Renovation or Demolition

In more ways than one, the Azrieli School of Architecture (ASoA) at the University of Tel Aviv offers a trip for its students. The Israeli students travel to Berlin where they meet with architecture students at the Technical University. Together they will an encounter the past. At the center of the trip is the question of how to approach National Socialist architecture: What buildings were torn down or preserved and why? In this regard, how is the historical context dealt with?

These future architects from Israel and Germany examine together the difficulties that face both the preservation and demolition of former Nazi buildings, namely the dangers of either glorifying or erasing the past. This is also true for the issue of marking or not marking the locations of destroyed buildings on a city map. Working in this area, this group of young experts will develop ideas for new perspectives and practices in dealing with, but not only, the architectural past. The outcome of the students’ collective efforts will be shown in galleries both in Berlin and Tel Aviv – and from there hopefully inspire the professional discourse on this subject.     

“Renovation or Demolition” is a project of the Azrieli School of Architecture (AsoA) of the Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts at the Tel Aviv University in cooperation with the Technical University in Berlin. The project period is from 1.3.2011 to 30.9.2012.