Technion Faculty of Architecture

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning (The Technion)
הפקולטה לארכיטקטורה ובינוי ערים (הטכניון) (Hebrew)
Technion – Israel Institute of Technology41.jpg
TypePublic
Technical
Research
Established1925
Location
Haifa
,
Israel
Websitearchitecture.technion.ac.il
Students at The Technion Faculty of Architecture

The Technion's Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning (Hebrew: הפקולטה לארכיטקטורה ובינוי ערים) was established in Haifa in December 1924, as one of the Technion’s first two departments. The program trains architects, landscape architects, urban planners, and industrial designers.[1] Urban planning and industrial design are offered as advanced degrees.[2]

The Faculty is housed in the Segoe and Amado buildings on the Technion Campus. It was the last department to relocate from the Technion's historic site in the Hadar HaCarmel neighborhood in 1985.

The Faculty also operates three research centers:

  • The Built Heritage Research Center
  • The Center for Urban and Regional Studies
  • The Center for Architectural Research and Development

Historical background[]

Yohanan Ratner, the first Dean of the Faculty of Architecture

The Technion's establishment in 1901 was initially inspired by the lack of engineering technicians in the Ottoman Empire. The Faculty of Architecture was founded at the initiative of the Hilfsverein der Deutsch Juden's (the Aid Organization of German Jews), with the goal of establishing a pre-academic training institution. Its one department later split into two – the Architecture Department (which still later became the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning) and the Faculty of Structural Engineering (later the Faculty of Civil Engineering). Seventeen students graduated in the first cohort (16 men and one woman). Over the years, The Technion dissociated from affiliated Zionist groups and funding organizations and established itself as an independent institution, and its name was changed to the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. In the 21st century, some 13,000 students graduate from The Technion each year.

Faculty building at the Hadar campus[]

The Technion building, garden and surrounding buildings; aerial photograph by Zoltan Kluger 1937–1938

In its early years, the Technion was housed in a building planned by the first head of the Architecture department, Professor Alexander Baerwald (1877–1930) in the Hadar neighborhood in the heart of Haifa. In designing the Technikum building, Baerwald combined principles of Western architecture with Orientalist architectural approaches, such as pointed arches and the use of stone as a primary construction material.[3] The monumental building relies on distinct symmetry and is entered via a three-story atrium, which includes the building's central corridor.

The building's cornerstone was laid in 1912 in the Hadar neighborhood, and construction was completed in 1914, although the Technion was not inaugurated for academic use until 1924. During the interim years, it served as a temporary hospital for the Turkish military, a German army slaughterhouse, and a British army base. On 14 December 1924, night classes began being offered for laborers, and on 7 January 1925, the first daytime class was held for the first cohort of the Department of Construction and Paving.[4]

Faculty development[]

Soon after the Technikum began to operate as an academic institution, the Architecture department was opened, offering a single training program. Baerwald formulated the program's foundational curriculum, and following his death in 1930, questions arose regarding the future of the program. Yohanan Ratner, who had joined the Faculty in 1925 and had served as Baerwald's assistant, was tasked with the mission of carving out a new path for the Architecture department. Ratner had earned professional acclaim following his victory in a 1928 design competition for Israel's National Institutions House in Jerusalem, in which many of Israel's leading architects participated.[5]

Many of the Faculty's lecturers during its early days were educated at higher learning institutions in Germany and immigrated to Israel with the rise of the Nazi party in 1933. Among them was the world-renowned planner Alexander Klein, who joined the Faculty in 1935 after serving as an urban planning consultant for the Jewish National Fund. He was well known in the field prior to his arrival in Israel for his development of new graphic analysis methods for architectural plans. Klein headed the Construction and Housing Research institution, which the Technion launched in 1943. The unique institution grappled with issues of city planning and housing which addressed Israel's local climate and topography, as well as the contemporaneous economic, health and social circumstances. In 1945, Klein was appointed research professor in Urbanism and Agricultural Planning, the Technion's first research professorship.[6]

In early 1939, the Technion's new academic constitution went into effect, which required the appointment of a dean to head each of the Technion's three departments, who would be tasked with the responsibility of overseeing all issues related to the department. The Teachers’ Council (the senior academic body in that period) chose Yohanan Ratner as the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning's first dean. A year later, Ratner was conferred a professorship and he served on the Technion's first Board of Professors. He also assumed the role of the Technion's acting Deputy Director (analogous to Vice President today) and served as representative of the Board of Professors on the board of directors.

