Type: Architecture  Exebition

Date: May 16-17

Description: “Houses From Within,” the biggest architecture event in Israel, will take place in Tel Aviv, for the second time, during May 16-17.

As part of the event, 120 buildings will open up to visitors; almost double last year’s amount. Among the sites are private apartments, lofts, urban villas, public buildings, synagogues, churches, lookout points and unique gardens. Even children will be able to partake in activities related to construction – all for free.

The goal of the event is to shed light on Tel Aviv’s magnificent architecture and raise the public’s consciousness to their surroundings.

Houses From Within is based on the model of the “Open House” events which take place in over 50 cities, worldwide, including: New York, London, Toronto, San Francisco, Paris, Amsterdam and others.

These events are urban celebrations that draw hundreds of thousands of people and let them spend a weekend becoming familiar with the city in a new and unique way. These events combat alienation from the metropolis and bring together different sections of the public in the most intimate place possible – the home.

Houses From Within is also a part of the “green” cultural events which are gaining popularity around the world; free events, open to all, that empower individuals, combat urban detachedness and give participants a powerful experience of having left a “footprint” in their surrounding landscape.

For the first Houses From Within event, in Tel Aviv, 69 sites participated and 25,000 people visited.

In the upcoming event, 120 sites will participate and 50,000 visitors are expected.

Among the buildings that will be opened for the event are the Emanuel Church, “Be’er Palaces” in Jaffa, darkness restaurant” at the “Please Touch” Center, a renovated Bauhaus building in the middle of the Carmel Market, the roots laboratory at the Botanic Gardens, Peres Center for Peace, Rabin Center, a huge downtown villa on Nachmani Street [expected to soon become a boutique hotel], the new loft of Alon Castiel, the Tola House of Architecture, the home of Yitzhak Sade and the homes of architects like Menahem Cohen, Miki Ben Gan and Amir Navon.

A page of the event’s catalog will be dedicated to Tel Aviv’s “green” tours and projects: open discussions on the subject of green construction at the offices of the “green organizations” on Nahalat Binyamin Street, bicycle tours tracing urban forestation projects, environmentally-friendly renovations taking place at an urban apartment and an open house at the REZ Architecture Firm’s offices, offering technological solutions for energy saving in high rise buildings through incorporating wind turbines in construction.

Some events have limited capacity and require advanced booking.

The event’s catalog will be released in the metropolitan area, on May 7th, nine days before the event, together with the “Ahbar HaIr” and “Ha’aretz” newspapers. It will also be distributed, free, at cafes and six distribution points throughout Tel Aviv.

One can sign up for tours and print relevant materials at the event’s website, which will also open on May 7th.

Architect Alon Bin Nun  Event founder and curator

Aviva Levinson/Houses from Within  Event producer

The event will take place in cooperation with the City of Tel Aviv, the Centenary Celebrations Committee of Tel Aviv, the Council for the Protection of Heritage Sites in Israel and the Tel Aviv Tourism Association.

Tel: For more information, contact:

       Alon Bin Nun 054-4556113

       Aviva Levinson 054-6576583

Website: www.batim-tlv.org