david chanrion
September 15th, 2004, 03:10 PM
hello from France and a copy of anrticle of Haaretz
Architecture / Building a stellar reputation
By Esther Zandberg
From the Azrieli Towers to the Twin Towers, the seven architects on this exclusive list have all lived in Israel in the past and now have an international career.
No exact figures are available, but it's estimated that hundreds of Israeli architects are living and working abroad - in addition to the Israelis in the profession who are involved in planning projects outside of this country, particularly in the former Communist bloc.
Certain local architects, or architects who were Israelis at one stage of their lives and have since emigrated, have notched impressive international reputations. The most prominent is Daniel Libeskind, who was chosen to oversee the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site in New York, which was destroyed in the terror attacks on September 11, 2001. The combination of his involvement in the world's most talked-about project, his peculiar architectural style and the skill at self-promotion that he has displayed have made him a star of the gossip columns and talk shows. Libeskind was born in 1946 in Lodz, Poland and came to live in Israel with his family in 1957. Two years later, they moved to New York, where he studied music and then architecture. He is considered a leader in the deconstructivist architectural stream and made his name with his plan for the Jewish Museum in Berlin, which he designed as a shattered Star of David. Now he has returned to live in New York and, in interviews, always makes sure to mention that he is an immigrant, the son of Holocaust survivors and a proud American.
Another Israeli has been involved in the planning of the World Trade Center site is architect Michael Arad, who was selected to oversee the planning of the memorial for the victims of the attack there. Arad, 34, previously worked in the City of New York's engineering division, and was pretty much an unknown. Now he has gained much publicity, but unlike Libeskind, has not yet become a real celebrity.
An Israeli-born architect who has been well-known on the international scene for some time is Moshe Safdie, who first gained renown thanks to the Habitat - a building with 158 concrete, cube-shaped housing units, which he designed for the 1967 Expo in Montreal. The avant-garde structure, which was supposed to be a prototype for inexpensive housing, did not solve the world's housing problem and instead became a luxury residence. Safdie was born in 1938 in Haifa and emigrated to Canada in 1953. He currently lives in Boston and primarily designs richly endowed public buildings. He has close ties with Israel, maintains an office in Jerusalem and deals with local projects including the upscale David's Village apartments in the capital's Mamilla quarter, the city of Modi'in, the Rabin Center building in Tel Aviv, the Yad Vashem compound in Jerusalem, and a new passenger terminal at Ben-Gurion airport.
An earlier version of Habitat is the Dubiner House in Ramat Gan, which was designed in the 1960s by Israeli architect Zvi Hecker (together with Alfred Neumann and Eldar Sharon). Now one of the world's best-known and most respected architects, Hecker lives in Berlin. He was born in Krakow, Poland in 1931 and came to Israel in 1950. He graduated from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa and was thought of as something of an Israeli version of Ayn Rand's Howard Roark, whose works are outside the mainstream. Among other things, he designed the Spiral House in Ramat Gan, the Ramot Polin neighborhood in Jerusalem - which came to be called "the beehive" - and Hapalmach House in Ramat Aviv, both projects that stirred interest and controversy. In 1995, the Jewish school that he designed in Berlin was dedicated; the building, which resembles a sunflower, firmly established his international reputation.
Attempts to solve the world's housing problems after World War II are also at the heart of the work of Hungarian-born Israeli architect Yona Friedman, who developed techniques to build functional cities throughout the world, especially in developing countries. His futuristic ideas are based on the construction of superstructures using simple building technologies, and flexible planning in collaboration with tenants, on the basis of their needs. Even though his ideas remained on paper, they earned him esteem as one of the most important thinkers in his field in the world. Friedman was born in Budapest in 1923 and came to Israel in 1945. He studied at the Technion and then moved to France in 1957 and lives there today.
In the more practical and commercial area, architect Eli Attia, a native of Tiberias whose family has been in the country for over eight generations and who now lives in New York, has earned great fame. Attia was born in 1936, studied at the Technion and moved to the United States in 1968. He is considered an expert in the field of high-rise construction. His projects include the Millennium Hotel near Ground Zero in New York. In the early 1990s, he joined entrepreneur David Azrieli in building the Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv, which are among the city's most prominent visual symbols.
In the field of architecture criticism, Eyal Weizman is also noteworthy. His pioneering studies in the field of the politics of Israeli space, and the part played by planning and architecture in implementing policies of control and occupation, shocked the heart of international architectural discourse. Weizman was born in 1970 in Haifa and studied architecture in London, where he now resides.
