Sometimes all you need is a client who’s willing to go with you.
Sometimes all you need is to strip back the layers—scrape them off, remove them.
Sometimes all you need is to set fear aside.
Sometimes all you need isn’t to “invent” something new, but to look harder at what’s already there.
Sometimes it even works.
The old, quirky Tel Aviv apartment we took on was born in the nineties. A great time for music; less so for architecture. Split levels, lines that don’t meet, an oversized core in the centre, an aggressive structure. Everything against us. The sketches wouldn’t take off; nothing worked. We tried one direction, decided on another, checked, flipped, rotated. Nothing worked. Everything stuck—no clear path in sight. Meanwhile, we asked to check something technical related to the ceiling. By noon we got the photos, and they were nothing short of astonishing: the ceiling was a small, mysterious, powerful universe, hidden behind heaps of blocks and plaster. But blocks can be removed, plaster can be scraped, and a mysterious, powerful universe is something worth striving for.
So we spoke with the client, who immediately came along with us;
we asked the contractor to scrape away all the unnecessary layers;
we convinced ourselves not to be afraid, because this really could work;
we realised that what was in this ceiling was better than anything we could design and add.
A year on, we think it worked.
Architect in charge: Einat Mor
Project manager: Niv Meir
Ggeneral contractor: Ziv Chen
Lightning: Karnei Tcheley
Kitchen: Habitat
Carpentry: Niv Raz
AC: Aklim line
Furniture: Habitat, Tollmans, Prat living
Sanitary: Hezi bank
Parquet: Parketeam