In the years preceding Israel's establishment, few students were enrolled at the Faculty, and a graduating class of 12 students was considered a large cohort. During these years, the educational emphasis was on technical aspects of architecture, similar to the central European approach. Most of the study hours were devoted to theoretical courses, and little time was allotted for practical applications and exposure to planning problems. In 1952, it was decided that in their third year of studies, student would choose between two majors: Building Design or Urban Planning.[7] In the early 1960s, two Faculty professors (Alfred Neumann and Daniel Havkin) united with Alfred Mansfeld, who urged a new model of learning in which two and a half days a week would be reserved for practical applications, and the rest of the time would be devoted to theoretical study.[8] Mansfeld and his peers sought to implement these changes immediately in their own courses, to which Faculty Dean Avia Hashimshoni objected. Hashimshoni asserted that the Faculty was responsible for establishing the curriculum, and lecturers should not determine their course curricula independently. When their request was denied, the Mansfeld group of professors announced their resignation from the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning. This led to the involvement of the Technion's Senate, and the establishment of two separate majors at the Faculty: one according to the traditional approach, and the second according to the Mansfeld group’s proposed method7. This decision was met with resistance from both students and faculty and was retracted a few months later, in May 1966.[9]

The dispute between the lecturers led the students to organize an Architecture Faculty Student Council, which continued to exist after the issue was resolved, and was later the model for the Technion's Student Union and was replicated in all the other Faculties at the university.[10]

In 1970, students refused to participate in courses run by Mansfeld and his peers, and preferred Hashimshoni, Abraham Wachman, and David Yanai. The boycott led Mansfeld to resign as course coordinator.[11] Some claimed that the boycott was the continuation of the original dispute between Hashimshoni and Mansfeld, while others insisted it was unrelated.[12]

From the Hadar campus to the Neve Sha’anan campus[]

By 1950, a growing student population and space limitations on the Hadar campus inspired a plan to relocate the university to a new site. The Tirat HaCarmel area was chosen, and Klein was recruited to plan the campus. However, in late 1952, the university officially declared that the campus would instead relocate to Haifa's Neve Sha’anan neighborhood. Klein's plans for the Tirat HaCarmel campus were adjusted to suit the layout at the Neve Sha’anan location. The university gradually relocated to the new site, which offered the flexibility to permit future expansion and the addition of new faculties. The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning moved to the Neve Sha’anan campus in 1953, where it was run from the Aeronautics building, planned by Ratner, who at the time served as dean of the Faculty. In 1965, following Ratner's death, the Faculty's funding declined as did its standing, from the perspective of the Technion management. As such, it was relocated to its original building in Hadar. The students rejoiced over the return to Hadar, and that same year launched the "ArchiParchiTura," an annual Purim parade during the 1970s and 80s on Haifa's Herzl Street, which had been studied as a special project at the Faculty.[13][14] The festive parade stemmed from a broader mission for the Faculty to find ways to contribute to its home neighborhood. In the 1980s, due to the old building's dilapidated condition, the Technion decided to evacuate it. At the time, it housed the Faculty of Architecture along with the Nuclear Engineering Department. Students and lecturers alike petitioned to remain in the building, claiming it offered inspiration and that architectural studies necessitate a connection to the urban fabric, and should not be held in a detached academic environment. They also argued that the historic building had unique value and it would be difficult to adapt it to other uses. The issue was even discussed in the Knesset.[15] Students held a strike as part of the protests over the transfer to the Neve Sha’anan campus, and were supported by many faculty members, including Prof. Kashtan. However, the Dean of the Faculty, Michael Burt, opposed students’ demands to keep the architecture school in Hadar. Together with fellow professor Robert Oxman, Burt mentored a planning project for fourth-year students on the subject of the Faculty of Architecture in Hadar, which demonstrated to students the challenges of remaining in Hadar given the required infrastructure. In 1985, the building's condition and the administrative challenges that arose from the campus's distance from the Technion's administrative offices finally led to the decision to transfer the architecture school to Neve Sha’anan.

