Giving new vitality to a sleepy Israeli town, MIT students join Israeli researchers in an exciting international collaboration for urban renovation. Reported by Ariel Schwartz, Senior Editor, at Co.Exist:

“In the 1950s, rapidly built planned cities (also known as “development towns”) sprung up in Israel to accommodate the influx of new citizens, including Jewish refugees from Arab countries and Holocaust survivors. Now many of these development towns are struggling due to depopulation and an aging populace. Teams of MIT graduate students and researchers at Tel Aviv University are using one –named Kiryat Gat–as a living lab for a new kind of high-tech, environmentally sound planned city. The goal is to create a plan for Kiryat Gat that can be used in urban communities around the world…” More here.

Israeli architect extraordinaire, Moshe Safdie, has set his creative sails for China’s port city of Chongquin, a historic economic center at the Yangtze and Jialing river junction, and a major manufacturing and transportation hub for all of Southwestern China.

Drawing upon the city’s cultural symbolism and historic significance, Safdie’s Chongquin Chaotianmen is a modern interpretation of a fleet of ancient Chinese ships. The eight rising towers resemble heraldic sails, their arch akin to winds blowing back their masts.

I love the swooping grandeur that he achieves with height, scale and arch. Just to peer out from these mast-high gardens, over the busy city and riverscapes below. I can almost smell the damp air, heavy with creativity, production and inspiration.

More here, via::Designboom

1948-58:

Tel Aviv’s distinctive Bauhaus style reflects a strong tradition of art and craft that was brought over from Europe. But the slight alterations – replacing windows with balconies and increasing shaded areas through added cornices – account for the Middle Eastern climate thereby introducing an Israeli element to an International Style. Or perhaps recreating an older aesthetic within a new, Israeli style of living. In 2003, Tel Aviv is declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and renamed the “White City“.

1959-68:

Don’t let these bathing beauties distract you from the real excitement of the decade: Gottex. Founded in 1949 by Leah and Ermine Gottleib, Jewish immigrants from Hungary, as a raincoat company, they turned a quick 180 degrees toward the Mediterranean sun – in recognition of our more defining climate. With Gottex’s revolutionary introduction of Spandex (yes, you can blame Israel for that one), bathing suits became lighter and clingier, allowing for Gottex to pioneer two significant swimwear crazes. First, as hemlines rose in the swinging 60s, bathing suits hiked in all directions – thanks to the miracles of Spandex and other light fabrics developed by Gottex. Second, and this relates to later decades of partying and excess as well, Gottex put glamour and fashion onto the beach. And with Gottex the concept of luxury swimwear was born and bred.

1969-78:

If you thought many of Israel’s corporate logos, symbols, posters or advertisements had something in common, you were right. They were either designed or influenced by Israeli graphic artist extraordinaire Dan Reisinger. Born in Yugoslavia in 1934, Reisinger’s talents were quickly identified and he was sent to study at Jerusalem’s prestigious Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Reisinger’s prolific career has enjoyed incredible hometown and international success. He has designed more than 200 social, political and cultural images and posters in Israel, including 150 logos that have become part and parcel of our everyday living. Together they serve as a visual timeline marking Israel’s most significant historical, social, economic and cultural developments over the decades. In 1971-76, Reisinger designed what we have all come to know and love (or loathe) in the form of ElAl’s corporate logo – the slanted letters, mixed Hebrew and English, blue and white. Above is a destination poster to travel with ElAl which was part of a series from 1968-71. The graphic, abstract and modern-meets-traditional, almost nostalgic but contemporary, aesthetic of Reisinger’s work continues to influence.

1979-1988:

Just like disco its moves and grooves, so too, in a way, did the artwork of Yaakov Agam. And as the excessive and hyperextended 80s took over, Agam’s kinetic, geometric and highly colorful, conceptual art found its place in the middle of Tel Aviv’s bustling metropolis. In the form of a rotating sound and light water fountain that, along with the angular blocks of color – that really change as you look at them from different angles, represent the elements of Water and Fire. Agam’s experiments with optical, kinetic and experiential art left an indelible imprint on our canon. In this case, the spectacle placed within and about Tel Aviv’s most important crosswalk shows the city gaining a self-awareness – or perhaps a self-imposed importance – of its position as the (cultural) center of the country.

