This is Echo in the Desert
Haim Dotan Architects
13 March 2008 - 26 April 2008

The exhibition "Echo in the Desert" presents two realms of the works of architect Haim Dotan: the architectural and the artistic. The architectural realm exhibits projects that are in the process of design, under construction and finished buildings. It represents the philosophy and the inner beliefs of Haim Dotan through models, photographs, sketches and computerized images. The artistic realm presents poems and nature photography, which is the source of inspiration for him. It is also the occasion for the release of his book of poetry and photography: "After the Rain". Nature is what unites Haim's soul and works.

Serenity of Nature
In nature harmony prevails in calmness, in balance. In nature we seek quiet beauty, inner peace. The desert is where we meditate in quietude, listen to seemingly nothingness. Mountains we climb on to feel free, touch a cloud and skies, see sunsets painting the world in rays of colors and deep shadows. We accommodate nature, we accommodate to nature. Nature was here before us. It will be here long after we are gone. We do not imitate nature but learn from its wisdom.
We must create quiet environments in our hectic and crowded world. We need to design calm buildings and neighborhoods, soft forms, tranquility. Not merely storage boxes of rising walls of concrete, stifling us mercilessly. Boxed towers create meaningless vertical spaces between them, static places where windows look straight at each other. Individual towers stand aloof one next to each other. So are our man-made environments. Buildings create space among them, between them. Walls define spaces, create places for people. Hence, buildings must relate to each other, respect each other; give to nature, let air and light come in. Curved forms create continuous quiet spaces with flowing movement, like in nature. When our buildings become calmer, softer, quieter. When our buildings converse with each other, gesture in respect, project serenity, quiet beauty will prevail in our places. Therefore, a new language must be born, a language of quiet forms, new fonts of shapes which relate to each other in balance and harmony. A new language giving us tools to create architectural forms, functional and dynamic, yet simple, even basic. Forms which will relate to one another as if in quiet conversation creating places of quietude, peace of mind and soul.
It is my continuous goal to develop the highest technology at the lowest construction cost. To create emotional and functional architecture, building advanced design and technology in peripheral and forgotten cities where technology is low, skilled construction workers unavailable. It is my dream to transform these seemingly lost cities into places of joy, hope and pride, with new construction education and culture for the future of our children. Thus, an advanced industrial factory in Kiriat Gat and a futuristic concert hall in Ashdod City were completed at low cost with local workers, pioneering Colleges of Engineering in Beer Sheva and Ashdod are under construction. My dream to be fulfilled.

Arch. Haim Dotan
Haim Dotan (Jerusalem, 1954), international architect, educator, philosopher, poet, artist. Holds a B. Arch and M. Arch from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Following a successful career in Japan and the U.S.A., where he had a private practice in Manhattan, he established the firm of Haim Dotan Ltd. Architects in 1990 in Tel Aviv. The practice focuses on innovative cutting-edge architecture, research and construction and the design of private and public projects in Asia, Africa, Israel and Europe. Haim Dotan is an architectural pioneer in developing construction techniques for residential, commercial, industrial, and educational buildings and public institutions. In his recent projects, Architect Dotan creates an innovative language in the Israeli architectural landscape.
Among his most distinguished projects are the cultural and concert halls in Ashdod and Rehovot; the University of Ashdod campus; the Sami Shamoon College of Engineering in Beer Sheva (with Shevach Architects); the American International School in Even Yehuda (with Plesner Architects); the Alon Building for High Tech, Ben Gurion University of the Negev; the Azrieli Institute of Enrichment in Beer Sheva and the Segoe Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, Technion, Haifa (with architect Piltzer). The work of Architect Haim Dotan has been published in Israel and abroad in Casa, RAX, Architecture in Israel, and others. Architect Dotan has been a senior lecturer at the School of Architecture, Tel Aviv University, and in the Department of Architecture, Bezalel Academy of Fine Arts, Jerusalem and has served as jury member in various design competitions in Israel.
In 2007 Haim Dotan was nominated for the Israel Prize in Architecture. The firm has won numerous competitions and awards, including the 2006 Israeli Building Construction Center Award for “New Architectural Language in Israel through 17 years of Development and Improvement of New Building Technologies”; the Israel Engineering and Architects Association Award for the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, for professional contribution in “Total Conceptualization of Office and Industrial Buildings” (1998); the Israel Contractors and Builders Union Award; and others.

