation provided an answer to the problem of mass housing as well a new way of using concrete—the primary construction material in Israel. The discovery that concrete need not be plastered proved to be a windfall to Israeli architects, as the deterioration of plaster under the hot sun and high humidity was a perpetual problem.
Experimentations with new materials and technology emerged in the 1960s. One of the most interesting attempts was the "space packing" theory, introduced at the Technion, which was the only recognized architecture school in Israel. Alfred Neumann, together with Zvi Hecker and Eldan Sharon, created a series of buildings composed of repetitive geometrical forms and dominated by strong three-dimensional qualities, such as the Mechanical Engineering Buildings, Technion, Haifa (1960s, Neumann, Hecker, and Sharon) and the desert synagogue at an army base in the Negev (1968) by Neumann and Hecker.
One of the most interesting buildings to come out of the Technion aesthetic is the Town Hall, Bat Yam (1963, Neumann, Hecker, and Sharon). A three-story inverted ziggurat, this building is modern in concept, yet at the same time is evocative of regional architecture. Although Neumann, Hecker, and Sharon's designs did not become mainstream, their formal influence can be found in the work of follower Moshe Safdie.
More typical of the time were projects such as the Knesset (Parliament Building), Jerusalem (1960s), by Yosef Klarwein, consulting architect Dov Karmi; Yad Vashem Memorial Shrine, Jerusalem (1960), by Arieh Elhanani; the El Al Building, Tel Aviv (1960s), by Dov Karmi and Ram Karmi; and the Shalom Mayer Tower, Tel Aviv (1960s), by Y. Perlstein. It is interesting to note that these Jerusalem buildings are not stone-faced, as are most others in Jerusalem, following the ordinance imposed by the British Mandate of 1918 and continuing until the present time.
The architecture of the buildings constructed in the 1970s attempted to establish a link with the country's past. The Town Hall in Beersheva (1972) by Nadler, Nadler, and Bixon and the Beit Ariella Library in Tel Aviv (1977) by Lofenfeld and Gamerman, like many other buildings from the same period, were influenced by Crusader structures and by European and American Brutalism. They are characterized by an aggressive, fortress-like appearance, with narrow windows and large areas of exposed rough concrete.
The search for a regional architecture and a dialogue with the past continued in the 1980s and the 1990s. Moshe Safdie incorporated Arab-Moslem elements in Beit Shmuel, Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem (1986). However, the most serious attempt at dialogue was made by Ram Karmi and Ada Karmi in the Supreme Court Building in Jerusalem (1992). This edifice makes reference to a wide range of structures built in Israel over the centuries, starting with the Herodian period, through the Hellenistic, Crusader, and Greek Orthodox monastery periods and up to the British Mandate period.
Architects in Israel had the rare opportunity to participate in the formation of a new society, and it would seem that in the course of their century-long search for a national identity, they have come full circle. Israeli architecture started with and returned to historical eclecticism. It is clear that what did emerge as a national Israeli style is very much indebted to changing fashions and styles in the world. Although Israeli architects did not merely copy international examples but, instead, adapted them to local conditions and traditions, the styles of the buildings that were created remain conscious of their foreign qualities and ties to European and American architecture.
HAGIT HADAYA
Sennott R.S. Encyclopedia of twentieth century architecture, Vol.2 (G-O). Fitzroy Dearborn., 2005. |
