Designist Dream

A recent jaunt to Montreal has Apartment Therapy fans debating the virtues - or vices - of internationally acclaimed Israeli architect Moshe Safdie’s Habitat 67 project.

Now I know some of you will have a huge problem with Safdie’s modernist aesthetic. Some of you loathe the cement, the block, the exposure of structure, the privileging of function over form, the absence of ornament, and the infiltration of the simplest geometric shapes. Some of you also yearn for the days of decoration, where exteriors of marble were engraved with leaves, fruit and trees; where granite swelled with sea life and glass was alight with stained glass.

I too love old world buildings, but at the same time strongly respect the innovations of Frank Lloyd Wright and Fallingwater. And its because of the advent of materials like glass and steel that we are able to celebrate architecture in other ways. Without over-the-top decoration and instead with attention to material and admiration of substance. That what makes this stone amazing is the stone itself, not the ability of the stone to put forth the illusion of being in a forest. Ultimately that is Modernist aesthetic - calling attention to and celebrating the very definition of the act or object or subject itself. And we would not have other amazing buildings if it weren’t for this movement - not even the beautiful Bauhaus buildings of Tel Aviv where curvilinear corners contrasted with protruding angular balconies.

It’s important to keep in mind that each major world city varies greatly in its architectural design - such that it’s hard to qualify one as better than another by any universal set of standards. Obviously we like what we like, and personally I don’t very much like cubicle Leggo-like cities. But the medieval of Paris is different from the Victorian of London or the Art Deco of New York or the Bauhaus of Tel Aviv. And I love all of them. Each draws on a different set of artistic practices and traditions. Ours in Israel just happens to date back to oh, say, the time of Jesus and before. Which is basically a Roman architectural heritage, meaning very classical and angular (even geometric) and where the exterior of the building heralded the function of the building for all. For the Romans the decoration of people, gods, animals, etc. informed visitors of the building’s purpose - bathhouse, market, temple, etc. This is almost no different from the stripped down Modern aestehtic Safdie enjoys building all over the world. The materials speak to the viewer and connote the building’s function, ie. if you see water pipes you know there’s plumbing involved.

It’s a heady discussion and not necessarily for me alone to rattle on about - so feel free to comment below. Safdie’s projects are not all infallible nor exciting nor good. Google some and see for yourself; some of the images are crazy. But he did design my hometown of Modiin and in that sense I have to be thankful because he was very careful to balance the amount of green public spaces with residential or commercial buildings. So although there’s a ton of low-storied apartment buildings, there are many nooks and crannies filled with small to large parks. Some with just benches others with huge playgrounds. In either case, enough for me to have some outdoor space to just look and think about my surroundings. And I guess that’s the whole point, no?