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A concrete life By Noam Dvir Tags: Rudolf Reuven Trostler The blueprints that filled the basement of the Rehavia home were thrown out a decade ago. More than 35 years of work, which spawned public buildings, hotels, entire neighborhoods and huge factories, disappeared in a single moment into large green trash cans. "When Dad closed the office, he brought all the materials home and told clients they were invited to pick up the blueprints," Yaakov Trostler says. "When nobody came, we threw everything out. With my own two hands, I stuffed the piles into the pickup truck and shoved design after design into the garbage. To this day, I smack myself on the head and don't understand how I didn't think." Architect Rudolf ("Rudy") Reuven Trostler was a familar and respected fixture in the corridors of the Finance Ministry and Jerusalem's city hall. He was one of the most productive and innovative architects in Israel in the 1950s and '60s, though certainly not one of the most famous. Except for a few dozen black and white photographs, no formal documentation of his work exists. "Dad didn't save anything because it wasn't important to him. He didn't need recognition from anyone," Yaakov says. "There are no plaques on any of his buildings. Even on our house, which he built, there's no mention of his name." The extensive scope of Trostler's work includes small buildings, such as kindergartens and clinics, alongside factories that become second homes to thousands of workers and office buildings that housed top government officials. Their uneasy common denominator is the looming threat of demolition. Advertisement Trostler's great leap came in the early 1950s, when architects Dov Carmi, Zeev Rechter and Arieh Sharon dominated the scene. With five partners, Trostler founded an independent firm, the Cooperative of Academics for Architectural Planning and Engineering, which operated according to socialist principles: Each partner contributed in accordance with his abilities and was paid in accordance with his needs. But the model didn't last; after a few years the partnership was dissolved and Trostler assumed sole ownership of the office. Trostler and his pediatrician wife, Dr. Corinna Kreiner, had a varied group of friends, including artists such as Ziona Tagger and Reuven Rubin, as well as several major industrialists. Some of those friendships also provided business connections. "He and his wife were very well connected in Jerusalem society, and the house was always full of guests," says Professor Michael Levin, a historian of art and architecture at the Shenkar School of Engineering and Design and the brother of Shmaryahu Levin, one of the founders of the Rafa Laboratories pharmaceutical company. "It was the kind of house that was easy to visit. Even if you were just in the area and stopping to say hello, it was as though they were waiting for you. Rudy was an affectionate person, familial and warm, and on the other hand very European, always with a tie or bow tie, his hair combed back," Levin says. Trostler's relationship with the Levins led him into designing the Rafa plant in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Romema, in 1951. It was a modernist building made of concrete blocks, full of long horizontal lines and broad windows through which light flooded in. Trostler was also introduced, through Corinna's family, to textile manufacturers in southern Israel for whom he designed factories in Ashkelon and Be'er Sheva. But Trostler's most important business connection was with the Jerusalem Economic Corporation, created to encourage industrial development in the capital. Trostler was friends with the head of the company, Mordechai Shatner; with Teddy Kollek, who like Trostler was from Vienna; and with Pinhas Sapir, who from the mid-'50s was variously finance minister and industry and trade minister. Trostler became the company's preferred architect, and designed a majority of the city's industrial buildings over the next few decades. Romema's rough diamond "He was very friendly and open but also critical of his surroundings," says archaeologist David Ussishkin, whose father Shmuel served on the board of the economic corporation and was a good friend of Trostler's. "Even then, the state was comprised of shady business dealings and all sorts of things, and Rudy really didn't like that." Sapir and Shatner wanted to bring industry to Jerusalem to try to diversify the local workforce, which was largely white-collar at the time. One of the company's first initiatives was to build a diamond polishing facility in Romema to provide jobs to the area's yeshiva students. There were already several diamond workshops in the city, and the company sought to concentrate them in one building to attract professionals from abroad. Trostler designed a five-story, rectangular building in the International Style, with well-lit production floors and the use of various stone and concrete cladding on the exterior. Giving