Architecture researchers and experts in affordable housing and green architecture, from both Israel and Europe, will discuss the distinct qualities of the modernist architecture that characterizes Tel Aviv. Hear from them how it`s possible to adopt some of these qualities even today in order to address some contemporary challenges, such as public construction, green construction, etc. 

The conference, which is open to the public, will consist of three sessions: the first session will deal with the historical aspects and attempt to define the qualities of the modernist style, known as Bauhaus. The second session will examine ways to make the White City greener, while at the same time preserving its heritage. The third session will focus on issues related to mass housing and provide examples of construction projects in Berlin meant to solve the problem.

Among the guests and speakers: Prof. Phillip Oswalt, President of the Global Bauhaus Foundation and Dean of the Bauhaus School (Dessau, Germany); Winfried Brenne, a preservation architect from Berlin; Peter Voit, an environmental technology expert (from the German company Transsolar); Marek Stepa, deputy mayor of Gdynia (Poland); Maximillian Lauferecht, deputy mayor of Munich; Renate Kunast, the head of the Green Party faction in the German Bundestag; the architect, Yermi Hoffman; the architect, Prof. Zvi Efrat; the architect, Shmuel Groag; and the architect, Erez Ella.

The conference will conclude with a presentation by the Holzmarkt Group from Berlin.

The conference is being organized by the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, the Heinrich Boll Foundation, and the Bauhaus Foundation.

A seminar held subsequent to the Greening the White City conference, led by Winfried Brenne, the preservation architect of the Bauhaus School in Dessau, Germany. The seminar will study a specific example of an International Style building, while examining sustainable methods for its preservation. Among the issues that will be discussed: improving the building`s energy efficiency, insulation, water conservation, and recycling materials.

A seminar held subsequent to the Greening the White City conference, led by members of the Holzmarkt Group from Berlin, who will examine current affordable housing projects in Germany. They will also present the new model that the group developed, which entails a way of life based on contemporary perceptions of social needs and sustainable approaches to construction. Ways to implement these approaches in Tel Aviv will also be explored during the seminar.

A panel of speakers from the Greening the White City conference, including Prof. Phillip Oswalt, the President of the Global Bauhaus Foundation, and the architect Yermi Hoffman, who heads the Preservation Department at the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, will discuss the perpetual conflict between urban renewal and increased density, on the one hand, and preservation and restoration of what exists, on the other – just as the future of the White City hangs in the balance.

Architects: Moore-Yasky-Sivan Architects, 2012

An opportunity to join a tour led by the architect Rachel Feller, a partner at Moore-Yasky-Sivan Architects, at this new and recently dedicated hi-rise, which is the last one that will be built within the UNSECO-declared White City zone.

Feller will talk about the planning process and the architectural decisions that were made at the project – which is 30 story tower consisting of 70 housing units. One of the decisions was to establish a ground floor with a commercial façade, thereby creating a sense of continuity with the contour of the street. Another one entailed the construction of rounded and horizontal balconies made out of exposed white concrete (a material that is suitable to hi-rises but looks like white plaster) – a kind of homage to the balconies found in the White City. The tour includes access to different areas inside the tower.

Architect: Yehuda Magidovich, 1939

Renovation architect: Aryeh Debilanski, 2001

A visit at the first Bauhaus building in the city to undergo restoration, turning the legendary Esther Cinema into a small urban hotel. Led by the historian Danny Goldschmidt, who is Esther`s grandson (whom the former movie theater was named after), the tour will leave from the hotel lobby and point out the original spaces that were preserved as well as the collection of cameras and projectors which are on permanent display. It will also be possible to see some of the rooms in the hotel and go up to the balcony.

In honor of the tenth anniversary of Tel Aviv`s declaration as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the Bauhaus Center is putting on an exhibit entitled "Bauhaus Renewal in Tel Aviv: Preservation of International Style Buildings in the White City." The exhibit highlights buildings that were designated for preservation and have undergone restoration and renewal. The works not only exposed their beauty, but have also provided a stage for contemporary architectural endeavors as well as the diverse approaches and solutions to the complexity inherent in preservation.

