GREENING THE

International Conference 1-3 May 2013 “Habima”- National Theater,

The City of Tel Aviv In cooperation with the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation

No other city in the world can boast as large a portfolio of so-called International Style architecture as Tel Aviv. This heritage only recaptured public awareness in the mid-1980s as a result of an exhibition, with UNESCO ultimately naming Tel Aviv a world heritage site in 2003. Since then, Israel’s latest metropolitan city has enjoyed a unique reputation across the globe as the “White City”. This particular architectural style, which harks back to the traditions of Bauhaus style architecture, and especially the International Style of modern architecture, is attributed to the influx of Jewish refugees from Europe. Today, this style is giving Israel’s “secret capital of culture” new self-assurance. In the 21st century, the cultural heritage left by Bauhaus style architecture is presenting the city with new challenges: exploding real estate prices, huge increases in rent, and a loss of social living space. As Israel’s modern centre, Tel Aviv is also looking to lead the way in terms of green redevelopment and the energy-efficiency refurbishment of buildings, because the pressure to achieve greater energy efficiency and build ecologically is mounting. Through the “Greening the White City” conference, we provide a platform for reflecting on the eco-friendly and culture-sensitive issues of the Bauhaus heritage. During the symposium and workshops, experts and activists from Germany and Israel will share practical energy-efficiency refurbishment solutions that take the cultural heritage of the buildings in the White City into account. The event will also strive to find answers as to how exploding real estate prices can be absorbed and rental prices stabilized. Finally, the conference also aims to engage in a discussion on Tel Aviv’s “modern architecture” heritage: what notion of modernity is reflected in the city’s architecture? What blind spots does the Bauhaus boom have? How far can the agenda for modern architecture be modernized in the White City?

1 Program 1 - 3 May 2013

Wednesday, May 1, 2013 (German Spekers only)

17:00 Tour of the architecture in the White City for speakers

19:00 Joint dinner for all speakers

Thursday, May 2, 2013

8:30 – 9:00 Registration

9.00 Welcoming remarks:

Chair: Sharon Golan, Conservation Architect,Tel Aviv -Yafo

Doron Sapir, Deputy Mayor of the City of Tel Aviv Andreas Michaelis, German Ambassador to Israel Marc Berthold, Director of the Tel Aviv Office, Heinrich Böll Foundation Vollmer Matthias, Building Director, Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development

9:30 Keynote speech: Philipp Oswalt, Director of Bauhaus Dessau

2 10:00– 11:30 Panel I: Tel Aviv, the “White City”: Origin, heritage and future

Chair: Marianne Zepp, Heinrich Böll Foundation Israel

The local adaptation of the Bauhaus style that found its expression in the Tel Aviv of the 1930s was rediscovered in the 1980s. This period saw a return to the origins of “International Style” and its architects, among them Arieh Sharon, Erich Mendelsohn and Carl Rubin. The social references to the Bauhaus style also became a greater focus of the public debate. This recalling of the “White City” in Bauhaus style shaped Tel Aviv's new cultural self-assurance and led to a change in the city’s practice of protecting historical buildings. This revival of the Bauhaus heritage has also been met with criticism in Israel, however. Within the bounds of an Israeli-German dialogue, the panel will seek to critically appraise the heritage that Bauhaus has left behind in the White City: what role did Bauhaus architects and Bauhaus ideas actually play in establishing and further developing Tel Aviv? What role did the participating women play? What form has the local adaptation of this style taken? What ideas can “Bauhaus” provide today for this city’s future prospects? An additional perspective will be provided by the presentation of the development of the International Style in Gdynia, Poland.

