Last update - 00:00 20/11/2006
An enterprise for duplicating buildings
By Shani Shilo
The contribution of Mifal Hapayis, the Israel National Lottery, to the country's architecture has come under a great deal of criticism. On the one hand, Mifal Hapayis does large-scale construction and thanks to it, projects that would probably not have been established are set up. On the other hand, many of the projects brought into being by the organization are fraught with problems. The most frequent is the problem of "the one who has the money" − that is to say, the body paying for the building makes sure that no one in the neighborhood can miss the fact that it is responsible for the project's funding. Mifal Hapayis puts up huge and highly visible emblems on these buildings, and sometimes it seems as though the plot was chosen simply for the quality of the publicity the emblems can supply, rather than because of its architectural quality.
Another problem is that the buildings are duplicated. Architecture has to fit into the place and the context. On the face of it, one cannot build the same building in the heart of the city, in the center of a communal settlement and in an Arab village; but Mifal Hapayis believes you can, and does so in practice. Some 60 buildings of the same appearance have been built in different parts of the country - 60 identical twins that disregard the environment, the directions of the sun and sometimes even the needs of those who use them. As for their external appearance, some will say they are ghastly and others will say it's all a question of taste.
These buildings are the joint initiative of the Education Ministry and the state lottery and were planned by the architectural firm of Spector Amishar.
From Dan to Eilat
The architect Micha Amishar, now retired, was a partner of Arthur Spector at the time the buildings were designed. "The idea was to create buildings that would provide classroom space for enrichment programs for junior-high school students," he says. "We were awarded the architectural planning of the project because we had planned the Hemda project for the Rothschild Fund in Tel Aviv, next to city hall. That building, which serves as class space for science enrichment programs for pupils in Tel Aviv, was the model for Mifal Hapayis and therefore they also chose us to design their buildings."
The Mifal Hapayis buildings were constructed "from Dan to Eilat," Amishar says. "The most northern one was set up in Kiryat Shmona, and the most southern one in Eilat. There were also buildings in the Arab local authorities." About the planning process, Amishar explains, "First there was a program. On the top floor - classes for science and a central hall in which the teachers could prepare experiments. On the bottom floor, the ground floor, there is a hall for dancing, music and fine arts, and in the center, a performance hall with 200 seats. We found the best alternative for the demands of this program. This is not a cathedral where one can express oneself architecturally."
Only yes-men
Amishar is well aware of the criticism about the buildings and the way they have been copied all over the country. "The criticism is valid, but I don't believe the building is not good. This was what Mifal Hapayis demanded and they prevented us from making any kinds of changes. For example, we tried to propose two models of buildings, one for a level plot and another for a plot where there were topographical differences, but Mifal Hapayis said: 'If the plot is not suitable, we will not build.'
"I could have said I did not agree and then someone else would have done the planning. An architect cannot dictate to the owner how to build a house. Today there are no easy clients, the planner has become the yes-man for the one who orders the plan."
Avraham Katz-Oz, the former chairman of Mifal Hapayis and today the chairman of the Council for a Beautiful Israel, is considered in Mifal Hapayis to be the one who made these projects his pet theme. Katz-Oz received the plan for the buildings from his predecessor, Gideon Gadot, but he also pushed forward projects in which the buildings were duplicated, such as the project for libraries that have been and are still slated to be built in various places. Here the plan is somewhat more sophisticated and three models were chosen, following a tender for architects. The models differ from each other in size and in the individual architects' style.
"We chose to push forward the libraries and to hold a tender for architects out of the moral belief that there is importance to reading books. The office of [Israel Prize winner] Ram Caspi won the tender for one of the buildings with two other architects' firms," says Katz-Oz.
Mifal Hapayis provides the budget for setting up the libraries and every local authority can choose whether it wants to build the model offered or plan a different library, provided it remains within the budget. In practice, Katz-Oz says, most of the local authorities chose the model provided by Mifal Hapayis because it is more convenient and economical.
"I would have liked to give more expression to creativity, but one always has to make compromises," Katz-Oz says. "For large-scale public buildings, one must put out a tender for the architects, but I did not think it was important to stress the architecture in the classrooms, for example."
He continues, "In Israel, an architect is a stumbling block for the timetable. The pupils would have finished their matriculation exams and not had a classroom if we had to wait every time for a new plan when classrooms and club rooms were added. I preferred to use the regular models."