Architect: Yosef Minor, 1924; Preservation architect: Nitza Szmuk, 2007

Two guided tours at the home of Israel`s national poet, which underwent painstaking renovation. The tours will highlight the special role that Bialik House has played in Hebrew culture and local architecture, coupled with an explanation about the renewal and preservation works carried out at the Bialik Complex. Visitors will also have an opportunity to discover the Oriental facet of Bialik`s world.

The 60-minute 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.

Architect: Pinhas Bizonsky, 1931

A tour at the home of the painter Reuven Rubin, one of the pioneers of Israeli art. Visitors will be able to see the artist`s original studio as well as the Museum`s permanent collection of his paintings. The tour will focus on the story behind the house.

The architect Hanan Pomgrin will introduce participants to this new apartment building which his firm, "Haheder" Architects, designed on one of downtown Tel Aviv`s pastoral lanes. The building illustrates contemporary treatment of the outer shell and balconies using different architectural elements, including the organization of the windows on the facades. The design also incorporates a choice of different materials, such as white plaster combined with exposed concrete and cast in wooden molds, in order to create plasticity on the flat façade that was dictated by municipal zoning regulations governing this part of the city. Furthermore, the building`s facades are studded with different-angle, recessed concrete rectangles (opaque windows). The tour includes access to some of the apartments in the building.

The architect Nikki (Nissim) Davidov leads this tour, which will uncover one of the most surprising and unknown architectural phenomena that occurred in Tel Aviv in the 1930s, namely the camouflage of eclectic buildings by adding International Style modifications. The changes stemmed from the spirit of modernism that prevailed in Tel Aviv at the time, and were adopted by the then City Architect, Yaakov Ben Sira (Schiffman). During the tour Davidov will talk about the policies instituted by Ben Sira, which governed the modifications made to the eclectic buildings. He will also illustrate how the policies were actually implemented at a number of buildings that underwent complete or partial camouflage in the Commercial Center (Florentine), Ahuzat Bayit, and Lev Ha`Ir (Allenby St.) neighborhoods, including the Ginosar Hotel, the `Ship House` on the corner of Allenby and Yona Hanavi, and others. The tour lasts about 2½ hours.

End point on Friday: the corner of Rothschild Blvd. and Allenby St. (the tour may continue to the corner of Herzl St. and Derech Yafo)

End point on Saturday: Magen David Square (the tour may continue to Yona Hanavi St.)

An opportunity to hear from the architect Zvi Levin, a senior town planning coordinator at the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality, about the future plans for upgrading and renovating the Carmel Market and the smaller markets within it – e.g. the Meat Market and the Western Market.  The plan, which was designed by Dr. Yasha Grobman from Axelrod-Grobman Architects in cooperation with the city`s Planning Division, follows a long public participation process involving various stakeholders (the shopkeepers, residents and others). It aims to arrange the legal status of the markets and enable their upgrade and renovation, including infrastructures, adding a covered roof, and operational matters such as the loading and unloading of merchandise, garbage removal, waste recycling, parking, etc. The plan also calls for creating an urban link between Magen David Square and Yitzhak Elhanan Street, earmarking available lots to meet the communal needs of residents of the Yemenite Quarter and Kerem Yisrael neighborhoods, defining building rights and building regulations in places in the market awaiting decision, and facilitating urban renewal in the entire area.

What makes a city a city? What produces street life? The tour, led by Yoav Lerman who studies sidewalks as part of his academic research, will observe the city from a pedestrian perspective and try to examine how sidewalk planning affects the pedestrian user experience in Tel Aviv. The tour will stop at places where the city offers pedestrians considerable freedom, and at other places where they are relegated to the bottom of the user hierarchy. The tour ends at Culture Square.

Architect of the building designated for preservation: Pinhas Bizonsky, 1935; Preservation architect: Amnon Bar Or, 2011; Added wing architect: Bar Orian Architects, 2011

A tour with the architect Amnon Bar Or at one of the most impressive Bauhaus buildings that have survived in Tel Aviv - an H-shaped symmetrical structure that has a private inner plaza and spacious round balconies, behind which a contemporary 9-story residential hi-rise is now being built. Bar Or will talk about the meticulous preservation works that were carried out in the building and in its imposing lobby. The tour will end with a visit at a model apartment.

