Introduction

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Tel Aviv, the metropolis of Israel, is rather like Topsy in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" - she "just growed". A few Jewish families living in the predominantly Arab town of Jaffa decided in 1909 to establish an all-Jewish suburb on the adjoining dunes. They retained their shops and businesses in Jaffa, but visualized living in a pleasant garden suburb, with individual houses surrounded by little green plots, on quiet, narrow streets. It has been said that every immigrant to Israel dreams of coming to live in the idealised vision of the land from which he emigrated: the founding fathers and mothers of Tel Aviv, tried to create a better version of the homes they had left behind them in Europe.

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Our next aim was to extend our avant-garde endeavors into design, architecture and town planning. This objective was achieved by a common effort on the part of several young architects who returned from different foreign countries. They brought with them the message and spirit of contemporary architecture. Two people participated with me in a momentous meeting in a bohemian Tel Aviv cafe, a meeting which lasted until the early hours of the morning. Joseph Neufeld, who came straight from Eric Mendelsohn's Berlin office, was a courageous fighter for pure building cubes, clean straight elevations, and simple, organic designs. On these lines he later planned housing estates and a hospital in Tel Aviv. Ze'ev Rechter, straight from Paris, was strongly influenced by Corbu's ideas of lofty structures raised on pilotis according to a freely developed plan. He later fought bravely for his first apartment building in Tel Aviv raised on pilotis. We three called ourselves "the architectural circle". Subsequently, the circle was joined by Rubin from Mendelsohn's office, Carmi from Ghent, Barkai from Corbu's office, Tchlenov a Beaux Arts student, Lindheim from the States, Dicker, Yarost, Bannet, Ginzburg and others from European and Israeli architectural schools.

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Every night we used to sit together, after hot, busy hours in the office in the then famous bohemian tearoom. We discussed with great vehemence ways and means of raising design standards, introducing contemporary building methods, and creating a lively and spirited architectural climate, which would do away with the then prevailing views. We were convinced that we had to fight for our ideas within the architects' and engineers' association, in the official town planning committees, and in the press, thus influencing public opinion. Enthusiasm and daring fervour were always, and still are - especially in Israel - essential ingredients for translating visions into realities.

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