In 2016, part of the architecture school returned to Hadar, as the "Hadarion",[16] which hosts studio courses and classes related to the place and community, as well as other unique projects, such as designing homes from shipping containers.[17]

Academic tracks[]

haifa – technion building

Architecture[]

The Faculty includes an architectural studies track, whose graduates are automatically registered in the Register of Engineers and Architects. Although the Faculty was the only institute in Israel that offered a recognized academic degree in architecture until the early 1990s, the curriculum was continuously updated. In several instances, clashes between faculty members, backed by students, were perceived as part of the process of updating and adapting the teaching methods to the changing times.[18]

The past decade has seen a fundamental change in the approach to architectural studies at the Faculty. Until 2013, the architecture program spanned five years and culminated in the award of a professional bachelor's degree in architecture, BArch. In 2013, the architecture degree adopted a new format, analogous to leading academic institutions in the United States and European Union, in which the degree program is divided into two sequential parts: the first spans four years and qualifies students for a bachelor of science, and the second lasts two years and earns students a professional master’s degree in architecture (M.Arch), which certifies graduates to register with the Register of Engineers and Architects in Israel.[19]

Under the framework of the new program, the first two years are devoted to core classes, in which students acquire understanding and design skills, and study fields such as architectural design, urban space, construction methods, and introduction to architectural history, construction, and technologies. In the following two years, students participate in thematic studios and elective courses organized around five research tracks: History, Theory and Criticism; Urban Design; Green Architecture; Digital Content; and Conservation of Buildings and Sites. In the master’s degree program, students acquire the pivotal tools for certification in architecture and urban design. Students work on a capstone project during the second year, which includes theoretical research in one of the research tracks.

The architecture track offers master’s degree programs with and without a thesis (MSc) and a doctoral degree (PhD) track in Architecture and Town Planning.

Landscape Architecture[]

The Landscape Architecture track at the Technion was founded in 1975, under the guidance of Prof. Shaul Amir and Prof. Ruth Enis. The program remains the only such program in Israel that awards a professional degree in Landscape Architecture, and its more than 350 graduates constitute the core of the professional community of landscape architects in Israel.

The Landscape Architecture program equips students with theoretical and professional expertise in environmental planning and design, with the aim of balancing between developing the built environment and preserving the natural environment. Coursework emphasizes design, ecological, cultural, social, engineering, and economic aspects of spatial planning, as well as critical examination of approaches to inquiry, analysis, evaluation, and planning.

Undergraduate studies span four years, at the culmination of which student receive a B.L.A, which is recognized in Israel by the Register of Engineers and Architects and grants eligibility for professional registration and licensing. The track also offers advanced degree programs (MSc and PhD) in Landscape Architecture.

Urban and Regional Planning[]

The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning offers an Urban and Regional Planning track. In the 1940s and 50s, Klein was responsible for the urban planning curriculum. Later, Moshe Hill established a separate track for Urban and Regional Planning, and in 1969 founded The Center for Urban and Regional Studies research lab. The track offers graduate degrees (MSc, PhD) and equips students with the requisite professional, research, and theoretical tools for designing policy and decision-making regarding living environments that affect large populations.

Urban planning is considered a multidisciplinary field, and the degree program is thus open to students with bachelor's degrees in the social sciences, humanities, architecture, engineering, exact sciences, and natural sciences.

Industrial Design[]

The Technion's Industrial Design track was approved by the Council for Higher Education in 1994, and the Technion became the first academic institution to offer a master's degree in Industrial Design. Approval was later granted to offer a doctoral track as well. The initiative to establish the Industrial Design track was spearheaded by Dean Prof. Michael Burt and Canadian architect Leonard Warshaw, after the two were impressed by an industrial design course taught by designer Joseph Rauch at the school in 1990.

In 1994, the Industrial Design track was founded, headed by Prof. Gabriela Goldschmidt (1994–1998) and Prof. Ron Navarro (1994–2003). In its early years, the program was based on the academic model of the Industrial Design track at Delft University in the Netherlands. The program practiced a policy of admitting students from varied backgrounds, who did not necessarily hold a bachelor's degree in Industrial Design. Fifteen students were enrolled in the first cohort, and since then the program has graduated dozens of students, in both the thesis and non-thesis tracks.

