Tower to the People
As building begins on a landmark luxury tower, Tel Aviv's 'White City' is about to get a whole lot whiter.
At first glance, not much seems to be going on the corner of Allenby and Rothschild streets, but once inside the cordoned-off area and past the women on the door, it's like a piece of Miami's Shore Club Hotel has been transported to Tel Aviv. The modernist white distinctly says 'this is West Coast high-end glamour and simplistic chic come to Israel'. The small space is filled with high white bar tables and stools, tall white vases holding white orchids, long white bench seats and a large white open kitchen with enormous arrangements of white roses. Oversized white screens bearing images of modern art adorn the walls and white laser beams are projected on to the surrounding buildings. A classical music quartet plays on a white-draped stage, while waiters proffer vast white dishes with unidentifiable canapés.
The screens show paintings and sculptures by Picasso, Matisse, Klee and Giacometti, all part of The Berggruen Family Art Collection, the precursor of Bergguen Holdings, the developers behind the Meier on Rothschild residential tower. Photographs of buildings by Richard Meier, the legendary architect behind the project, show an array of cutting-edge white and transparent buildings, ranging from the Jubilee Church in Rome and the US Courthouse and Federal Building to the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art and minimalist stark homes in Connecticut and Perry Street, Manhattan. A depiction of the future structure shows a soaring white tower built out of what lookslike white meccano.
As a cross-section of Tel Aviv's celebrities and cocktail party-goers begin to arrive, smoked salmon in perspex cubed pyramids is passed around and a couple of dancers take to the small stage. Once the guests have mingled sufficiently, Yigal Zemah, Managing Director of Berggruen Holdings, tells the crowd that he feels fortunate to be able to lead the process whereby, "excellence is personified in a building." He says: "The project combines three main factors; Berggruen Holdings, a brave and non-conformist company with a history rooted in the art world; Richard Meier, one of the top five architects in the industry, whose buildings are all over the world and now we have our own in Tel Aviv,in the centre of Rothschild, best boulevard in the city."
Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in 2003, Tel Aviv has over 4,000 white buildings, known as the White City because of their white and pastel exteriors. Mostly located along Rothschild Boulevard, many are built in the Bauhaus style, characterized by its functionality and minimalism, geometric forms and a design method that takes into account the type of materials used.
Located in the main district of Tel Aviv, with the financial district and Carmel market to the west and the national theatre, new opera house and cultural centre to the north, Rothschild Boulevard was the foundation for the city's urban development, housing commercial and residential architecturally-impressive buildings and some of Israel's finest art galleries, cafes, stores and restaurants.
The boulevard is also the site of significant historical national events, including the declaration of independence in 1948 and is Tel Aviv's answer toNew York's Fifth Avenue and Paris' Champs-Elysees.
"Our objective is to combine the three factors and make sure the vision materialises to create
something unique for the tenants and something Tel Aviv's citizens can be proud of," says Zemah. "The product will combine quality with the right attributes to meet the needs of its tenants."
The product's designer, Richard Meier, is the youngest architect to be awarded the Pritzker Prize, the Nobel Prize of Architecture. Best-known for building the $1 billion Getty Centre in Los Angeles, the High Museum in Atlanta and the Frankfurt Museum for Decorative Arts, Meier's work in the US and Europe includes courthouses, city halls, museums, corporate headquarters, housing and private residences.
"At this point in my life, to be able to give something to this extraordinary city, Tel Aviv, this unique building and wonderful place to live, is the fulfillment of a lifetime dream," says Meier. "Since I visited Israel 50 years ago for the first time, I've been fascinated by the country. With the Berggruen family's commitment to art and society, I am reassured that this building will be one-of-a-kind in all aspects," he says.
The company behind the product is Berggruen Holdings, a US-based private investment firm with international interests in various sectors including precious artwork, private assets, real estate, retail, media groups and green energy companies.
With its overall investments estimated at $2 billion, the company began operating in Israel's real estate market at the end of 2005. As well as Meier on Rothschild, its flagship project in Israel, the company is renovating buildings in Nachalat Benyamin, one of Tel Aviv's oldest neighbourhoods.
"I feel very privileged to be contributing to such a vibrant city and to be working with such a wonderful architect. I jumped at the chance to build something special with Meier, with his vision and aesthetic in such an exciting city, the White City," says Nicholas Berggruen, President of Berggruen Holdings. "I look forward to the impact this building will make on Tel Aviv. I know Richard is putting his heart and soul into it, I think we all are."
Meier echoes his sentiments, "The tower will revitalise this area in the heart of the city, which is related to art, to commerce and to entertainment. It will give the city a new life, in a sense it will be like a tree which reaches out and influences all that which is around it," he says. "Its uniqueness is that it's a work of art and architecture. It shows architecture as art and architecture is about art and the making of space."
With a reputation for buildings that exploit the natural light and integrate seamlessly into their surroundings, Meier believes architecture helps people understand the differences in light and the change of day. "The colour of light is different in the morning from the late afternoon and architecture, especially the white building, reflects the colour of nature and the change in colours," he says. "The whiteness of the building reflects and refracts to the colour and we can appreciate all the colours around us through the whiteness of the architecture."
Providing residents with a seven-star luxury existence, Meier on Rothschild offers a five-storey lobby, luxury spa, state-of-the-art fitness centre and swimming pool complex as well as a 24-hour concierge and maid and grocery delivery services.
With views of the ancient sea port of Jaffa on the Mediterranean to the west and the Judean Mountains to the east, if a revised plan is approved, the 27 (or 28)- storey tower will stand at 180 metres, just seven metres shy of the Azrieli Centre, Tel Aviv's tallest building.
Buyers can choose to use the 735 square metre floor for one large living space or divide it into two or four apartments, with each unit for sale consisting of half a floor.
With delivery planned for 2012 at the latest, Zemah says half the apartments have already been sold to Israeli, French and American buyers and believes the project is ideal for Londoners looking for a one-of-a-kind second home in Tel Aviv. With a sizeable price tag of $3,500,000 for a 350 sq m apartment on the first floor, he says the cost is less than the equivalent price of a Richard Meier unit elsewhere. "The economy means it makes sense to buy here. The location is perfect."
It seems Meier agrees. "Rothschild Boulevard is fabulous; the intensity, the ambience - everything about this place is just amazing. I love being here," he says.
Not long after waiters serve the last canapés (dollops of chocolate sandwiched between ultra thin slices of filo pastry), Italian chef, Alfredo Russo, hands out large sheets of white paper containing bite-sized white chunks from vats surrounded by white clouds of what looks like mist (which are in fact some form of super modern ice cream), the guests begin to take their leave clutching white balloons tied to white 'toothpaste tubes' of chocolate.
In just a few hours, building will begin on what is now a car park, starting the process whereby Rothschild Boulevard will soon become even more amazing.
For further information, visit www.berggruen.co.il
This is a sponsored article. The article should not be considered as advice.