“You can’t just destroy the old and build new,” says Gidi Bar Orian, founder of Bar Orian Architects. It’s this attitude that has informed the vision for Villa Rothschild, a careful marriage of past and present architecture styles situated along Tel Aviv’s namesake Rothschild Boulevard.
The project’s two new buildings were designed as a reflection of one another and a juxtaposition to the Eclectic-era villa that sits between the contemporary structures. Together, the three buildings create an additional and modern layer in the urban fabric of Tel Aviv, and an example of the architectural development of the city’s new class of residential offerings.
Villa Rothschild consists of two distinctive seven-floor contemporary buildings that boast City Penthouses, a Fifth-Floor Villa and two Garden Villas, located in two buildings on both sides of the original villa known as “Beit Awad Villa,” a restored Joseph Berlin masterpiece from the early 20th-century. For the Awad family, Berlin designed a symmetrical house with elements of a classic Greek temple, complete with central pilasters, Cubist details, geometric lines and Hellenic elements. Villa Rothschild marks a distinct move away from the impersonal skyscrapers lining the area and offers a personalized and unparalleled living experience on the posh Rothschild Boulevard, Tel Aviv’s most desired address.
In contrast to the prevailing notion of painting the buildings in the Eclectic architecture style – bold colors and different tones for cornices, framework and carpentry – the architects decided to “dip” the entire building in a bright and non-characteristic color. This move allows the building to connect to the city’s modernist style, as well as somewhat neutralizing the kitschy aspect of 1920’s “dream houses.”
The integration of the preserved building with the interior design of the new buildings creates an opportunity to connect the past and present of Tel Aviv. Between traditional building materials and original wall paintings and modern architecture that relies on principles from the past, Villa Rothschild creates a new design statement that contributes to the spirit of the time.
Photography by Amit Geron.
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