Israel as a Modern Architectural Experimental Lab, 1948–1978 (EPUB) von Inbal Ben-Asher Gitler

This collection discusses the innovative and experimental architecture of Israel during its first three decades following the nation’s establishment in 1948. The volume highlights new perspectives on the topic, discussing the inception, modernization and habitation of historic and lesser-researched areas alike in its interrogation.

Introduction by Inbal Ben-Asher Gitler and Anat Geva

Part I: Modern Experiments in Rural and Urban Design

Chapter 1: The Experimental Integrative Habitation Unit as a Modern Experimental Lab in Israel by Yair Barak

Chapter 2: From A-Locality to Locality: The Gur Neighbourhood in Hatzor HaGlili by Oryan Shachar

Chapter 3: Un-Settling Established Narratives: The West Bank ‘Communal Settlement’ as Architecture and Planning Lab by Yael Allweil

Chapter 4: Landscape Modernism and the Kibbutz: The Work of Shmuel Bickels (1909–1975) by Elissa Rosenberg

Part II: Public Architecture as Testing Ground

Chapter 5: A Museum In Between: The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1965 by Eliyahu Keller

Chapter 6: Genia Averbuch: Modernism Meets the Vernacular: Youth Villages for New Immigrants, 1948–1955 by Sigal Davidi

Chapter 7: The Modern Israeli Synagogue as an Experiment in Jewish Tradition by Naomi Simhony

Chapter 8: Israeli Architecture at a Turning Point: Designs for the Israeli Center for Technological Awareness, 1978 by Jeremy Kargon

Part III: Considering Climate

Chapter 9: Minus 400 and Over 40 Degrees: Architecture in the Dead Sea, 1948–1971 by Daphne Binder and Theodore Kofman

Chapter 10: Architectonic Experimentation in Early Israeli Architecture Vis-à-Vis Climatic Constraints: The Case of the Negev Desertby Isaac A. Meir, Rachel Bernstein and Keren Shalev

Chapter 11: The Other Side of Climate: The Unscientific Nature of Climatic Architectural Design in Israel by Or Aleksandrowicz

Part IV: Reflections Abroad

Chapter 12: Building and Re-Building a Nation’s Identity: Israeli and Italian Architectural Culture, Their Representation and the Role of Bruno Zevi (1918–2000) by Matteo Cassani Simonetti

Chapter 13: Prefabricating Nativism: The Design of the Israeli Knesset, 1956–1966 and the Sierra Leone Parliament, 1960–1964 by Ayala Levin