In 2016, the curriculum was redesigned by Prof. Ezri Tarazi around the tenets of design thinking and design in the era of the fourth industrial revolution. Concurrently, the Design-Tech lab was founded, which integrates design and technology. It serves as a center of knowledge and inquiry into issues of digital design and production in 3D printing with advanced technological approaches and materials. The program collaborates with the Technion branch at Cornell Tech in New York, and design and innovation centers at other research universities, industrial companies, hospitals and the Interuniversity Institute in Eilat.

Advanced degrees[]

Architects Aharon Kashtan and Daniel Havkin were the first graduates to complete research projects in the Faculty, but did not receive advanced degrees because the Technion's Graduate School had not yet been established. The first two master's research projects submitted to the Faculty were written by women, one of whom was Ruth Enis, who later cofounded the Landscape Architecture track. She was awarded a master's degree for her research thesis which was written under the supervision of Prof. Yochanan Alon in 1956.[20]

In 1967, the first PhD in Architecture was awarded, and since then the Faculty has consistently offered advanced studies towards bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees.

Research centers[]

The Center for Urban and Regional Studies[]

The Center for Urban and Regional Studies, the first such research center in Israel, was established at the Technion in 1969 by Prof. Moshe Hill. Since 1989, the research center has been supported by the Philip and Ethel Klutznick family. The center is housed in the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning and is closely tied to the Faculty's Urban and Regional Planning track. The center's researchers collaborate with other research institutes at the Technion, fellow researchers at other Israeli institutions, and leading academic research centers outside of Israel. The center's mission is to advance knowledge and understanding of processes of urban and regional development and functioning, and to assist in determining development policy on a national, regional, and local level. The center's research programs are funded by national and international foundations, as well as by several of Israel's ministries, local authorities, and public organizations. The knowledge that is gathered through the center's research is circulated among decision makers, planners, and researchers through a variety of means: the independent publication of books, reports and position papers (in English and Hebrew), seminars, conferences, and public symposia. Researchers affiliated with the center frequently attend scientific and professional conferences in Israel and internationally, and often serve on public, national, and local committees.

The Center for Architectural Research and Development[]

The Center for Architectural Research and Development was founded in the 1970s with the goal of advancing research in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, and design. Each year, the center sponsors select research proposals in relevant fields. Chief areas of research include energy use in buildings (including lighting), housing, social dimensions, morphology, urban design, architectural theory and criticism, and digital design issues. Among the research projects supported over the years and financed by government ministries were the development of a national energy code and municipal planning principles, including the development of guidelines for solar rights. The center sponsors research by faculty members, associate faculty members, and graduate students.

The Avie and Sarah Arenson Built Heritage Research Center[]

The Built Heritage Research Center first originated in the Technion's Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning in 1975 as the Center for Documentation in Architecture. In 1990, it was refashioned by Prof. Gilbert Herbert into the Architectural Heritage Research Center. Since 2017, the center has operated under its new name, the Avie & Sarah Arenson Built Heritage Research Center, and is generously supported by the Arenson family. The center's research is organized around three branches – research, archives, and publishing. The research advances knowledge about history, theory, and built heritage in Israel. The center's archive features the collections of many architects, including the Yaakov and Ora Yaar collection, the Shmuel Yavin collection, and the Moshe and Leopold Gerstel collection.

In addition, the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning operates a Climate and Energy Lab, established in 1995 with the support of the Ministry of National Infrastructure. The laboratory was established under the direction of Prof. Edna Shaviv after years of research in climate planning, with the aim of encouraging sustainable planning and climate, energy, and environmental consciousness by conducting research for private and governmental organizations, and through education and consultation. Another lab is the Visualization Lab, focused on developing innovative imaging techniques for research and education. The laboratory's research projects examine user experience in changing environments, cognitive processes in urban settings and large, structured environments, and characterization and examination of movement patterns in space. The Faculty also houses a Digital Fabrication Lab that advances computer-based design and manufacturing in architecture. Additionally, the Faculty runs the Social Hub (initially called the Social Hub for Housing and Community), established in 2011 by Prof. Rachel Kalush with the support of the Council for Higher Education. The Social Hub works to promote community involvement at the Technion and advance community-based research and education.

