Das Haus und die Wüste

A house is more than a roof: it also embodies an idea of life as we should or want to live it. In Israel, architecture, living styles and planning are such that history and the present become visible and legible. Be it the hut of a 1920’s Russian socialist settler or the dilapidated Bauhaus houses in Tel Aviv, an American-style suburb that was once a kibbutz or West Bank settlements surrounded by watchtowers, large-scale complexes or the Thai workers’ shacks and Bedouin tents, each place expresses a way of life, either chosen or enforced, real or imaginary, open or secret. The map of the country reflects in relief its historical dimension and its contradictions.