Home to the world’s largest collection of Bauhaus buildings from the 1930s-1940s. Modern in spirit and design and devoid of any extraneous flourishes. The basics of Bauhaus is utopian, a style for the masses, unadorned, simple functionality, with a socialist backbone. Poured concrete kept the cool air inside in summer, while small windows kept the sun out. You can read a quick history from Architectural Digest.
I have family in Tel Aviv so it was like a second home to me growing up, but I hadn’t been there in 20 years! As a kid it felt so foreign and exotic when I would visit. I still remember going to the very first modern sky scraper called Migdal Shalom.
My grandmother’s house was in a Bauhaus building in a suburb called Ramat Gan (down the street from the Bauhaus factory for Elite Chocolate.)
We would ascend the 52 steps counting all the way, hitting the light bulb button to light each floor. The stairwells had cement steps with black metal handrails, the building was concrete.
These buildings caught my eye and imagination my last trip. I loved peeking down alleyways and finding old buildings, some crumbling with beautiful tile and stairwell handrails. The sun casts its shadows, and the cactus stand tall against the white cement. The metal shades are drawn to keep out the blistering Mediterranean sun.
It’s a beautiful city.