The exhibition is supported by:
Extal Designed Aluminum Profiles
Ackerstein
Negev
A. Ophir
Calibre
Etz Ve-Etza
Aaora Israel

This is Elements of Thought
Studio Geotectura
Sustainable Architecture
24 January 2008 - 28 February 2008

The exhibition presents a variety of projects designed by arch. Dr. Yossi Cory and Geotectura Studio for Sustainable Architecture. Cory’s work present an optimistic view of the future of our world, and the role architecture can and should play in fulfilling this utopist-optimistic vision. The presented projects include a variety of designs and plans which have won numerous awards and citations in international competitions, plans for sustainable buildings and living quarters, and works which walk the narrow line separating architecture, design and technological development. The exhibition will present visual images relating to the practice’s work, alongside models presenting projects and design in various stages of development.

Elements of Thought
Thoughts before matter, matter encouraging thought
At a time when contemporary architecture deals mostly with skin and less with content, we need to understand when began the erosion of the complex principles of European modernism of freedom, civic responsibility, moral, productivity and creativity. These issues become acute when considered in light of the on-going technological changes, population growth, environmental overload and growing social polarization. Contemporary architects no longer enjoy the luxury of ignoring global issues.
The modernist ideal aspired to by Le Corbusier dealt with, among others, the ‘machine for living’, a mass-production product he considered a moral and healthy result of modern times. Trying to translate lofty ideals into practical guidelines, he publisher five points, which became a staple of modernistic design code. Generations of architects aspired to align their work along these principles published in 1926 in L’Architecture Vivante:
1. Construction on Pilotis – construction based on free standing constructive supports or columns, creating a separation between the ground and the first floor.
2. Free plan – a plan free from consideration of construction, no more supporting walls, but the possibility to create open spaces.
3. Free façade – the ability to design the façade freely through the use of columns instead of supporting walls.
4. Horizontal windows – using narrow horizontal window for natural lighting inside the building.
5. Functional roof terrace – constructing a flat roof as opposed to shingles, for functional usage such as a garden or resting space.
In retrospect, are these the five points modernists should have used? Is this not the opening which led to the replacement of idealistic thoughts and ideals by narrow physical aspects and basic plastic materiality? Could all of these ideals and goals be summarized into one narrow horizontal window?
The principles of modernism require updating, in a way which will re-inject into them the essence and content at the core of modernism. These new five points should revert to the idealistic essence, replacing the physical aspects to the edges of the design process. Material should follow idea, and not dictate or replace it. The five points should reflect consideration of the effects of their use on future generations, and become sustainable points.
The various projects presented in this exhibition were designed over the recent years, some for competitions, some for realizations, and some are presented here for the first time. Some were made for a client, some a result of an urge, some in cooperation with designers from many and various fields, but all apply the rule of thumb of the updated five points, which put them into the context of a sustainable and optimistic world view.
I hope that the exhibition and accompanying catalogue will create an experience of the world through dream architecture, dealing with contemporary and future needs, continuing the spirit of modernism while not being afraid to update it with ecological ideals. The other world is not utopist, it is within reach, just around the corner, when you exit the gallery, in the next project you build or design, in the personal involvement of each and every one of us. The exhibition tries to provide basic terminological building blocks and provide an element of though, not only on what we leave to future generations, but how and with what materials we might achieve it.
While most talk is about a frightening, polluted, overheated and hopeless world, this exhibition present an optimistic, ecological responsible and economic world, a world not afraid of technology and harsh reality, but dealing with them with a direct forward gaze. Compromises (which today we are able to decide if to choose or not) will be the necessity of future generations.
We all want a better world, and it is within our grasp not only to dream about such a world but to create it. How? Personal responsibility and brave confrontation with near and distant problems, affecting us and others.

Arch. Yossi Cory
Arch. Dr. Yossi Cory, residing in Haifa, Israel, is a graduate cum laude of the Technion. Holds a BA, MA and PhD. in architecture. Married to Nira, father to Tomer, Doron and Ofir. Cory’s practice deals with sustainable architecture, the development of innovative technological models in architecture, history of contemporary architecture, and study of the inter-relations between art and architecture.