Studio 6B invites you to an extravaganza of exhibits and displays devoted to the White City and to one of the most important institutions in the history of the International Style – the Bauhaus School of Art and Architecture in Dessau, Germany.

The tribute will take place in a creative, festival-like atmosphere, just like you would expect at the school, and include an exhibit of historic photographs that illustrate what it was like to study at the Bauhaus School in the 1920s and 1930s. The photographs feature teachers who taught at the school, which gave birth to the White City, as well as students submitting projects, at parties, and at work in the different departments.

Also on display in the studio`s different rooms: historic photographs of homes in Tel Aviv`s White City, an exhibition of works by design students from Studio 6B`s different departments (Interior Design, Fashion Design, and Graphic Design), which were inspired by the White City or created as a tribute to it, and an artistic-experiential display produced by the Fashion Design Department – a white "sterile room" which can be accessed only if wearing shoe covers, featuring fashion designs "sewn" together using white paper.

On Saturday evening, at 18:00, a Houses From Within closing event will be held at the studio, which will start with a lecture dealing with the renewal of White City homes. Everyone`s invited!

Garden architect: Ram Eisenberg, 2013

Following three years of planning and execution, the Kiryat Sefer Garden was opened to the public on Passover eve this year. It`s situated on the last substantial reserve of land left in downtown Tel Aviv. As part of Houses From Within weekend, the partners involved in establishing the project will introduce the garden and the process whereby it was accomplished. A number of tours will be offered:

On Friday, May 3^rd, at 11:00, 13:00 and 16:00, Ram Eisenberg, the garden`s architect, will present its different components and describe how the idea of a democratic and ecological garden evolved. He will also address the theoretical background and the planning process that was undertaken in cooperation with residents and representatives from different departments at the Municipality. Eisenberg will talk about the garden`s special water fittings, the use that was made of existing and recycled materials and construction waste, the main elements of community activities held there, the "treasures cache" and other surprises. Meeting place: on the grass under the shade of the ficus trees in the middle of the garden, across from Amram Gaon Street.

On Friday, May 3^rd, 12:00-17:00, and Saturday, May 4^th, 12:00-17:00, every hour on the hour garden activists and residents of the neighborhood will recount how the garden was the subject of a civic-environmental campaign that lasted for about 15 years, resulting from objection to a plan for the area that was proposed by the Israel Land Administration. The garden was ultimately established for the benefit of the city`s residents and following an extensive and productive public participation process. During the sessions, the activists will share the insights they gained from the process, celebrate the opening of the garden, and present their plans for the site, which has since its opening become a bustling gathering place for diverse groups of the population. Public participation and planning professionals will also take part in the sessions, as will those who executed the project and different representatives from the Municipality.

A visit at an apartment in a building dating back to 1926, which was built by two brothers who were new immigrants from Poland. It was built in an eclectic style characteristic of the period, featuring a columned balcony in the front, wooden doors and windows with arched openings, decorative tiles, and tall ceilings. Its present occupants – an interior and wall paint designer and an industrial designer – remodeled it delicately, with little if any intervention in the original blueprint. They nonetheless managed to turn it into a home full of character by means of artifacts, furniture and collections.

Original building architect: Elisha Rubin; Renewal architect: David Grunzweig; Interior design: Rubi Israeli, 2010

Guided tours at one of the most stylish boutique hotels in Tel Aviv. Designed in a fashionable retro style and built in what used to be a nondescript office building from the 1990s (until recently a bank) – the hotel was adapted to meet the needs of an urban clientele. The tours will present the vision behind urban hotel keeping, and enable participants to have a look at some of the rooms and go up on the rooftop balcony that faces the sea.

An open house at a small apartment in a 1930s preserved Bauhaus building, which was renovated and enlarged at the beginning of the previous decade. The apartment, whose remodeling was done by its owners, is full of colorful collections that give it a distinct personal ambience and character. Among the collections: vintage items, old advertising posters, designer toys and games from the 1980s.

