Tribute and Resistance

In the golden era of social democracy, the intricate connection between modern architecture and public structures was based on the economic and social infrastructure of the welfare state. As processes of privatization began to erode this foundation, architecture, which had been dedicated to shaping the public sphere, found itself in a problematic position. In contemporary Israel, against the backdrop of fundamental disagreements regarding the meaning of the state in the lives of citizens, the unified public space of the welfare state appears as a remnant of a bygone world. Against this backdrop, the revisionist architectural project by Asaf Lerman is not a replica, nor a simple homage, as its source is not a specific pre-existing building but rather a milieu of structural and social values. Lerman proposes to draw from the foundational principles of Israeli architecture and create an updated version of it within the heart of the new.