2022  Hillel HaZaken 14  /  Tel Aviv

Client: Gov Nadlan
Size: 2400 sqm
Program: 23 units and commercial ground floor
3D imaging:

Kerem Hateimanim (i.e., 'Vineyard of the Yemenites") was established in 1906, prior to the establishment of Tel Aviv, and was part of the first Jewish settlement outside the walls of Jaffa.

The neighborhood was characterized with low single-story buildings, inner yards, adjacent houses separated by narrow allies. Due to the poverty of its inhabitants, the houses had been built of wood beams, tin roofs and other cheap materials. Up until the Independence War, the neighborhood was considered an enclave of Jaffa in Tel Aviv.

The plot of Hillel HaZaken 14 is double in size than other typical plots in the neighborhood and building walls are in line "zero", interfacing the sidewalk.

The project consists of 23 varied apartments and a high commercial ground floor that faces three streets. On one hand, there was an opportunity for outstanding design, but on the other hand, there's a risk that an unusual design would harm the unique charm of this neighborhood.

Our goal was to bring the renewing Tel Aviv into the neighborhood, but through an uncondescending building that would reflect the tastes and scents of the adjacent Carmel Market and the sensuality of Kerem Hateimanim.

In all my urban renewal projects, it is important to me to highlight each building as a single component of the overall fabric in order to create vitality and diversity, a place that gives a feeling of identity and safety – a "home".

The idea was to plan facades that tell an everyday scene in the life of a family; the mother calls out from the balcony to her children playing in the street to come home for dinner, and they can see the windows of their own apartment next to those of their neighbors.

This project rephrases the expression of protruding balconies, in such way that expands the living space into that of the street. The structure, with its ornamented facades and ground floor, blended in the vibrant physical and human fabric of this neighborhood, is what gives this project its unique charm.