Bauhaus Renovation Foundation

Introduction

Hidden away in the centre of Tel Aviv is one of the jewels of the World Heritage, The White City. It is a unique collection of houses, all built in the same architectural style, the Bauhaus style.

In early July 2003, officially in June 2004, Unesco proclaimed the old part of the city of Tel Aviv a protected city and placed it on the World Heritage List.



Style
The Bauhaus style, also called Modern Movement and International Style is an important movement in the early twentieth century, in which the bombastic and voluminous building style of the preceding centuries was broken with.

Though found everywhere in Europe and the United States of America the Bauhaus style in Tel Aviv is a rarely seen anomaly. In this city virtually all buildings are built in this style, reason why the city was placed on Unesco’s World Heritage List.






World Heritage

Already before The White City was put on the World Heritage List, several Bauhaus idealists took the initiative to contribute to renovating Bauhaus property in Tel Aviv, and to this end they founded the Bauhaus Renovation Foundation.




In the Unesco decision it was stated thus:

The White City of Tel Aviv – The Modern Movement

Criterion (ii): The White City of Tel Aviv is a synthesis of outstanding significance of the various trends of the Modern Movement in architecture and town planning in the early part of the 20th century. Such influences were adapted to the cultural and climatic conditions of the place, as well as being integrated with local traditions.

Criterion (iv): The new town of Tel Aviv is an outstanding example of new town planning and architecture in the early 20th century, adapted to the requirements of a particular cultural and geographic context.



Bauhaus in Tel Aviv

Objectives of the Non Profit Bauhaus Renovation Foundation

The Bauhaus Renovation Foundation organizes the Tel Aviv Bauhaus Renovation Project in stages with the aim of renovating and restoring buildings in the Bauhaus style in Tel Aviv to their original state.

The idea underlying the Foundation is straightforward and simple.

The Foundation has no profit motive. Yet, its main concern is real estate, so after it has been bought and renovated, property can be resold. With the proceeds new property can be bought, which is then renovated and sold. In this way a lot can be done to meet the Foundation’s objective with a minimum of capital.

We would appreciate it very much if you would join our club of Bauhaus Idealists and donate 35 euro, 47 US$ or more per year.

Go to our membership page

 

With the attraction of more capital, work can be executed on more buildings simultaneously. This is made possible by applying for subsidies and interest-free loans with companies, institutions and governments. Also possible is the creation of partnerships which invest and receive a profit share in return. Consequently, more capital will become available, ensuring that more can be done. All these ideas contribute to making the ideal come true:

Restoring The White City of Tel Aviv to its former glory.

 

 

Key aspects

• Restoring the glorious face of Tel Aviv the White City
• Full support from Unesco, which welcomes private initiatives
• Permission and full co-operation from the municipality of Tel Aviv for the renovation  and redevelopment of the Bauhaus objects
• Upgrading impoverished objects and neighborhoods in Tel Aviv
• Direct support to the Israeli economy by creating jobs
• Stimulating the revival of tourism to Israel

 

The recommending committee

The Bauhaus Renovation Foundation has asked 5 well known scholars in the field of History of Modern Contemporary Architecture to join the recommending committee of the Foundation. 

 

Backgrounds of Bauhaus

The Bauhaus school was founded in Weimar in 1919 by the architect Walter Gropius. In this school, he propagated his ideas on functionalism and the amalgamation of art and technology.The school had more than 700 students and was known for demanding from its students that they would forget anything they had ever learned.

 

Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies von der Rohe, Hannes Meyer and Le Corbusier were among the influential Bauhaus architects. In 1925, the school moved to the famous building in Dessau, which that had been designed by Gropius, and which has been on the World Heritage List since 1955. Later on, the school was moved to Berlin, where the national-socialists forced it to close its doors on 11 April 1933. Under the Nazis’ mounting pressure the Bauhaus kingpins Gropius, Mies van der Rohe and others went to America, where they were at the cradle of the American Bauhaus, there called ‘the International Style’.

Many Jewish students of the Bauhaus movement, in particular architects, went to Tel Aviv, which was then called ‘Little Tel Aviv’. There, their creative energy was used for the benefit of the development and construction of the city according to the Bauhaus specifications.

Judging from the mostly dilapidated facades of the roughly 4,000 buildings in Tel Aviv it is surprising that this is the largest collection of the German Bauhaus style in the world. It is ironic that it is precisely in Israel that we find the largest number of buildings in the style of a movement that was suppressed by the Nazis. Because of the sheer number of buildings it seems as if this is a local movement. Of course, it is not. Tel Aviv is the only city in the world of which the major part is built in the Bauhaus style.

 

 

Buildings that are now standing grayish and paintless were once painted white, the color that would be associated with the Bauhaus style in Tel Aviv, although a white exterior was not really one of the movement’s characteristics.

 

Bauhaus was not based on the past but focused on developing a new, modern direction. In Tel Aviv it was easy for Bauhaus to gain a foothold, as there was no particular architectural style the city adhered to. The style can also be found in Haifa and Jerusalem, but it is best visible in Tel Aviv.

