Project:

Thee LIFE project is located on the eastern border of HaMishtala Neighborhood in Tel Aviv (north of Tzahala) and consists of two rows of buildings with 176 versatile high-quality apartments separated by a green walkway. The shorter row faces the park and school in the center of the neighborhood, while the higher row faces the open landscape and beyond. The altitude differences between the two rows of buildings make the project visible from the street in all its glory, intensifies the feeling of space and emphasizes the human dimension despite the extensive construction.

The buildings’ design strove to give the whole project a light and relaxed feel by subdividing the mass into separate elements while maintaining simple, elegant geometry. As the buildings soar upwards, the mass of the structure makes way for balconies, while the structure frame continues upwards, incorporating the balconies and forming the building’s outline in the shape of a simple rectangle. This gradation, which characterizes each individual building, is also reflected in the gradated structure of the entire block, with the tall rear buildings adding to the sense of depth by repeating the same move.

The project was born out of in-depth consideration of issues concerning contemporary urban life, such as the need for sustainable construction, community life in a city, and adding some human dimension to large-scale construction. Consideration of the entire block as a single unit rather than individual buildings allows high-quality, multi-level experience where public common spaces are an integral part of the residents’ lives. The apartments’ balconies face the street and the interior walkway, allowing a small peek of the domestic life to the outside world and reinforcing the connection between the neighbors and the neighborhood. The interior walkway provides a pleasant recreational space, potentially creating a “neighborhood within a neighborhood”, a new community protected from the hubbub of the rest of the city.