Page 25 - C.A.L.L. #22 - Fall 2003

A culture set in concrete

The lifework of the architect Hanan Hebron, one of the designers of the National Library in Jerusalem, was
Kibbutz Reim in the Negev. Hebron can be seen as the embodiment of the kibbutz movement and of the ‘good old’
Israel.

The contribution of the architect Hanan Hebron (1931- "As young architects who ‘breathed architecture,’" she
2000) to the design of the Jewish National and recalls, "we aspired to execute precisely the principles
University Library in Jerusalem in 1955 was his entry of the style of the period - the International Style, which
ticket to the history of Israeli architecture. The National was dominant in Europe - in our studies at the
Library building is one of the most highly regarded Technion. It was a style that called for building in
architectural works in Israel, both by many in the accordance with the new, industrial means of
public at large and by professionals, and is one of the production, alluded to the changes that would occur in
visual and cultural symbols of an entire era. At the the future in the building, and advocated giving this
same time, if there is a work that can be said to be a practical and aesthetic expression. The architects who
lifework, as well as the visual expression of the influenced us most," Armoni says, "were Mies van der
architectural and social ideas that Hebron espoused, it Rohe and Le Corbusier, with his doctrine and his
is the design of Kibbutz Reim, in the Negev. Hebron buildings of exposed concrete."
was one of Reim's founders and a lifelong member of
"Whereas Hanan believed he was fulfilling a social
the kibbutz.
mission," Kashtan says, "and doing battle for the values
"Reim is Hanan's design creation from A to Z," two of of equality and frugality through architecture without
Hebron's colleagues, architects Asaf Kashtan and commercial sycophancy, the kibbutzim started to go
Yoram Bar-Sinai write. "We know of no other wild with an architecture of `meatball palaces' (as the
community that is the work of one architect, from the ornamented communal dining halls were dubbed),
master plan to the details of the last of the buildings arches, and stone and marble overlay." Hebron's
and the lamps that illuminate the yard," they note. "The premature death, Corinaldi writes, "spared him the
lucid contour lines, the equilibrium between the houses protracted pain and disappointment, which he probably
and the vegetation, and even the details of the exposed already felt, in the light of the deep changes in the
drainpipes and the edges of the paths are a faithful kibbutz and in the professional arena. It wasn't easy for
expression of the pioneering settlement in the Negev him to adjust to the situation, which has been dominant
and of Hanan's modest, clean line." for some years now, of competitiveness and arrogance
that are radically at odds with the aesthetic and
More than anyone else, writes Hebron's veteran
spiritual heritage of the modern movement."
colleague, the architect Vittorio Corinaldi, "he
succeeded in making his kibbutz a living and integrated Daring boldness
manifestation of the fusion between physical planning,
"Hanan and his generation," Kashtan writes, "planned
architecture and the kibbutz idea."
the country. At an early age they took upon themselves
Loyal modernist the planning of whole communities and large and
important buildings, which today constitute part of the
Hebron was one of the first members of the United national architectural heritage. Their boldness is
Kibbutz Movement’s planning department and one of breathtaking." Hebron designed homes, dining halls,
its senior architects, all of whom were kibbutz members; cultural and memorial centers, clubs, sports centers
they were responsible for the visual appearance of and other structures in kibbutzim in every part of
many kibbutzim in the first few decades after Israel's Israel; was in charge of designing the Alyn Hospital for
establishment in 1948. Like much else in the kibbutz disabled children in Jerusalem, of which his father was
movement, planning and design has also been the director for a time; and planned Eshkol Center in
privatized in recent years. In the early 1950s, Hebron the Negev over a period of 25 years, from the early
became one of the first kibbutz members to be sent to 1970s until the mid-`90s. In 1981, he designed Yigal
study engineering at the renowned Technion in Haifa, Alon House at Kibbutz Ginossar on Lake Kinneret, a
in order to assist in building kibbutzim. Many of these structure of exposed concrete and basalt that is marked
young professionals lived together in a commune in
by sculptural contour lines and a monumental presence,
Kibbutz Yagur and afterward in Kibbutz Hahotrim. perhaps too much so.
They viewed the architecture of the period and their
"inner truth" as an authentic expression of the ideology By Esther Zandberg Reprinted from Ha’aretz 9th May,
they espoused,writes the architect Ziva Armoni, a 2003
fellow student of Hebron and his partner in the
profession for many years.

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