 

Architect: Zeev Rechter, 1934; Added wing and preservation architects: Michal and Hezi Berkowitz, 1999

Guided tours of an International Style building designated for preservation, commonly known as Krieger House. Since its construction, the house has been occupied by family members of the original owners, the physicians Dr. Moshe and Dr. Fanny (Tchlenoff) Krieger, and presently serves as a boutique hotel. The tours will start in the ground floor lounge and recount the story of the house, which was redesigned in 2012. Participants will be able to see some model apartments in the building that underwent extensive renovation last year and now feature a contemporary design, yet also preserve Bauhaus elements, such as the shared stairwell that remains unchanged. The Kriegers` grandchildren will accompany some of the tours.

A tour led by Yossi Goldberg, accompanied by rare historic photographs, of a neighborhood that was established on sand dunes in the middle of the 1920s. The tour will stop at prominent buildings in Lev Tel Aviv and recount the stories and histories of the people who lived in them. Goldberg`s book will be sold at a discount after the tour.

Architect: Yehuda Magidovich, 1930

A visit at this eclectic building that is camouflaged within modernist facades. The synagogue has unusual grandeur, including a large inner space capped with a dome. The names of the leading architects in the country at the beginning of the 20^th century are intertwined with the synagogue`s story. Its construction, and that of the adjacent complex, ultimately resulted in a potpourri, with each section being designed by a different architect and according to a different planning philosophy.

Zviki Philo, a planter and tree expert from Horashim–A Nursery for Trees, leads this tour of trees in the city, some of which are not commonly seen in Israel. He will talk about his vision to institute criteria for preserving trees in Tel Aviv, and explain the importance of trees to the city`s quality of life. Philo will also introduce the tour participants to a number of rare trees, some of which are particularly old and some of which are at risk. The tour will start across from the Norfolk Island Pine on the Meir Tower lot (on the corner of Rothschild and Allenby). The other trees featured in the tour include the Indian Rosewoods on Yehuda Halevi Street, the 200 year old sycamore in the Oliphant complex, the row of Australian bottle trees on Bilu Street that were planted by the Templars, trees in Yaakov Garden, and the cork oak on Rabin Square.

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Architect: Yosef Berlin, 1923

Three guided tours of this synagogue, which was designed by the architect Yosef Berlin in the 1920s. There is an unusual and magnificent domed roof in the middle of the structure, built in a mold of 15 stairs ostensibly leading to heaven, which symbolize the 15 stairs that were in the Temple in Jerusalem (where "A Song of Ascent" is chanted).

The visit includes a tour of the different areas in the synagogue as well as stories about Jewish Tel Aviv at the beginning of the 20^th century.

Architects: Dov Hershkovitz and Carl Rubin

Tours focusing on the architectural aspects of this historic building, which was built about 100 years ago. It was originally the home of Meir Dizengoff, Tel Aviv`s first mayor, and his wife Zina. It was subsequently remodeled in the 1920s when a second floor was added. In 1932, Dizengoff had it converted into the first art museum in the city, transforming it from an eclectic building into an International Style building. Hints of the original architecture were recently uncovered during renovations designed to reconvert it into a museum. The tours will tell the story of the building, its various metamorphoses, and the plans to turn it into a museum and visitors center that are currently underway.

Architect: Yosef Tischler, 1923; Yohanan Ratner (Museum addition), 1960-1961

A visit at the historic home of Eliyahu Golomb, which recounts his own family`s story and that of the Hagana organization that was founded there. It also depicts life in Tel Aviv in the city`s early days. Guided tours of the two preserved rooms in the Golomb residence will be conducted throughout the morning, and visitors will also be able to tour the rest of the museum at their leisure.

 

The architect Naama Riva, XNet`s architecture correspondent, leads this critical tour which will highlight the complex issues related to the development of Tel Aviv`s business district (and that of the entire country), in light of its location in the city`s historic zone. In the course of the tour on Rothschild Boulevard and Herzl Street, Riva will talk about the original plan for Ahuzat Bayit and the Municipality`s preservation policy for the area. She will also refer to the existing variety of interests (those of the developers, the Municipality, the city`s residents, and the State) and the practical implications of the current situation, where every multistory office building is erected as part of a pinpointed zoning plan.