White City Tel Aviv
Founded in 1909, White City Tel Aviv is far more than the largest collection of Bauhaus (International style) buildings in any city in the world. White City in Tel Aviv is a living breathing pulse point of world history; a fact which was recognized by UNESCO proclaiming Tel Aviv’s White City a World Cultural Heritage Site.
Becoming listed as a World Cultural Heritage Site puts Tel Aviv’s White City in some exclusive company: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the Monasteries of Haghpat and Sanahin in Armenia; the Egyptian Pyramids and other world renowned points of cultural and national interest. So what is it about Tel Aviv’s White City that puts it into this class?
A Short History of the White City Tel Aviv
Composed of over 4,000 buildings built in the International style, the White City was built (starting in the 1930’s) by a number of German-born Jewish architects who had traveled to Israel in order to escape the rising power of the Nazis.
Taken together, this astonishing collection of buildings makes for a fascinating example of the type city planning being exhibited in the early years of the 20th century, especially when it came to adopting modern building methods and styles and adapting them to the local climate and culture.
While travelers have been aware of the White City Tel Aviv since its creation, it did not reach a great deal if international acclaim until 1984 when an exhibition was held to celebrate Tel Aviv’s 75th year, which was the first time that it was called the White City (for the title of the exhibition “White City, International Style Architecture in Israel, Portrait of an Era”). In 1996 Tel Aviv’s White City was listed as an endangered site with the World Monuments Fund due to the deterioration of its buildings, which have not been maintained properly. Finally, in 2003, UNESCO listed the White City as a World Heritage Site because of its being a tribute to the success of modern architecture.
About the Tel Aviv White City’s Architecture
Built on sand dunes outside of Jaffa, Tel Aviv was one of the few cities of that time frame that was planned out from the very beginning by a British urban planner by the name of Geddes. While Geddes laid out the plans for the city itself, he left it to the architects to create the style and flavor, which they did with astounding success.
A close look at the Tel Aviv White City’s architecture shows an emphasis on modern and international architectural designs from the time with building reflecting a functionality of form and the use of inexpensive building materials and adapting them to the local climate and to the needs of the local population.
Specifically the architecture used to construct these buildings had to be adapted for a desert climate; this included painting the buildings white so that they would absorb the least amount of heat even taking into account the large amounts of glass used to let in natural light (large amounts of glass that were eventually replaced with smaller windows that limited the heat). The slanted roofs so popular with the international style were traded in for flat roofs that doubled as common areas for building residents in the evenings and the buildings themselves were constructed on pillars which allowed air to circulate beneath them to provide additional cooling and a place for residents to gather during the heat of the day.
The buildings are built to accommodate the climate in more than lighting and color however, they are also designed with narrow private balconies which are shaded by overhanging balconies and situated on an east-west axis in order to catch the breeze and cool the apartments off as well and the colorful splash of flower boxes, exotic plants and rugs tossed over the balconies lends an almost festive air to the entire scene.
Even today, the sense of community lends an air of connectedness to the White City Tel Aviv- a connectedness that weaves the lives of its residents together and has a decided appeal to visitors from all corners of the globe.
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