Jeremy Hoffman, Head of conservation Department Tel Aviv- Yafo Zvi Efrat, Efrat-Kowalsky Architects, Tel Aviv Ines Sonder, Moses Mendelssohn Center, University of Potsdam Marek Stepa, Deputy Mayor, City of Gdynia, Poland

11.30 Coffee Break

3 12:0-13:30 Panel II: Greening the White City

Chair: Rinat Millo, Conservation Architect, Tel Aviv-Yafo

Retrofitting is the buzzword in the debate surrounding the effective and eco-friendly refurbishment of Bauhaus assets in Tel Aviv. State- of-the-art technologies are to be combined with measures which the original constructors have taken into consideration (ventilation, light and shade regimes, insulation). Urban development aspects as well as climatic features (solar technology, erosion, air circulation) play a role here. International experts from the fields of climate technology, the preservation of historical buildings and solar architecture will share views and opinions on how the constructional heritage of International Style architecture can best be preserved and, at the same time, undergo energy-efficiency retrofitting.

Shmuel Groag, Lilach Harel, Groag | Harel Arcitects – conservation & sustainable design Erez Elia, HQ-Architects, Tel- Aviv Winfried Brenne, Winfried Brenne Architekten, Berlin Peter Voit, Transsolar, Stuttgart

13.30-14:30 Lunch

4 14:30 -16:00 Panel III: Bauhaus and the Social Issue

Chair: Jonathan Rokem, Ben Gurion University and French Research Center Jerusalem (CRFJ).

Rising real estate prices and rental prices represent a growing social problem in many inner cities, not just in Germany and Israel. This trend has especially been prevalent in Tel Aviv for several years. The social protests which took place in the summer of 2011 were a manifest expression of the fear many have that city living might soon no longer be an affordable option for families living of average incomes.

At the time of its emergence, representatives of the Bauhaus movement combined aesthetic building structures with affordable and pleasant living space solutions for all in times of economic hardship. Does this still hold true in modern-day Tel Aviv? The aim of this panel discussion is to highlight the dynamics which lead to exploding real estate and rental prices. Approaches and instruments will additionally be presented which seek to curtail these developments.

Emily Silverman, Hebrew university of Tel Aviv Philpp Oswalt, Director of Bauhaus Dessau Maximilian Leuprecht, Office of Mayor Monatzeder, City of Munich Renate Künast, Chair, Green Group in the German Bundestag

5 16:00-16:30 Invation and Urban devlpment Mario Husten/Andreas Steinhäuser, Holzmarkt eG, Berlin

16:30 – 17:00 Summary

Jeremy Hoffman/ Sharon Golan, conservation deptartment City of Tel Aviv-Yafa & Marianne Zepp, Heinrich Boell Foundation, Israel

19:00 Reception and party at “Beit Hair”, Bilalik 27

Friday, May 3, 2013

Three workshops on future issues affecting urban development in Tel Aviv-Yafo Registration only

Workshop I: Hands-on-workshop: practical analysis of the energy- efficiency 9.30 – 13.00: refurbishment requirements of a specific International Style building in Tel Aviv, Bialik St 27, Tel Aviv-Yafo

Winfried Brenne, Winfried Brenne Architekten, Berlin Chaired by: Sharon Golan, Conservation Architect, City of Tel Aviv- Yafo

7 Workshop II: New forms of collective construction as well as land use for the common good, HBS Office, Hair Sinai 1, Tel Aviv

9.30 – 13.00: Two exciting projects from Germany – Holzmarkt eG and Mietshäuser Syndikat will present themselves and engage in a discussion with similar projects and interested parties from Israel (workshop open to the public).

Andreas Steinhauser/Mario Husten, Holzmarkt eG, Berlin tba, Mietshäuser Syndikat, Freiburg/Berlin Chaired by: Sabine Drewes, Heinrich Böll Foundation Berlin

Workshop III:Round-up and outlook, Beit Bialik, Bilalik 22

11.30 a.m. – 1 p.m. Expert discussion: the Future of the White City

With: Philipp Oswalt, Director of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation Chaired by: Jeremy Hoffman, City of Tel Aviv

The conference will be in English/ German, translation provided

Followed by:

Open Architecture Weekend Tel Aviv

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