Constructing a Sense of Place

While it is widely recognized that architects and their architecture play a key role in constructing a sense of place, the inherent nexus between an architectural ideology and the production of national space and place has so far been neglected. Focusing on the Zionist ideology, this book brings together practising architects and academics to critically examine the role of architects, architecture and spatial practices as mediators between national ideology and the politicization of space. The book first of all sets out the wider context of theoretical debates concerning the role of architecture in the process of constructing a sense of place then divides into six main sections. The book not only provides an innovative new perspective on how the Israeli state had developed, but also sheds light on how architecture shapes national identity in any post-colonial and settler state.

Dr Haim Yacobi is a Lecturer within the Department of Architecture at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem.

Contents: Introduction: Whose order, whose planning?, Haim Yacobi. Part I: Reshaping Terra Nullius: Contested Zionism - alternative modernism: Erich Mendelsohn and the Tel Aviv Chug in mandate Palestine, Alona Nitzan-Shiftan; The flight of the camel: the Levant fair of 1934 and the creation of a situated modernism, Sigal Davidi Kunda and Robert Oxman; Mold, Zvi Efrat; Horizontal ideology, vertical version: Oscar Niemeyer and Israel's height dilemma, Zvi Elhyani. Part II: Frontiers: Trapped sense of peripheral place in frontier space, Erez Tzfadia; The political construct of the 'everyday': the role of housing in making place and identity, Rachel Kallus. Part III: Mixed Spaces - Separated Places: Urban iconoclasm: the case of the 'mixed city' of Lod, Haim Yacobi; Planning to conquer: modernity and its antinomies in the 'new-old Jaffa', Mark LeVine. Part IV: Landmarks of Identity: Academia and spatial control: the case of the Hebrew University campus on Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Diana Dolev; Re-placing memory, Yael Padan; Geometrical wounds: the work of Zvi Hecker in Israel, 1990 and 2000, Timothy Brittain-Catlin. Part V: Place/Knowledge: On belonging and spatial planning in Israel, Tovi Fenster; Fragile guardians: nature reserves and forests facing Arab villages, Naama Meishar. Epilogue: A moment of change? Transformations in Israeli architectural consciousness following the 'Israeli Pavilion' exhibition, Shelly Cohen; Index.