Ha-Yarkon Street

Tel Aviv / Israel / 2006-Ongoing

Luxury residential project on Tel Aviv's beach promenade

Client: Mr Samy Marziano

Net Area: 5,500 m2

Executive Architect: Avner Yashar Architects (IL)

Structural Engineer: Doron Shalev Engineering Ltd. (IL)

Ron Arad Architects were invited to design and develop a new luxury apartment building to be situated along the northern reaches of the seafronting Ha-Yarkon street in Tel Aviv. From a very early stage in the building’s design, it was clear that one of the biggest challenges would be to preserve and maximise the sea-facing façade for each individual apartment, in order to secure an unsurpassed view of the sea, even from the lower floors. In order to achieve this, it was decided that no two apartments would share the front (west) façade, and that each and every apartment, as well as the building as a whole would be designed in such a way as to celebrate the potential and individuality of each apartment.

The arrangement of the building initially took the form of a column of alternating/staggered volumes, each providing either a sea-facing terrace, or a sea facing accommodation, and in such a way granting every apartment full enjoyment of the site. While this arrangement utilised the site’s contextual potential, this proved to be less economic in its use of the available floor area for development. The conceptual development of the design then went through various interpretations and permutations of the initial scheme, finally to arrive at the current "3-cone scheme".

This proposal, as the name suggests, draws it’s organisational and structural principles from the formation of three connected and inverted conical volumes, two of which anchor and support the third, cantilevered cone, to the ground. The so-called "cones" are expressed through a series of undulating slabs and perimeter balustrades which highlight the building’s topographical nature. This arrangement elegantly juxtaposes the weight and tall proportions of the building with the seemingly impossible feat of supporting the entire front side of the building in the air. The first floor slab rises 8 metres above street level, lending a cavernous and dramatic air to the entrance approach to the building from Ha-Yarkon Street.