For a long period of time, Tel Aviv therefore had the fairy-tale nickname The White City on the Mediterranean. The characteristic built-up part of the ‘white district’ consists of loosely grouped, urban villa-like multifamily housing blocks.
Bauhaus architecture had a keen eye for the social aspects of design and for creating a new form of social housing for working-class people. 
This may be one of the reasons why the style was embraced in the new, developing Tel Aviv, at a time that socialist ideas predominated. The special style came about partly due to new techniques where a building was supported by steel or iron frames, around which the walls could be erected.

Local adjustments to the Bauhaus style in Tel Aviv
The characteristics of the Bauhaus style include the spatial aspect, the avoidance of ornaments, and asymmetric building. In Tel Aviv, however, there are several exceptions to the general characteristics of the style.
Smaller windows
Bauhaus buildings are mostly cubist, with right angles (although rounded angles and balconies are often used as well). They have smooth walls and an open plan. Some core elements of the Bauhaus architecture had to be adjusted to the local circumstances. Large windows pose a disadvantage in a warm climate, so small windows were used instead, mostly with horizontal strips between the windows. If balconies were used, they were given the same appearance. Most of these balconies have been closed later to keep the warmth out or to create a larger living space. The horizontally partitioned windows were characteristic of Le Corbusier’s designs. Several Jewish architects had worked at his studio in Paris and had become strongly influenced by his style of design.

Another element often used by Le Corbusier was the concrete column. These columns lifted the buildings from the street level, thus creating room for gardens and air currents. The first building to be built in this way was Beit Engel (Angel House), Rothschild Boulevard 84, at the corner with Ma’zeh Street, built in 1933 by Zeev Rechter. It should be noted that Rothschild Boulevard is the right location for seeing a large variety of Bauhaus buildings (a considerable number has an urgent need for renovation). The residents of Beit Engel have closed the open space to create more living space. It took Rechter, the architect, two years of fighting for permission to build these houses. Later on, this type became common, but after the 1940s, the building style was used less and less. 

 

 

Flat roofs

Another local custom was the use of flat roofs, in contrast to the gable roofs in Europe. In Le Corbusier’s view the flat roofs were intended for roof gardens, but the residents mostly use them for social purposes and washing.

Reinforced concrete

The local building technology was not advanced. Reinforced concrete was first used in 1912. Later on, it was used more frequently, since it was user-friendly and did not require any experienced labour.

We would appreciate it very much if you would join our club of Bauhaus Idealists and donate 35 euro, 47 US$ or more per year.

Go to our membership page

 

Buying and investing in Bauhaus property in Tel Aviv

The Foundation works together with architects and contractors of a fine reputation with Bauhaus preservation and renovation.

As some 4,000 Bauhaus objects have been built in Tel Aviv, the Bauhaus Renovation Foundation can carefully make a selection based on exceptional architectural value of a property before any decisions are made. The Foundation is advised by professional brokers.

After renovation the apartments are sold to people like you who applied for being on our Bauhaus apartments list by sending us an email to info@bauhausfoundation.com.

The system is explained in this page on our website Apartments for sale

 

 

 

Rationale behind investment in Bauhaus property in Tel Aviv

The Bauhaus Renovation Foundation was founded to assist in the preservation of The White City. The work left by the Bauhaus architects deserves to be preserved for further generations. In fact, the rationale of the way the Foundation works can be summarized in one sentence:

 
A renovated building is worth more than a ruin.

 

The Foundation has an advantage for the sheer fact that its main concern is real estate. After thorough renovation, real estate can be sold again and at a higher price. Hence the Foundation will have more working capital. The Bauhaus property bought by the Bauhaus Renovation Foundation is bought and renovated with the Foundation’s own capital. Financing with own capital was opted for as the property renovation might involve long-term work and because no revenue is to be expected for some time to come. The Foundation therefore obtains interest-free loans and/or subsidies from governments and institutions and/or companies for each object or group of objects.

 

 

 

 
Investors

The Bauhaus Renovation Foundation’s focus is on real estate, a particularity which gives the Foundation the possibility of realizing its ideals in a way that is attractive for investors as well, by means of a combination of making ideals come true, the optimum certainty of real estate and a (high) return. If (professional) investors or companies participate together with the Bauhaus Renovation Foundation they will be entitled to the capital and the return of that particular property together with the Bauhaus Renovation Foundation. Please note that this does not constitute an offer in any way to private individuals while this is forbidden in most countries.

 

Sound investment

Although the ideal of restoring The White City takes central place, it should not be forgotten that the investments are to be chosen carefully. Attention is not only paid to the location and the architectural value, but also to the return and the possibilities of reselling. Our aim is revolving the capital into new projects.

We would appreciate it very much if you would join our club of Bauhaus Idealists and donate 35 euro, 47 US$ or more per year.

Go to our membership page