Habitat, by Moshe Safdie. A prototype for modular housing.
Architecture / Building a stellar reputation
By Esther Zandberg
From the Azrieli Towers to the Twin Towers, the seven architects on this exclusive list have all lived in Israel in the past and now have an international career.
No exact figures are available, but it's estimated that hundreds of Israeli architects are living and working abroad - in addition to the Israelis in the profession who are involved in planning projects outside of this country, particularly in the former Communist bloc.
Certain local architects, or architects who were Israelis at one stage of their lives and have since emigrated, have notched impressive international reputations. The most prominent is Daniel Libeskind, who was chosen to oversee the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site in New York, which was destroyed in the terror attacks on September 11, 2001. The combination of his involvement in the world's most talked-about project, his peculiar architectural style and the skill at self-promotion that he has displayed have made him a star of the gossip columns and talk shows. Libeskind was born in 1946 in Lodz, Poland and came to live in Israel with his family in 1957. Two years later, they moved to New York, where he studied music and then architecture. He is considered a leader in the deconstructivist architectural stream and made his name with his plan for the Jewish Museum in Berlin, which he designed as a shattered Star of David. Now he has returned to live in New York and, in interviews, always makes sure to mention that he is an immigrant, the son of Holocaust survivors and a proud American.
Another Israeli has been involved in the planning of the World Trade Center site is architect Michael Arad, who was selected to oversee the planning of the memorial for the victims of the attack there. Arad, 34, previously worked in the City of New York's engineering division, and was pretty much an unknown. Now he has gained much publicity, but unlike Libeskind, has not yet become a real celebrity.
An Israeli-born architect who has been well-known on the international scene for some time is Moshe Safdie, who first gained renown thanks to the Habitat - a building with 158 concrete, cube-shaped housing units, which he designed for the 1967 Expo in Montreal. The avant-garde structure, which was supposed to be a prototype for inexpensive housing, did not solve the world's housing problem and instead became a luxury residence. Safdie was born in 1938 in Haifa and emigrated to Canada in 1953. He currently lives in Boston and primarily designs richly endowed public buildings. He has close ties with Israel, maintains an office in Jerusalem and deals with local projects including the upscale David's Village apartments in the capital's Mamilla quarter, the city of Modi'in, the Rabin Center building in Tel Aviv, the Yad Vashem compound in Jerusalem, and a new passenger terminal at Ben-Gurion airport.
An earlier version of Habitat is the Dubiner House in Ramat Gan, which was designed in the 1960s by Israeli architect Zvi Hecker (together with Alfred Neumann and Eldar Sharon). Now one of the world's best-known and most respected architects, Hecker lives in Berlin. He was born in Krakow, Poland in 1931 and came to Israel in 1950. He graduated from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa and was thought of as something of an Israeli version of Ayn Rand's Howard Roark, whose works are outside the mainstream. Among other things, he designed the Spiral House in Ramat Gan, the Ramot Polin neighborhood in Jerusalem - which came to be called "the beehive" - and Hapalmach House in Ramat Aviv, both projects that stirred interest and controversy. In 1995, the Jewish school that he designed in Berlin was dedicated; the building, which resembles a sunflower, firmly established his international reputation.
Attempts to solve the world's housing problems after World War II are also at the heart of the work of Hungarian-born Israeli architect Yona Friedman, who developed techniques to build functional cities throughout the world, especially in developing countries. His futuristic ideas are based on the construction of superstructures using simple building technologies, and flexible planning in collaboration with tenants, on the basis of their needs. Even though his ideas remained on paper, they earned him esteem as one of the most important thinkers in his field in the world. Friedman was born in Budapest in 1923 and came to Israel in 1945. He studied at the Technion and then moved to France in 1957 and lives there today.
In the more practical and commercial area, architect Eli Attia, a native of Tiberias whose family has been in the country for over eight generations and who now lives in New York, has earned great fame. Attia was born in 1936, studied at the Technion and moved to the United States in 1968. He is considered an expert in the field of high-rise construction. His projects include the Millennium Hotel near Ground Zero in New York. In the early 1990s, he joined entrepreneur David Azrieli in building the Azrieli Towers in Tel Aviv, which are among the city's most prominent visual symbols.
In the field of architecture criticism, Eyal Weizman is also noteworthy. His pioneering studies in the field of the politics of Israeli space, and the part played by planning and architecture in implementing policies of control and occupation, shocked the heart of international architectural discourse. Weizman was born in 1970 in Haifa and studied architecture in London, where he now resides.
Habitat, by Moshe Safdie. A prototype for modular housing.