Technion Synagogue

The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning in the 21st century[]

In the 21st century, about 1,000 students have been enrolled in the Faculty. Around two-thirds enrolled in certification studies (bachelor's degree) for Architecture and Town Planning and Landscape Architecture, and about one-third in the graduate programs (master's and doctoral degrees) in Architecture and Town Planning, Landscape Architecture, Urban and Regional Planning, and Industrial Design.[21]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning". Association of European Schools of Planning. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  2. ^ Yakobson, Michael (26 January 2020). "Architecture at the Technion: Israel's oldest institution offers a long course]" (in Hebrew). Ynet. Xnet.
  3. ^ Ben Artzi, Yosi. "Alexander Baerwald's Journey of Learning". Zmanim: Quarterly History (in Hebrew). 96: 14–21.
  4. ^ Keren Itai, "Ha-Mahlaka Ha-Rishona shel Ha-Technion [The Technion’s first department]", Simaniya – The Technion Library Portal. Historical Archive
  5. ^ "Results of the design competition for the Zionist institution offices". Haaretz. 3 August 1928.
  6. ^ "Appointments at the Hebrew Technion" (in Hebrew). Al Ha-Mishmar. 22 May 1945.
  7. ^ "Architects for Urban planning, a new trend at the Technion" (in Hebrew). Davar. 16 October 1952.
  8. ^ Shori, S. (9 March 1966). "Two majors at the Faculty" (in Hebrew). Davar. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  9. ^ Preuss, Teddy (8 July 1966). "Conflict at the Technion" (in Hebrew). Davar. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  10. ^ Carmeli, Amos (12 February 1968). "The new chairman seeks to revive the campus" (in Hebrew). Davar. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  11. ^ "Prof. Mansfeld resigns after students boycott his courses" (in Hebrew). Maariv. 20 November 1970. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  12. ^ "The Technion's revolution and counterrevolution organized at Café Atara in Haifa" (in Hebrew). Maariv. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  13. ^ Kay, Dr. Zivia (July 2018). "Being Archi Parchi: Strategies for open source activism in the urban space" (in Hebrew). From the Technion Faculty of Architecture website: The goal of the course is the present a direct multidisciplinary approach to designing and planning urban space, which examines the human presence as the urban fabric of space. Participants will practice identifying communication opportunities between different city communities, and using “architectural imagination” to reinforce the streets as shared urban space.”. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  14. ^ Dor, Michel (2 April 2013). "ArchiParchiTura: The students come down from the Technion to the city" (in Hebrew). Ynet. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  15. ^ 216th Meeting of the 10th Knesset, MK Ora Namir. ""Wouldn't it be more appropriate to leave the Faculty of Architecture in a building that has such great historical value in Haifa? This issue is on the agenda, and comes up anew almost every two years,"". Knesset of Israel (in Hebrew). Knesset website. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  16. ^ The Technion. "The Technion returns to Hadar HaCarmel in Haifa" (in Hebrew). Technion website. Retrieved 30 May 2021. “Three decades after the last of the architecture students moved to the current Technion campus in Neve Sha’anan, they are returning to Hadar HaCarmel. This is an unprecedented achievement, which is the result of collaboration between the Haifa municipality and the Technion, with the personal involvement and encouragement of Haifa’s mayor Mr. Yona Yahav and Prof. Peretz Lavie – president of the Technion,”, 5 April 2016
  17. ^ Agassi, Orly (6 February 2018). "The Wonder Container for Students" (in Hebrew). News Haifa VeHaKrayot. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  18. ^ Yaar, Y. (2016), "The life and architecture of Yaakov Yaar". Published by The Built Heritage Center, The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, The Technion, Haifa.
  19. ^ "The Technion’s architecture studies adopt a new program", Technion website, December 119, 2013.
  20. ^ Alon Moses T. & Lisovsky N. (2019). "Ruth Enis – Gardens of Her Own". Published by The Built Heritage Center, The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, The Technion, Haifa.
  21. ^ "OUR VISION". The Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at the Technion. Retrieved 30 May 2021.

External links[]

Coordinates: 32°46′41″N 35°01′23″E / 32.77806°N 35.02306°E / 32.77806; 35.02306

Retrieved from ""