Architect vows to fight municipal plan to raze iconic Dizengoff Square

The architect who planned Dizengoff Square announced Tuesday that he intends to fight the Tel Aviv municipality's proposal to raze it and restore it to its original, ground-level form.

The original square was inaugurated in 1938. In 1978, however, under a plan by Tsvi Lissar, it was elevated in an effort to ease congestion in the area.

Prior to the square's elevation, Lissar said Tuesday, it was neglected, lacking either grass or a fountain. Its glory days had ended during the 1960s.

"Due to nostalgia for the past and aerial photographs on old postcards, we tend to forget that the center of town was basically a park that became a dull traffic island, isolated from its environment by a busy, congested road," Lissar said.

He is convinced that instead of razing the square, it should be renewed and fixed.

"The square," he said, "was first and foremost meant for pedestrians, and in its current form, it acts as a mall and offers lots of opportunities, all of which have not yet been taken advantage of. The areas around the square could be turned into genuine urban plazas by giving incentives to art galleries, music shops and coffee shops, all the while renovating the surrounding buildings and the square itself."

Lissar also pointed out that the square's fountain, designed by Yaakov Agam, "was put in place only eight years after the square was built and does not constitute an integral part of it. There is nothing keeping us from moving the sculpture elsewhere."