The exhibition is supported by:
Yuval Import and Export of laboratory equipment
Kasum Magic (Koziol)
Palram
CR Contech
Eco-Systems
Sahar Print Digital & Signs

This is Buildings With Character
Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten (NL)
6 December 2007 - 17 January 2008

The exhibition presents selected projects of the young Dutch practice Korteknie Stuhlmacher, established 2001, such as the Parasite Las Palmas, Huis 19, De Kamers community center, and others. To present its work, the gallery will be transformed into a model of the firm's offices in Rotterdam, where images, drawings and models will be presented in an environment similar to the working conditions of the architects.

Korteknie Who?
Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten is a small practice, and more often than not its projects are about providing insightful solutions to programs carried out under difficult conditions of planning, execution or budget. It is very easy to show the grandiose works of, say, Wiel Arets (hosted in the gallery on May 2007) or even OMA and admire them, but these have less to do with what architects in Israel face every day. Korteknie Stuhlmacher's works are at home in the Netherlands, but could also be so in Israel (barring perhaps modifications to suit local weather) in terms of issues approached and hardships overcome.
The practice's work is especially admirable in its ability to create solutions in existing fabric without requiring a change of circumstance but rather taking the existing context and working with it to create an architectural solution which answers, and more often than not augments, the program defined and doing so with optimal grace and beauty. The ability to take low budget or "problematic" projects and turning them into good, interesting, thought provoking and question raising architecture is not to be taken lightly or for granted.
Israel is today situated on the edges of architectural happenings in the world. There have been several "names" which Israel contributed to the world architectural scene – Zvi Hecker, perhaps Moshe Safdie, and the Bauhaus heritage of Tel Aviv in the 1930's – but these only serve to illustrate this point. As a result, Israeli exposure to architecture, not to mention the exposure of the general, non-architecture oriented public, is usually limited to the luminaries of this scene. So when Frank Gehry is chosen to build the Jerusalem Museum of Tolerance, or Zaha Hadid is asked to build the Museum of Contemporary Palestinian Art in Um ElFahem (and then taken off the project), these receive media attention. To some extent this is also true for the "professional" literature of architecture – magazines opt to show the works and thoughts of the big names, rather than those working in the trenches of the field.
But most architects are not Hadid or Gehry, to name two. Most architects working in Israel are faced with common goals and hardships which confront many architects working world-wide, but they rarely have a chance to glimpse the work and thoughts of their piers abroad, piers that share similar situations and find good solutions.
Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architects are an opportunity to show exactly that, the way that a small firm manages to navigate the daily hardships which beset us all and still express an independent voice and work philosophy, creating unique and thought-provoking solutions to architectural programs and situations which are common in the NL and Israel, and probably everywhere.

Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten
We want to make buildings with character. Healthy, useful and pleasant buildings with beautiful light, good proportions and distinct shapes. We want to make buildings that feel generous, robust and inviting; sustainable buildings with natural, solid materials; buildings that fit into city, landscape and our time and age gracefully. We want to make timeless spaces to house all kinds of people and activities, whether we are dealing with large or small commissions, with or without budget, for temporary or permanent use, public or private. We want to work on an architecture that allows for improvisation, adaptation and change.
Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten was established in 2001 by Mechthild Stuhlmacher and Rien Korteknie, an architectural practice concerned with building and research projects for public and private clients. The architects' joint work began during their university years in Delft. They initiated and organized the traveling exhibition 'Parasites' from 1999 onwards and are founding members of the Parasite Foundation, an organization which focuses on high-quality temporary building.
Arch. Mechthild Stuhlmacher (Germany, 1963) studied music and architecture in Germany and the Netherlands, graduated in 1992 and worked at various practices in the Netherlands and the UK from 1992. She is a member of the editorial team of the magazine OASE, the architecture yearbook of Flanders and is involved in various other publication projects. She teaches architectural design at Delft University of Technology and lectures regularly the Netherlands and abroad.
Arch. Rien Korteknie (The Netherlands, 1961) studied Fine Arts and architecture at Delft University of Technology, graduated in 1992 and worked for various internationally operating architecture offices in The Netherlands. He is involved in various research-, building- and exhibition projects such as Wimby!, the project 'schoolParasites' and the Foundation 'Mevrouw Meijer', an advisory organization concerned with the quality of educational building. He occasionally teaches architectural design at Delft University of Technology and various other schools of architecture in the Netherlands and lectures regularly.

The exhibition is supported by:
fondBKVB Dutch fund for visual arts
Dutch Architecture Fund
Compactus Ltd.
School of Interior Design, College of Management Academic Studies Division