Avraham Soskin House, 12 Lilienblum St
by Zeev Rechter, 1933. Dezeen
When Tel-Aviv became a city in 1921, Meir Dizengoff was elected mayor. In 1925 Dizengoff asked Geddes to submit a master plan for the city, the limits being the Yarkon River in the North and Ibn Gvirol St in the East. Geddes presented a great report in 1927, soon approved by the City Council. He brief was to create a European Garden City for 40,000 citizens, planning wide, main streets on a grid pattern, single plots for family homes, small public gardens in side streets and open access to beaches. He specified mixed residential-commercial use on the main roads.
1 Zamenhof St, 1934
Jerusalem Post
See the 1931 Master Plan of Tel-Aviv, drawn up by the Engineering Dept, on the original Geddes master plan of 1927. The primary roads, containing the city’s commercial activity, ARE broad and flow N-S. The secondary roads, residential, DO flow E-W. Wide tree-lined streets increased shade and colour, and provided a pleasant public space.
Inevitably Geddes’ plan had to be modified. The city’s density soon needed growth to cater to the flood of 1930s immigrants. By the height of British Mandate, the city was home to 150,00 people and 8,000 buildings! Of Geddes’ 60 public gardens, only half were ever built.
The German Jews who arrived brought with them modernist architectural ideas from Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius. Just as Tel-Aviv was burgeoning on the Mediterranean (1933), many of the leading Bauhaus architects left Germany for Britain and USA, at least 20 Bauhausers and their colleagues migrated to the British Mandate in Israel.
By the mid-1930s it was the only city anywhere being built largely in the Bauhaus Style; its simple concrete curves, boxy shapes, small windows set in large walls, glass-brick verticals, asymmetrical facades, horizontal lines and balconies all washed in white. Tel-Aviv was a vision of startling white: c4,000 buildings, all built from 1933.
Inevitably Geddes’ plan had to be modified. The city’s density soon needed growth to cater to the flood of 1930s immigrants. By the height of British Mandate, the city was home to 150,00 people and 8,000 buildings! Of Geddes’ 60 public gardens, only half were ever built.
The German Jews who arrived brought with them modernist architectural ideas from Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius. Just as Tel-Aviv was burgeoning on the Mediterranean (1933), many of the leading Bauhaus architects left Germany for Britain and USA, at least 20 Bauhausers and their colleagues migrated to the British Mandate in Israel.
By the mid-1930s it was the only city anywhere being built largely in the Bauhaus Style; its simple concrete curves, boxy shapes, small windows set in large walls, glass-brick verticals, asymmetrical facades, horizontal lines and balconies all washed in white. Tel-Aviv was a vision of startling white: c4,000 buildings, all built from 1933.
65 Shenkin St. 1935
Archinect
Tel-Aviv city council designers chose the Bauhaus style because of four ideological reasons:
1. Tel-Aviv architecture wasn't historically consistent with buildings from the past; there WAS no past.
2. The architects’ job was to improve society: housing for working families, trade unions, free clinics.
3. Prefabricated blocks of reinforced concrete, flat roof and sheer façade, no cornices or decoration saved money. Plus a three storey limit.
4. 20+ energetic Bauhaus-influenced architects fled Germany in 1933. Tel-Aviv city council drew on this amazing pool of available talent.
Bauhaus elements were characteristic of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe, with some local Tel-Aviv adaptations. Glass was used sparingly, and narrow, horizontal windows appeared on many of Tel-Aviv’s Bauhaus buildings. Vertical windows were used on stairwells.
Along the Mediterranean, balconies increased the movement of breezes and sea views. So overhanging brows blocked direct rays of sunshine from entering the windows. This changed in the 1930s when desperate, homeless immigrants were arriving. Bauhaus lines were then obscured by ugly balcony enclosures, while giving an extra bedroom.
Concrete stilts raised the buildings off street level, creating space for green gardens and air flow. As with the balconies, much of the once-open area from stilts were later enclosed.
European Bauhaus buildings already had flat roofs, not shingled and slanted roofs. While Tel-Aviv roofs sometimes did not feature roof gardens a la Le Corbusier, they DID serve all building residents.
Bauhaus interiors in Germany were already white, functional and plain. But Tel-Aviv has a hot climate, so rooms had to be as cool as possible. No wall-to-wall carpets and curtains; marble floors instead; and shutters could close windows entirely. And space could be used flexibly, of necessity.
Tel Aviv is now home to c4,000 buildings of Bauhaus architecture (2,000 protected under preservation law), the world’s largest coll-ection of Bauhaus-inspired buildings. With the hearty help of Dizengoff, Geddes planned a Garden City of wide tree-lined boulevards, small roads with smaller green spots, clean-lined, boxy buildings with very little ornamentation and a beach focus.
2. The architects’ job was to improve society: housing for working families, trade unions, free clinics.
3. Prefabricated blocks of reinforced concrete, flat roof and sheer façade, no cornices or decoration saved money. Plus a three storey limit.
4. 20+ energetic Bauhaus-influenced architects fled Germany in 1933. Tel-Aviv city council drew on this amazing pool of available talent.
Bauhaus elements were characteristic of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe, with some local Tel-Aviv adaptations. Glass was used sparingly, and narrow, horizontal windows appeared on many of Tel-Aviv’s Bauhaus buildings. Vertical windows were used on stairwells.
Along the Mediterranean, balconies increased the movement of breezes and sea views. So overhanging brows blocked direct rays of sunshine from entering the windows. This changed in the 1930s when desperate, homeless immigrants were arriving. Bauhaus lines were then obscured by ugly balcony enclosures, while giving an extra bedroom.
Concrete stilts raised the buildings off street level, creating space for green gardens and air flow. As with the balconies, much of the once-open area from stilts were later enclosed.
European Bauhaus buildings already had flat roofs, not shingled and slanted roofs. While Tel-Aviv roofs sometimes did not feature roof gardens a la Le Corbusier, they DID serve all building residents.
Bauhaus interiors in Germany were already white, functional and plain. But Tel-Aviv has a hot climate, so rooms had to be as cool as possible. No wall-to-wall carpets and curtains; marble floors instead; and shutters could close windows entirely. And space could be used flexibly, of necessity.
29 Idelson St. 1936
Greyscape
The original Bauhaus buildings might have ended up being bulldozed, but a miracle happened: In 1991 the Engineering Dept of Tel-Aviv municipality created a Modern Heritage Preservation under architect Nitza Szmuk. Bauhaus Renovation Foundation organised a Conference for May 1994 for 2,000+ international participants. Along with Dizengoff, Geddes planned a Garden City of wide tree-lined boulevards, small roads with smaller green spots, clean-lined, boxy buildings with little ornamentation and a beach focus. In 2008 Tel-Aviv opened a Bauhaus Museum in Bialik St to display its furnishing designs etc.
Tel Aviv is now home to c4,000 buildings of Bauhaus architecture (2,000 protected under preservation law), the world’s largest coll-ection of Bauhaus-inspired buildings. With the hearty help of Dizengoff, Geddes planned a Garden City of wide tree-lined boulevards, small roads with smaller green spots, clean-lined, boxy buildings with very little ornamentation and a beach focus.
Thank you to Bauhaus in Tel Aviv.
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1 comment:
I like the smooth curves on the first few buildings, it saves them from looking like a stack of boxes.
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