the building its unique look, that is to this day identified with Trostler, is the gray breeze-block (precast) grille on the building facade, in front of the interior staircase. The diamond center, which was inaugurated in 1960 with much fanfare, received wide press coverage but failed relatively quickly, primarily due to a lack of cooperation from the Haredi target audicence. In 1975, Arieh Sharon helped convert the building for use by the Israel Broadcast Authority. For the Jerusalem yarn factory, Trostler designed large manufacturing floors with no support columns. This plant, too, did not meet economic expectations and was turned into offices and studios of the IBA. To this day, radio reporters affectionately call the main studio "the yarns." These two buildings, along with Trostler's Rafa plant and the Jerusalem Post headquarters (the former Tnuva building), are among the last remnants of the Romema industrial zone, whose future is threatened by residential building plans for the Haredi community. The importance of daylight The Jerusalem Economic Corporation's ambitious plans spread to the Givat Shaul industrial zone, in the west of the city. Trostler designed all of the factories there - Keter Publishing House, Academy printers (which later became the Ben Zvi printing house), a spinning mill, the Shatner Center for small industry (part of which now houses artist studios), and Berman's Bakery. "A thin and handsome man, a professional perfectionist," says owner Yitzhak Berman of Trostler. "Everything in his office was exceptionally organized. That's what we call a yekke," Berman continues, using the slang term for a Jew of German origin. One building designed by Tostler in the Talpiot industrial zone, in the south of the city, particularly stuck out - the Scharf fur factory. The factory was in operation until 1988, when it surrendered to public pressure against the use of fur. "I actually remember him as a very dull man, without color, laughter or a sense of humor. A man who reminded me of a clerk," says Uri Scharf. "I recall that we wanted to secure a license to build a few more floors, and he insisted that the city wouldn't allow it. We were disappointed later on when our neighbors managed to build much higher buildings." Still, Scharf has nothing but praise for the modernist building, which stands on columns: "Some of the work with fur is manual and required daylight. He made sure to make a lot of windows facing north, so that even the sorters and tailors could enjoy the light. Everyone who visited us said they had never seen an industrial building with such attention paid to the welfare of workers. Organized and neat restrooms, a large dining hall and spacious workrooms." Not far from Scharf Furs, Trostler designed a brassiere factory for Triumph International on Pierre Koenig Street. At the entrance are two huge female torsos wearing enormous Triumph bras made especially for them. National Archive photos depict well-lit factory floors and workers eating lunch together. Rudolf Reuven Trostler was born in Vienna in 1908 to a family of carpenters and upholsters. At age 14 he joined the family business, which he managed while studying at a professional carpentry school. He was the only Austrian Jew to be awarded a certificate in carpentry arts. He completed his higher education at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, where he met the well-known architect Professor Oscar Strand and began working in his office. Strand recognized his talent and managed to help him secure a work permit, which generally was not granted to Jews. After completing his studies, in which he excelled, Trostler continued to work in Strand's office, eventually opening his own. He dealt in set and costume design for the theater, and even designed a few factories for local fashion companies. He won several prizes in international competitions, including first prize in a competition for designing compact homes for which he submitted original modular furniture in the modernist spirit, which was then on the rise. Several days before the Nazis closed the Austrian borders in 1938, the Trostlers moved to British Mandate Palestine. They settled in Tel Aviv, where Trostler landed a job in the architectural firm of Zeev Rechter. But the Tel Aviv mentality, along with the heat, sent them to Jerusalem. Trostler was hired by the mandate's Public Works Department - an important planning institution that played a major role in shaping the state. Trostler was active in civic organizations such as the Lions Club, the Jerusalem Lodge of the Freemasons and the Grand Lodge of the State of Israel - the national Freemasons chapter. For the Masons he designed a national hall that was intended for Jerusalem, but was ultimately scrapped. His son Yaakov is the general secretary of the highest degree in the Supreme Council of the Scottish Rite among Israeli Freemasons. Vienna in Israel Dr. Edina Meyer-Maril, an architecture historian at the Tel Aviv University Faculty of the