Rotem Zeevi, the architect in charge of the preservation and restoration project at the Trumpeldor Street cemetery, leads this tour of the city`s first cemetery, which can also be considered a museum of Tel Aviv history. The tour will trace the history of construction in the city as seen through the designs of the gravestones which feature different period styles (Eclectic, Art Nouveau, Bauhaus, et al.). Zeevi will talk about the fonts and the building materials, and introduce a collection of artifacts uncovered at the site during the renovations, including sculptures, reliefs and medallions. The tour is being organized by Chevra Kadisha (the Jewish burial society) and the Society for Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites.

Yoav Messer and Iftah Hayner, a fellow architect at the firm, will present some new projects whose planning and execution are currently at an advanced stage. Among them: the Containers Bridge at Ariel Sharon Park, (an award-winning project), the Etgarim Center at Ganei Yehoshua Park, the UWC international school at HaKfar HaYarok, a new hotel in downtown Tel Aviv, et al. The two architects will discuss the planning process as well as the stage where artistic considerations come into play in the planning process.

The firm`s website: www.messer-architects.co.il

An open house at the apartment owned by the architects Amir and Hen Navon, which was designed with an emphasis on flexibility and a capacity for change – achieved, among other things, through the use of technical devices. The apartment is divided into two spaces, one private and one public, which are separated from one another by concrete stairs. The apartment`s design is contemporary and makes use of contrasting materials.

 A visit at the small studio used by the illustrator, Joseph Bau, starting in the 1950s and up to his death in 2002. The original state of the studio has been preserved by his daughters. It contains his work table, the animation machine he invented and built, a tiny movie screen including two types of projectors he built, a dark room, a display of posters he designed for Israeli films in the 1960s and 1970s, and more.

The architect Avner Shahin, who designed this innovative parking lot, will talk about its underground level and above ground level elements, which include entrances for vehicles and pedestrians. An opportunity to hear about the parking lot`s planning and operation, which demonstrate how by utilizing tall and abundant spaces, and thanks to the right relationship with the square located above it, you can create an underground parking lot that provides a sense of security and spaciousness.

Architects: Zeev Rechter, Dov Carmi, 1957; Renovation architects: Kolker-Kolker-Epstein, 2013

A tour with the architects Ofer Kolker and Barak Eilam, who are in charge of renovating the Mann Auditorium – a project which generated a public controversy when initially proposed. During the tour, the architects will for the first time show the public at large the works that were undertaken in order to upgrade the auditorium`s audiovisual qualities, improve and renew the building`s lobbies and facades, and furnish it with systems and equipment suitable for contemporary performance needs – and all this while preserving the building in its original format.

The tour includes the auditorium and the lobbies that are nearing completion, right before the building is partially opened in May. Part of the new below ground level, which is scheduled to be completed next year, will also be shown.

Architect: Elsa Gideoni-Mandelstam, 1936

In the middle of the 1930s, single women were offered a solution to the acute housing shortage they faced in Tel Aviv. A coalition of women for women was formed, and they built the Pioneer Women`s House for single women, female new immigrants and women workers who lived in the city on their own. This urban project incorporated residential spaces, work spaces and public spaces. It was a partnership between women that aimed to create new civic activity for promoting women`s issues. The building, whose construction was initiated by women`s organizations, was designed by a woman and was open to women only.

The architect Sigal Davidi, who has been doing research on women architects during the British Mandate period, will review the history of the building and explain the purposes behind housing for single urban women in the 1930s. The tour lasts about 30 minutes.

Added floors and building reinforcement architect: Tamar Berger; Interior architect: Eylon Armon, 2012

A visit at the apartment owned by the entrepreneur and product designer, Eylon Armon. It was built on the roof of a building overlooking Meir Garden, as part of the building`s overall renovation that included adding floors and seismic reinforcement. The apartment has five spacious rooms with an imposing living space which is twice the average height. It also boasts of a magnificent view of the city and the treetops in the garden as well as unique finishing elements designed by Armon himself.

