2019       Yehoshua Bin Nun 49  /  Tel Aviv

Client: A. Lippmann Ltd.
Size: 2,000sqm
Program: 11 housing units
Photo: Amit Geron

This new residential building is located on a mound of sandstone in Old North Tel Aviv. It has ten apartments of 80 sqm on average, a garden duplex with a yard, a 130 sqm penthouse and a parking basement.

This building is one of the first to be built in accordance with the new urban renewal master plan for Quarter 3 in Tel Aviv, that aims to preserve the existent characteristics of the urban fabric.
The concept behind the design process was to characterize the original components of the international style out of holistic understanding of the building as a volume, rather than connected facades.
The exterior involves granite cladding, exposed concrete, wood flooring and windows that serve as negatives, contrasting open and closed in a composition of full and subtracted modules.

For the rails, thresholds, pergolas and gates we developed a unique iron frame detail. Beyond its functional and aesthetic value, the iron also connects the various façade components and penetrates inside the building via the lobby, the elevator, the staircase and the apartments' interior design.

The apartments' interiors strives to emphasize the three living zones – the public, the service and the private; the public living area is open to the surroundings, to the street or the back. The sleeping area is located at the back of the apartment and between the two are the kitchen, bathrooms and systems hide elements.

Creating this open public area and the connection between the living room and the balcony, the Tel-Avivian veranda, was a major part of the design process. This was done by paying special attention to the adopted structural system: external metal columns, hanging cladding and sliding windows with hidden lintels and free from horizontal divisions.

Combining all these components in an attempt to keep an integral unity between the various parts of the building and an equilibrium and balance between in and out, is what redefines the typical Tel-Avivian international style.

* "Every House Needs a Balcony" is the title of a book by Rina Frank Mitrani