Israel

The UNESCO World Heritage Site of “White City” (coined due to its whitewashed façades) in Tel Aviv is home to one of the largest and best-preserved collection of Bauhaus Style architecture in the world.

The Bauhaus, widely considered the most influential modernist art school, was started in 1919 in Germany. It pioneered the ideology that form follows function, emphasising the importance of balancing aesthetic and artistic creativity with purpose and functionality. It brought together in one school new ways of thinking in art, architecture and design. When the Nazis rose to power in Germany, tens of thousands of Jews fled to settle in the British Mandate of Palestine. Amongst them were those who had studied at the Bauhaus which was closed down by the Nazis in 1933 who rejected the Bauhaus ideology, instead favouring a return to classicism. Dozens of architects (many of whom were Bauhaus graduates) were commissioned to design a 20^th century city, almost from scratch, to serve the thousands of Jewish migrants in need of housing and amenities. As a result, more than 4,000 Bauhaus style buildings were constructed in Tel Aviv of which many still stand today.

The Bauhaus style was selected due to its functionality, clean lines and lack of adornment. This minimalist approach resonated with the socialist, egalitarian values of Tel Aviv’s mostly working-class newcomers and cheaper construction methods and the absence of decorative tiles and plasterwork which didn’t require specialist craftsmen enabled the ambitious building programme. In designing the new buildings, the architects adapted the Bauhaus style to the city’s hot, sunny climate. They limited the use of glass in order to reduce potential greenhouse effects, adopted flat roofs that could be used as outdoor social spaces, and replaced the horizontal ribbon windows found in European buildings of the time with dramatic balconies allowing for shade and ventilation.