Whether you call it Bauhaus or International Style architecture, Tel Aviv is still the only city in the world that houses such a large collection of buildings designed in this style. It evolved in Germany in the 1920’s, came to an abrupt end (in Germany) with the Nazi’s rise to power and continued to develop in the U.S. and elsewhere. In Tel Aviv of the 1930’s, Bauhaus architecture flourished, as is evidenced by many of the wonderful buildings that line the city’s streets. Since the initial publication of this issue, the “White City of Tel Aviv” has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage site.When UNESCO added Tel Aviv’s White City to the World Heritage List of sites designated for preservation, it made white fashionable and desireable. Thanks to the White City’s historical designation, that default color of Israeli architecture is now identified with quality.

“This is a trend that began about 15 years ago as part of Tel Aviv’s branding as the White City,” says architect Sharon Rotbard, author of the books “White City, Black City” and “Avraham Yaski: Concrete Architecture.” “In the mid-1990s, Ram Carmi began to talk about white architecture at the same time that architects began whitewashing raw concrete structures in conjunction with Brutalist architecture – for example, the planned Amal School. Eldar Sharon also painted white the Coor Building – now the Beit Amot Hamishpat Building – which he planned with his father, Arieh Sharon.

“When French architect Jean Nouvel visited Israel, he suggested making Tel Aviv a symphony of white, painting all the buildings in shades of white, and strengthening its identity as the White City, just as Jerusalem is identified with stone,” Rotbard adds.