Past Turned Into Space
An historic, neo-classic building in the heart of Tel Aviv originally designed by the architect Yosef Berlin in 1925. The building has been designated for preservation with severe building restrictions as part of the Tel Aviv preservation plan.
The area, known as the “White City” is the site of Tel Aviv’s founding and was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 2003. The structure itself consists of a rustico ground floor that is the foundation for two additional floors with renaissance style arches.
The ground floor apartment we designed was previously the home of Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben Gurion which lends historic significance and magic to the building and the apartment.
In order to add volume to the space without harming the façade and the historical structure, we designed and constructed a basement floor. Execution of the work was extremely complex from an engineering point of view and included the suspension of the structure and the apartment’s ceilings from a system of temporary beams and pillars.
From the moment that the basement was added to the apartment, this provided a new and significant element to the apartment which we exploited to create a large (in relation to the floor area) open, working space between the floors.
Thus we created both visual and physical contact between the two floors with a new, 6 meter, steel pillar enhancing the powerful vertical line.
Since the construction elements we created were totally new, we took care not to hide them but left them exposed in order to tell the “story” of the renovation.
In order to preserve and respect the tradition and the past, the materials chosen for the apartment’s renovation were all raw materials (exposed concrete in walls and ceilings, steel for the beams and pillars, iron for the facades of the closets and stainless steel net for hand rails).
The combination of modern design and the neo-classical structure from the 1930’s enabled the designer to create a world full of contrasts and tensions combined in one project; between elegant and industrial, between raw and ornamental, between simple and complex. Together, they enrich the structure, both architecturally as well as the relationships between the space and those in it, and tell the tale of two periods in one space.
Past Turned Into Space credits
A duplex apartment in a building scheduled for preservation in Tel Aviv
Area: 220 SqM.
Design team: Irene Goldberg, Tamar Berger, Pitsou Kedem
In charge architect: Tamar Berger
Design and built: 2012 – 2014
Photography: Amit Goren
Styling for photography: Eti Buskila
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