A CITY WITH A PALETTE OF MONOCHROMATIC COLOURS
I love architecture. I still take courses at the university though I decided too late in life to change from my career in writing.
Of course, I have my favourite architects. Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Frank Gehry, A.M Pei, Richard Meier, (see where I’m going with these names?). In case you didn’t get it, I love the Bauhaus school and many of those who were involved at the start of this movement are mentioned and then there are those architects who brought new ideas using different and often unusual materials and shapes.
Gropius, was the visionary who started this Bauhaus movement in 1919, has a few of the signatures …flat roofs, unadorned windows, their use of rectangular shapes. “ From following function” says it all.
On my last visit to Tel Aviv, I visited a residential area, a wide, lush, tree-lined boulevard. Rothschild Avenue (one of the many streets with Bauhaus architecture) the unexpected splendour of mostly Bauhaus style, is most visible. I had heard about this mother lode of what is known in Israel as International Style, but never found time to really study the buildings.
However, the over 1500 buildings here in Tel Aviv, were designed when many of the school of Bauhaus architecture had to leave Germany due to the unstable conditions which was beginning to show its ugly head. Now, in Tel Aviv, Israel, this movement is an UNESCO Heritage Site with its vast collection, the largest in the world.
NO GREYS HERE, ONLY WHITE
Although it’s a city that’s often been called grey and drab, here is an area of white and ecru, and it’s renowned as “The White City”. Surprisingly, for a small country, Israel has the largest collection of Bauhaus architecture.
THE COLOUR OF HAPPINESS
With the rise of Facism, many of these Jewish architects immigrated to Israel. Until then, there hadn’t been any totally different building styles. These days it is a glorious style to see, ponder over and be delighted that nothing could keep the Israeli from the then new and overwhelming architecture.
ALL WHITE AR
Surprisingly,for a small country, Tel Aviv has the largest collection of Bauhaus buildings outside of Europe. Over 1500 Bauhaus edifices exist throughout “The White City” and it’s no surprise it is now a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.
