Dadush Residence, Tel-Aviv
Rafi Dadush was a contractor with whom I built my second and fourth architectural jobs (Meiberg-Amir's roof flat and a bigger, four-floor one family residential complex in Jaffa). Rafi's flat was for his family (Susan his wife and two children in primary school). It was on the third floor of a modern apartment block in the southern part of Tel-Aviv. It was a 90m2 flat; we started with keeping only the enveloping walls, and aimed at a fairly basic, modern family residential space layout, with an open kitchen/living area. It was designed in such a way that when somebody is at the entrance door he won't see into the living room, the kitchen, or into any of the other rooms, despite the open plan.
The apartment block was in Zrubavel Street, which is perpendicular to the sea. It was the third building away from the sea shore. Therefore, if looking out through the balcony or some windows in certain angles you could see the sea. This was the starting point of the project: enable the great views from the sofa in the living room or from the master bedroom while lying in bed.
The special features in this flat were that the long dividing curved wall had holes left open in it, in which we built a toilet room, sofa, shelf systems, fridge and a bathroom. These 'holes' were designed and located in different heights depending on their function. Some of them felt as if they were hovering lightly above the floor, while others, such as the ones with the fridge and the main bathroom, were grounded more firmly. The southern balcony was left in its original place because by adding new glass doors it could be separated from the living or made into one space.
It was a pleasure to work with clients who basically let me do the design work, as I understood how to best fit - functionally and aesthetically - their brief. The contractor would measure the design's success through its functionality and efficiency, though he reminded me often to contribute my architectural thinking to his brief. I had to rationalise my aesthetically-driven attitude through what was considered good in the client's mind: an efficient use of space. For example, by having the sofa built into a hole with only half of its width visible would save space and money, as he would not have to buy a new sofa. Of course, the aesthetic reason for installing these 'functional boxes' into the wall was no less important: the different heights made the wall feel lighter and look more interesting. The 'toilet box' was particularly successful: most people were taken by surprise to find an extra toilet in a public space. It was 'hanging' on the wall (by cantilever) and was not at all overt about its function.
The most frustrating aspect of this job was the fact that on site the work was being done in such a basic manner. We were not in a remote or poor place: we were in Tel-Aviv, a very dynamic city with a modern, sophisticated culture. I decided that on my next project I would look for an alternative way of realising my plans with the minimum involvement of unskilled work on site, and I felt lucky that the conditions of the next project allowed me to fulfil that ambition.
