Layer 2.0 - Extension on a Modernist Building in Tel Aviv-Yafo

Most 21st century metropolitan areas are characterized by dense construction. Considering both the forecasts of population growth and the limited land reserves, future urban renewal projects will inevitably involve new building additions above existing structures, creating a new urban layer. Tel Aviv-Yafo is inadvertently becoming a living lab, where new construction merges with the conservation of the UNESCO listed heritage zone, located in the heart of the city.

The Competition
We invited planners to reexamine alternatives and best practices for innovative, creative, and original building additions on top of the 1930s modernist buildings. The competition encouraged participants to explore ways of planning new building additions while considering current issues of communal solidarity and sustainability.

The task was to design a concept for a building addition consisting of 2.5 floors on top of a listed building in Tel Aviv-Yafo. The design itself should refer to the original building, its immediate surroundings, and urban landscape. No minimum size or number of residential units per block was defined. The plans should be flexible enough to adapt to different sizes and inhabitant capacity requirements.

The Outcome
The call attracted over 100 applications from around the world. The entries were carefully reviewed by a diverse panel of leading planning experts and decision makers from the field. They evaluated the proposals in terms of their understanding of the historic building fabric, their sustainability strategies, their benefits for the community, their degree of innovation and their overall feasibility.

The jury awarded six projects – three in the architect track and three in the student track – and gave special mentions to three other proposals . The awarded entries successfully cope with current challenges in building additions and offer fresh and creative perspectives.

The Exhibition
In addition to the awarded projects displayed in the exhibition, the competition booklet presents the 24 shortlisted projects. We hope that these projects provoke discourse on the future of building additions and create awareness toward a more sustainable and social agenda as can be learned from the competition entries.

Contributing Architects
Marc Brossa, Prof. Kyung-ju Hwang, TaeYoung Yeo, Chae-rin Kim, Yoon-hee Kim and Jeong-woo Son
Lion Schreiber
Peter Ausems and Hristiyana Vassileva
Iris Sitbon
Leora Niderberg and Hadar Levi
Gali Schechner - Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Technion
Shadan Jayousi - Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Technion
Caio Ishigami Vaz, Bruno Miura Nakaya, Raquel Tsuzuki Morita and Valentina Sarcinella Mariotto - Mackenzie Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, São Paulo, Brazil
Daniel Klug - Hochschule Mainz, University of Applied Sciences, Germany

Curatorial Team
Arch. Sharon Golan
Roman Prohazka

Production
Anat Levy

Graphic Design
Noam Noy

CEO and Artistic Director, Liebling Haus – The White City Center
Shira Levy Benyemini

Competition Team
Arch. Sharon Golan
Roman Prohazka

Concept Development
Arch. Udi Carmely
Arch. Dr. Jeremie Hoffmann
Arch. Orit Rozental
Arch. Arieh Gonen
Regina Stephan
Ellen Kugler
Arch. Nicole Ludwig
Arch. Shmuel Groag
Arch. Ruth Liberty Shalev

Jury Panel
Arch. Udi Carmely
Arch. Dr. Jeremie Hoffmann
Arch. Louisa Hutton
Arch. Jürgen Mayer H
Arch. Ganit Mayslits Kassif
Arch. Daniel Strassburger
Prof. Guido Spars
Prof. Ralf Niebergall
Arch. Sharon Golan

Academic Faculty Partners to the Competition Platform:
Arch. Lilach Harel and Arch. Shmuel Groag on behalf of Bezalel Academy of Art and Design
Arch. Ruth Liberty Shalev on behalf of the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Technion Israel Institute of Technology
Regina Stephan on behalf of Hochschule Mainz: University of Applied Sciences
Arch. Amir Peleg on behalf of Tel Aviv University