Arts, is writing a book on Trostler. She discovered an essay he wrote in 1935, in German, about the relationship between religion and architecture. "The treatment he gives to architecture, which is almost ritualistic, may explain his modest style," she says. "He is always unbelievably serious regarding his work, because for the Freemasons, the Temple and building are both holy. He is different from any other architect I know in Israel in that he simply doesn't publicize himself. His desire was to make good buildings, while other architects like Carmi and Sharon were concerned about whether they'd be written about. There are no articles about him in the press and he didn't even keep a journal. The only documentation of the buildings he built is in a small book that was kept at his office - and even that was meant primarily to help keep track of finances." Most of Trostler's buildings aren't really visually impressive. What is it, exactly, that makes him important? "He is a person who thinks in a very practical and sophisticated manner and is a pioneer of everything related to industrial building in Israel. Before the establishment of the state, though a few factories were built here and there, Trostler developed a modular model for industrial and factory buildings when he didn't always know who would be working in them. You can see in this a parallel to the construction of the shikunim [tenement-style apartment houses], which were also designed without knowing who would live in them," Meyer-Maril says. Before Trostler, according to Meyer-Maril, Israeli architecture consisted of "Bauhaus, Israeli Oriental-style, a little Art Deco, and of course the International Style. Trostler really brought Vienna to Israel. The Viennese School belongs to modernism and is very prominent in architectural discipline, in honesty, in perfectionism. The main difference between it and Bauhaus is that it creates architecture for people." Lilacs and loudness The extensive experience Trostler gained in designing industrial buildings in Jerusalem gave him the opportunity to join the architectural adventure in the south led by Pinhas Sapir, trade and industry minister at the time. Sapir was a leader in the national effort to establish the so-called development towns, focusing on bringing in industry. One of these towns was Ofakim, which was plagued by high unemployment. In 1961, the OfAr textile factory was built in the town, providing 450 jobs and becoming a symbol of Israel's textile industry. Trostler designed a weaving and spinning plant that was built on the main road of the Ofakim industrial zone. Dr. Shani Bar-On of Ben Gurion University of the Negev was the first to describe the factory as an iconic example of early industrial architecture in Israel, in her doctoral dissertation on labor in Ofakim. Together with architect Shelly Cohen of the Architect's House in Jaffa, last year she curated "OfAr: Working Architecture," an exhibition by photographer Amit Geron documenting the building. "OfAr was very advanced for its time in terms of technology, even though the advantage was eroded over the years," Cohen says. "The design expressed consideration for things like the welfare of the workers and the efficiency of the production process. There was a kitchen, a small dining room, a locker room at the entrance and a pretty, shaded garden with Persian lilacs." The triangular roof developed by Trostler is among the structure's most prominent architectural elements, in addition to design features such as different types of exposed brick and concrete tiles. In her research Bar-On spoke with former factory employees, some of whom did not remember it so fondly. "The workers felt like they were on the bottom of the heap, because the physical structure of the building created a total separation between them and management," Bar-On said. "The factory floors were unbearably loud and some of the workers developed hearing problems. In addition, fiber particles in the air created respiratory problems and other sicknesses." In the 1980s, OfAr joined a long list of factories that were unable to compete in the international textile market, and operations were scaled back. A few years later it closed down permanently. Today it stands abandoned. Dimona Fibers, another well-known textile plant designed by Trostler, also opened in the early 1960s and provided jobs for 1,800 workers. Trostler designed five large buildings with spacious and simple factory floors, without support columns, on a large lot on the southern side of the Dimona-Eilat road. In the 1970s the factory succumbed to the sector's industrial crisis and reopened as a towel factory, Dimona Textiles. Dudu-land With the factory's closure in 1996, the plant passed through the hands of various real estate people. Initially, entertainer Dudu Topaz wanted to open a massive shopping center and amusement park on the site and call it Dudu-land, which would have included luxury shops, a canal and a museum of the nearby nuclear research