Long White Days

In March 2021 this projects was chosen for 40 under 40 exhibition – AEAI (40 best emerging young Israeli architects).

An article about this project was published in Mako living Magazine. Press here to read the article

Written by Leah Goldberg in 1932, these words were my source of inspiration while designing our home. In 2016 we decided to leave the bustling city for peaceful Kibbutz Magal, a small, lovely community that is neither urban nor rural.  

Our home embodies Leah Goldberg’s “great serenity of solitude” as we exchanged our hectic city life for the tranquility of the Kibbutz, as well as our yearning for “wide open windows” that welcome both nature and the community into our home. I designed our home without fences or other barriers in order to help represent the Kibbutz’s community way of life. 

The architecture of the home is fusion, expressing both tradition and modernity, community and individuality.  

The dwelling’s architecture reflects the past by adopting the modern architectural motifs used by the architects that designed the first generation of Israeli Kibbutzes (Leopold Krakauer – Tel Yosef, 1930; Arye Sharon – Giv’at HaShlosha, 1936; Shmuel Mestechkin – Merhavia, 1965; and others). Similarly, external architectural features follow Kibbutz building conventions, including the use of specific prescribed colors and materials. 

However, in contrast to its external appearance, which is modern and conforms to Kibbutz style and regulations, the inside of our home breaks the rules, revealing a blend of modern architecture with vivid, cheeky color and light. 

Design is eclectic; on the one hand, the home’s interior preserves modern architectural themes, while on the other hand flirting with bright, diverse styles. Two round windows in our home – one facing towards the Jat hills in the North and the other towards Zemer in the South – are designed to encourage the interplay of light and shadow, while large open windows invite the Kibbutz’s beauty inside. The walls of our home continue the fusion theme, with a colorful collection of eclectic art by both international pop artists and local Kibbutz artisans.

When I designed our home, I gave special attention to our children and their unique needs, including low-framed windows that children can look out of, and room design that encourages the type of circular movements that children love. 

Designing a home for children also means planning for a “changing client”, for children develop rapidly, and as they grow their needs transform. Future planning can be seen in our children’s bedrooms, which were planned large so my children can sleep in the same room when young, and easily dividable into two separate bedrooms which they will have when they are older. Therefore, I designed the bedroom with two doors, windows on multiple walls so that there will be cross-breezes even after the rooms are divided, separate electricity sources, and two air conditioners. All that will need to be done when the time comes to adjust the rooms is to build a single wall.