1989-1998:

I can’t say enough about Ron Arad. I love, love, love him. He’s an incredible designer. World renown. Amazingly innovative and challenging at the same time. And from Israel. In 1989, Arad’s rapidly increasing fame and reputation for chair and furniture design led him to establish Ron Arad Associates in London. In 1994, again owing to growing success, he added a studio workshop in Italy to increase production of his studio pieces. Seating and shelvingare just some of his more famous designs that are currently either on view at major museums around the world or on sale for respectable (read: incredibly high) prices at prestigious auction houses. But with design gaining mass popularity and media attention these days, its the talent that makes Ron Arad a household name – not just the pricetag.

1999-2008 and beyond:

The Israeli Design Center in Holon where the past, present and future come together and forge ahead. Both the culmination of years of amazing art and design efforts from Israel and the (final) destination for future ones. Designed by none other than Ron Arad, the Museum’s voluminous shapes take on larger-than life presence as it guides the visitor’s experience both inside and out through a range of spirals, swirls and enveloping colored building materials (steel, concrete, stone, glass, etc). Obviously an amazing homage to Arad’s own legacy – since the works to be displayed inside the museum were undoubtedly influenced by him. Headed by Dr. Razi Amiatay, in consultation with Professor Ezri Tarazi, a celebrated designer, teacher and arts advocate in his own right, the Israeli Design Center has been gaining speed and prominence both locally and internationally with a great website (albeit in Hebrew only for now), events and conferences welcoming prominent figures from abroad, and a burgeoning student and independent artists and designers community. It is literally and figuratively the space to watch for our art and design future.

The above post was created specially for 60bloggers.com where 60 bloggers celebrate 60 years of Israel with 60 days of posts on Zionism to politics and everything in between.

To me, it all begins with Ron Arad. He is thee most successful and revered Israeli architect and designer to have broken out of Israel and, more importantly, one of the most influential designers of our time. After finishing his studies at the Bezalel Academy of Art in Jerusalem, he left Israel in the 70s to study architecture in London and opened a design studio in the early 80s. His playful and sculptural furniture designs quickly took off and additional studios were opened in Italy by the mid-90s.

A self-taught furniture designer, Arad challenges conventional notions of sculpture, design and practicality. He also explores materials from both formal and functional perspectives. Or, in simpler terms, he plays with materials to great effects – twisting steel, etching plastic and bending wood. Arad’s works fetch big prices these days and can now be found in the collections of such leading museums as Metropolitan Museum in NY, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the V&A in London and the Vitra Design Museum in Germany.

Arad’s addition of volume to sculpture has led to his collaboration for such well-known design companies as Alessi, andMorosso. He hasn’t abandoned his architectural interests however, and continues to contribute to large-scale international projects, including this hotel in Madrid which in which no less than 19 of the world’s leading designers and architects are involved.

Arad’s most recent project Bodyguards Milan 2007 combines the ethereal with otherworldy as transparent wing-like shapes extend like curtains from metal chair frames, while bulbous polished chairs seem to have been dripped into a chair-like existence from vats of melted steel.

Most recently and locally, Arad is designing Israel’s first design museum which is next to the Israeli design center in Holon. Still under construction, Arad’s voluminous shapes take on larger-than life presence as they guide the visitor’s experience both inside and out through a range of spirals, swirls and enveloping colored building materials (steel, concrete, stone, glass, etc). Obviously an amazing homage to Arad’s own legacy – since the works to be displayed inside the museum were undoubtedly influenced by this amazing artist.

Works by Ron Arad featured above: Ripple Chair for Moroso, Victoria and Albert Collection Sofa for Moroso, The Big Easy Armchair for Morosso, Bookworm Bookshelf for Kartell

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?

The Collective 6940 settled into the Gan HaHashmal area with a smattering of design studios and stores that inhabit the few blocks around the central garden. Their efforts grew organically and soon inspired other young Israeli entrepreneurs to open cafes, bars, and even a yoga studio. And neighborhood happenings, joint sales and block parties further propel this area into the fashion-forward spotlight.

Just to show you how old and old school the neighborhood was, the picture above shows the ethereal and whimsical fashion house Frau Blau. Next door is a science laboratory supply store with a storefront of beakers, test tubes, microscopes and more. Momentary pause: respect to old stuff.

The Collective 6940 website is all in Hebrew but the central map showing where the stores are located, also features the names of the Gan HaHashmal Israeli designers in English and even lists their websites. Not all the sites work, for some reason, and it’s not because most Israeli sites don’t seem to understand the preference for Mozilla over Explorer. For sure, if they want to attract a larger audience, the designers of Gan HaHashmal get some marketing material together up in English and fast. Although the municipality got behind some of the urban renewal, they should kick in some more money to make sure the area not only continues to develop culturally and artistically, but that it thrives too – economically of course.