thoughts and ideas regarding israeli architecture Michael Rona
Senior lecturer, School of Architecture Ariel University of Israel
Thoughts and ideas regarding Israeli architecture from a time generated point of view 1. Civilization is a collective effort taken by people of all cultures and generations since the dawn of humanity. Every generation in every era adds its layer to the never-ending strive to the new - presenting its unique agendas, ideas, values and conflicts that are manifested in texts, art and of course in the physical world – the built environment. Mighty collisions of ideas, religions and politics are evident centuries later in architectural styles, musical genres, scientific discoveries, philosophy and literature. The truths of today were earlier centuries’ conflicts. The accumulation of generations’ creation results in the fascinating conglomerate known as human civilization, evident in one of the greatest human achievements – the city. 2. The City is the physical embodiment of civilization. Consisting of multiple human creations and subject only to human rules and logic using man-made technology – challenging nature. The city carries the signs, prizes and scars of history – layers of generations’ values, hopes, passion and sorrow – cultural layers and physical layers. Like geological layers unravelling the history of the earth and the evolution of life. Humanity has created both physical and metaphysical layers – all evident in the city. 3. Culture manifests its layers in texts as well as works of art recognizable in their historic context. Artistic styles, ideas presented in words as well as useful technology carry the DNA of the former stages of development – like reminiscence of ancient life forms existing in the living organism. These are not physical but abstract layers existing in a human collective memory nourished by education and myth as well as subconscious experience, and so – the term “layer” in this context may be referred to as a metaphor as well as a descriptive one.
