Tel Aviv Arcades by Penda – aasarchitecture

Penda reveals a residential high-rise for Tel Aviv that is defined by arches and cascading terraces and that responds to the broad display of the city’s Bauhaus era and the haptic materiality of its Old Town. Measuring 116m in height, the condominium tower features 17.650 squaremeters of residential areas on 18 floors.

The building will house a range of residential layouts from 1-bedroom to 4- bedroom apartments as well as penthouses with double-height spaces on its top. A cave-like pool and spa area will occupy the base of the building, while community areas like a yoga-studio, a restaurant and shelter spaces are shared on the first 2 floors and cores.

Tel Aviv: ‘When I first walked through Tel Aviv, I was taken by the vividness on its streets and its shores. The rhythm of lively plazas, traditional context and modern architecture inspired me and had a deep impact on the design of the building,’ says Chris Precht. Tel Aviv has a mediterranean climate and enjoys plenty of sunshine throughout the year. It was clear from the beginning that the building shouldn’t be a generic glass tower, but rather respond to its climatic challenges.

Arcades
Therefor the building is mainly defined by one element: the arch. It is an architectural form with a broad history and meaning. The arch was a direct structural interpretation of the cave, our ancestors first ‘apartments’. But the arch was not just used as a structural span, but was also seen as a ‘welcoming gesture’ of and entrance to buildings and cities.

We tried to recreate this gesture in a rhythmic layout of an arched structure and cascading terraces, that defined the facade of the building and reflects the vividness of Tel Aviv. It allows the building to be open to its surrounding, but not exposed to its climate.

Terraces
The apartments are encircled by ribbons of terraces. These terraces are a shading device, that shield off direct sunlight and cool down the interiors in a natural way. Each room of the apartments has direct access to the outdoor area by arched elements. Through this transparency the terraces can be seen as an continuing extension of the interior spaces.

The undulating setbacks of the floors creates 2 different typologies of terraces: Roofed ones, that provide protection from the sun and open terraces that are more exposed to sunshine and rain and offer an ideal area for growing a garden. They are also varying in privacy: The inbound terraces give a large private space to the residents, where the outbound areas invite residents to cross-floor communication.

Materiality and Form
With its clear design-language of arches and lines, the ‘Tel Aviv Arcades’ can be seen as a tribute to this era and a formal connection to its Bauhausian neighbourhood. As the tower is designed in a modular system, large parts of the structural elements can be prefabricated to lower costs of construction and maintenance. The building is also inspired by the old town of Tel Aviv called Jaffa. From stone-paved alleys to the thick stone walls of its ancient buildings: Jaffa is a haptic wonderland.

The old town with its profound masonry and rough materiality is an inspiration for architects. With the ‘Tel Aviv Arcades’ we tried to complement this timeless craft with hand-laid brickwork as a facade of the building. ‘A high-rise shouldn’t be an island in the city without any relation to its surrounding. A glass-tower though, is the formal illustration of an island without a connection.

Its unsustainable in southern regions, it’s a bad neighbour as it heats up its surrounding and it lacks a sense of identity. Even if we design modern buildings, we believe they should reflect a sense of place and respect its environment, its history and its culture.’ The ‘Tel Aviv Arcades’ is a work in progress by the Austrian branch of penda and set for construction in 2019. Source by Penda.