To what degree does architecture fashion reality and enable certain events to occur, or prevent others? Attorney Avigdor Feldman leads this tour at Gan Meir, where he will recount the details of the first case of murder that sent shock waves throughout the country and took place in this park: the 1949 murder of Daniel Factory and the rape of his half-sister, Naomi Stein (the children of Mordechai Stein, the founder of the local radical Trotskyite movement). Attorney Feldman will unfold the story behind the affair, which included a death sentence conviction, an appeal, and perhaps even some elements of racism and xenophobia. He will raise two key questions: to what extent did the park, whose design consisted of small hidden alcoves within a network of forked paths, provide a backdrop facilitating the murder, and what part does architecture play in the criminal domain?

Much has been said about Bauhaus architecture and the White City in Tel Aviv and Jaffa. The conference  A Grey City: Tel Aviv-Yafo Architecture Between the 1950s and 1970s, organized by the Preservation Department at the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality in cooperation with the Israeli Architecture Archives and Beit Ha`Ir, will focus on local architecture between the 1950s and 1970s – two decades during which Israel witnessed a dramatic surge in construction, and when many of the public and government buildings still in use were designed. Moderated by Dr. Raquel Rapaport, the conference will address the social, political and stylistic changes that led to the transition from `white` to `grey` architecture, and from the International Style to Brutalism, illustrated through examples of grey architecture in Tel Aviv and in Germany.

The first session – "Eretz" (Country) – will describe the cultural, economic and political atmosphere that prevailed in Israel`s early days, when the country was in the midst of solving urgent housing needs. It was also engaged in formulating a local architectural language, while at the same time absorbing the styles that were emerging globally and conducting a dialog with them. This session will include lectures by the architects Zeev Druckman, Sharon Rotbard, Zvi Elhaini, Tula Amir and Eli First.

The second session – "Ir" (City) – will focus on the unique local field, namely various neighborhoods in Tel Aviv-Yafo and the similarities and differences between the planning approaches found in different parts of the city. Mention will also be made of the tension between the utopian and the concrete, and between the vision and idea and their practical implementation. Ran Baram, Dan Price, Roi Fabian and other architects will take part in this session.

The third session will feature a guest lecture dealing with preservation trends in Germany pertaining to buildings designed in the same period.

The conference will end with a panel discussion on the topic of "A Utopia of a Period."

Architect: Moshe Tzerner, 1925; Renovation and preservation architects: Efrat-Kowalsky Architects; Interior architecture: Efrat-Kowalsky Architects and Dan Hasson, 2009; Plan: Ayelet Bitan Shlonsky; Restoration of Meir Dizengoff`s office: Dr. Doron Luria

Tours of Beit Ha`Ir (Tel Aviv`s old City Hall) which was reopened in honor of the city`s centennial in 2009, following extensive restoration and remodeling. True to the spirit of Tel Aviv`s name, the renovated Beit Ha`Ir represents a combination of old and new, including Meir Dizengoff`s restored `time capsule` office and the diverse displays dealing with Tel Aviv-related topics. The main exhibit currently on display at Beit Ha`Ir is called "Night Stamp," and it depicts the city`s lively nightlife as seen through the eyes and deeds of the nightlife icon S. Shirazi.

The tours will be led alternately by Ayelet Bitan Shlonsky, the chief curator and director of the Bialik Complex, and members of the Beit Ha`Ir staff.

A theatrical tribute to Tel Aviv-Yafo`s culture and architecture in the 1930s. The actors Tomer Heldstein and Katrina Taplitzky will take you on a journey in time, which will include meeting some of the most prominent figures of what was known as `Little Tel Aviv.` Tour participants will encounter cafes, movie theaters, street dancing and the balcony-based social life that characterized the period. The tour will pass through a number of streets adjacent to Dizengoff Square, among them Yael, Ruth, Esther HaMalka, Frug, Dov Hoz, and Ben Ami.

Creator: Anat Eisenberg. Producer: Ruth Avraham. Swing dancers: Holy Lindy Land – School of Vintage Dancing.