compound. The project never took off. The factory was demolished, and last year a mall was opened on the site to serve the locals as well as travelers on the Dimona-Eilat road. Other factories designed by Trostler in the south met a similar fate: A textile plant in Be'er Sheva was partially demolished and converted into a supermarket, while spinning mills in Yeruham, Kiryat Gat and Ashkelon were shut down. The preservation and restoration of modern industrial buildings is a major issue today. We live in an age that purports to promote sustainable architecture, and recycling and restoration provide an alternative to demolition. "The cumulative quality of Trostler's work can definitely be seen in retrospect," says architect Zvi Elhyani, who has been working for several years to create an archive of Israeli architecture. "I'm not some extremist who thinks you need to preserve everything. Not everything deserves preservation. However, the issue of industrial buildings in Israel is completely absent from our awareness and they lack the sexiness attributed to them abroad." As an example, Elhyani offers the Tate Modern in London, which was formerly a power plant, and the industrial buildings from which the first lofts in New York were created. "That's what's also happening in south Tel Aviv," he says. "It's the connection between industry and bohemia and culture, but in Israel there is no research on industrial design. For example, on the way to my parents in Petah Tikva was one of my favorite buildings - the Yakhin factory, which was designed by Arieh Sharon. A masterpiece of modern design, with vertical louvres and exposed building blocks. A few weeks ago I was amazed to discover that it simply disappeared." Prof. Michael Levin says, "You have to understand that industry and tourism weren't considered leading sectors after the establishment of the state. They weren't the spearhead. But it's strange, because they actually greatly helped Israel's economic foundations. There was less glamour there because the hotels that Trostler designed were considered very commercial, and industrial buildings were never considered equal to public buildings such as concert halls." Architect David Kroyanker is one voice that hasn't joined in singing Trostler's praises. Kroyanker is a scholar of Jerusalem's architectural legacy and has a file on nearly every building in the city. "Trostler's work reflects the economic difficulties of the 1950s, and certainly doesn't express design pretension," he says. "In a solely formal-visual sense, there aren't landmarks of any importance." He believes that a holistic perspective of Trosler's work actually reveals the prominence of his non-industrial buildings. For example, the first office tower built on Hillel Street in the mid-1960s was a 17-story building commissioned by Rassco Construction Company. Today it is a hotel and office building, with a dilapidated shopping center on the ground floor. But the meticulous architecture has been preserved: The office wing has rows of windows that look as if they came straight from the facade of one of Trosler's factories, and the design of the hotel is expressed through thin vertical lines and stone cladding. Not far from there, on King George Street, Trostler designed an office building for the Solel Boneh construction company. The elegant building comprises four stories, and to lend it a sense of bureaucratic splendor Trostler placed a large concrete roof over the entrance, and above it a Juliet balcony facing the street. Through the broken windows and the entrance, now sealed by cinder blocks, you can still see the elegance of the wood-paneled, split-level lobby. The facades are divided horizontally with four kinds of stone, which remain in excellent condition. Solel Boneh left the building in 1989, and the yard is currently a makeshift parking lot for employees of the Jewish Agency, across the street. The entire site is scheduled to be demolished to make way for a new luxury hotel. Restoration work was recently completed on the Government Printing Office on Hebron Road in the capital, an impressive Bauhaus structure designed by the prominent British architect Austen St. Barbe Harrison, that currently houses startup companies. The building, with its exceptional architectural qualities, was saved, despite the municipality's problematic restoration policy. A few of Trostler's buildings have managed to escape the bulldozers for now: The diamond center and the yarn factory in Jerusalem came to house the Israel Broadcasting Authority, in a prime example of building 'recycling.' One can only hope that the rest of the buildings designed by Trostler, who never asked for recognition, will receive such renewed consideration. W Bookmark to del.icio.us   Palin as Olmert? Free flights and life of luxury characterize both the VP hopeful and our outgoing PM 'Hit a Jew Day' St. Louis middle school students face punishment over spirit week game gone bad

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