Architect for Azrieli School of Architecture building at TAU selected

The School of Architecture building, which is to be located at the southern edge of Entin Square, will constitute a significant landmark at the main entrance gates to Tel Aviv University.

AUGUST 4, 2020 16:07

Tsionov Vitkon Architects is the winner of the architect competition to design a building for the Azrieli School of Architecture at Tel Aviv University (photo credit: Courtesy) — Tsionov Vitkon Architects is the winner of the architect competition to design a building for the Azrieli School of Architecture at Tel Aviv University

(photo credit: Courtesy)

The architect competition for the design of the Azrieli School of Architecture building at Tel Aviv University was won by Tsionov Vitkon Architects with the work “City Bound”. Seventy-three architects applied to participate in the tender, eight of whom were in the young (under 45) architects track.

The new building of the School of Architecture, which will extend over approx. 8,500sq.m., will serve around 500 students and some 100 administrative staff and academic faculty members. The investment in the project is estimated to be in excess of NIS 100 million, of which the Azrieli Foundation will donate more than NIS 75 million. Construction of the new building is expected to commence at the end of 2021 and to be completed in mid-2024.

The School of Architecture building, which will be located at the southern edge of Entin Square, will constitute a significant landmark at the main entrance gates to Tel Aviv University. The building will present a new façade on the Square side and at the end of Einstein Street, and will even define a new street view. The building has a unique position – it is part of the closed campus while concurrently serving as an open urban frontage to a busy square. Entin Square is currently a landmark at the campus entrance and is used mainly as a gathering point and campus thruway.

“In the new design and plan we were looking for a structure that would serve as a source of inspiration to the young students studying at the School, while also fitting in with the Tel Aviv landscape and serving as a practical building for the years ahead,” said Danna Azrieli, chairwoman of the Azrieli Foundation. “I am looking forward with excitement to the continuation of the design process and construction of the School under the supervision of Tsionov Vitkon Architects and congratulate them on winning the competition.”

The design proposed by Tsionov Vitkon Architects offers an active, shaded and pleasing facade to the south of a square that functions around the clock – a green interlude that also clearly marks a walking path leading up to the entry gate, thus turning it into an active space and a functioning square. The building opens out to the city and thus allows the public to also enjoy its services, whether retail, leisure, displays, exhibitions and other activities.

Underpinning the work is an architectural typology that is pure and simple in its form. Its positioning creates a unique and significant intermediate space between the two faculties engaged in the arts, thus creating a connection between these faculties without blocking the historic School of Music building.

The building faces Entin Square and offers direct access to the school, through a retail entrance floor. The entrance leads to a capacious space that will serve as the School’s main space. The upper floors offer large green balconies that will serve students for informal activities. The upper roof will also be open and green and will be used for School and University activities.