There are more buildings built in the Bauhaus style in Tel Aviv
than anywhere else in the world including any city in Germany.
by Daniella Ashkenazy
Israelis talk of "bulldozer Zionism" hinting that too many historic buildings and period architecture in the country are being torn down to make way for new and taller structures. But today this is changing. In Tel Aviv, particularly near Rothschild Boulevard TAs financial district one can see thoroughly restored two and three-story buildings among the newly-erected skyscrapers. One of Tel Avivs strongest architectural legacies a legacy, which, because of its magnitude, has never been seriously threatened by wrecking crews are examples of the Bauhaus school of architecture, born in Germany in the 1920s.
The Bauhaus Art School in Dessau, Germany, based on the German word for structure bau opened its doors in 1919. Its unorthodox approach called upon students to "forget everything they had ever been taught" and "learn to work with their hands" in preparation for studying its founder Walter Gropius architectural approach. This approach was based on simple lines void of non-utilitarian embellishments; it emphasized functional space, not aesthetics. Walls were viewed as "curtains" or "climate barriers"; forms were based on geometric units cubes, cylinders, etc.; and undisguised structural elements (steel, glass, concrete) on the exterior filled aesthetic roles.
During its relatively brief existence the school was closed in 1933 700 students of architecture studied at the Bauhaus. Nineteen of them came from what was then Palestine or immigrated there after finishing their studies.
The influence of Bauhaus graduates beginning in the early 1930s and extending into the early 1950s was extraordinary. The lack of a local architectural tradition or a cohesive community of architects in the country aided this process. Moreover, Palestine at the time was a relatively underdeveloped country, but its cultural milieu was open and dynamic. In all fields of creative endeavor music and dance, literature and theater, the plastic arts and architecture there were attempts afoot to formulate unique styles that would reflect the Zionist revival.
Practically, the simple lines of the Bauhaus structures lent themselves to the relatively unsophisticated and economical building techniques of the time. Philosophically, the unadorned Bauhaus style harmonized with the Zionist "no-nonsense no-frills" pioneering ethic, and was further propelled by the prevailing conformist attitude.
Abroad, structures built in the Bauhaus style were erected here and there. In Tel Aviv a new city founded in 1909 a period of unprecedented growth took place between the 1930s and 1950s. Entire streets and neighborhoods were built in the spirit of Bauhaus architecture. The Tel Aviv municipality estimates that the 3,500-4,000 buildings designed in the Bauhaus tradition are almost all still standing. About one thousand have been fully renovated during the past decade, inside and out. Extraneous additions such as shutters and awnings were removed; architectural alternations carried out by individual tenants were rectified, restoring uniformity of form; deteriorating facades were patched and repainted; and changes necessitated by modern living standards were integrated into the original style.
In Tel Aviv, the Bauhaus style bowed to local conditions, making certain adaptations to the Mediterranean climate, with its hot summers and year-round strong sunlight. In Europe, banks of glass designed to admit maximum natural sunlight were extensively used; here this was modified. Architects designed houses to catch cool breezes off the Mediterranean Sea and provided shade to shield rooms from the elements. Porches replaced large rectangular "picture windows" on the facades. Yet, reflecting a conflict between the desire to remain firmly in the European tradition and the urge to integrate some Eastern elements, some architects added a little dome on the flat roof above the entrance or flanked the doorway with shallow arch facades.
Despite a burgeoning of newer architectural styles including modern skyscrapers the dominant pattern of Tel Aviv from the air remains to this day the prevalence of "low-density little white flat-roofed boxy buildings" reflecting the citys Bauhaus tradition many of whose tenets have been integrated into contemporary architecture worldwide.