Ahad Haam Tower is located in Haifa’s Hadar neighborhood, which for years served as the socio-economic and cultural center of the coastal port city. The neighborhood’s design was first drafted in the 1930’s by renowned architect Richard Kaufman, widely considered one of the most influential architects in the history of Israel.
Kaufman, who was greatly influenced by Sir Ebenezer Howard, an English urban planner, designed the Hadar neighborhood according to the principles of the “Garden City.” Ahad Haam Tower reinvents Haifa’s architectural legacy by propelling an urban concept aimed at dealing with intensive urbanization and densification processes. Ahad Haam Tower’s three-dimensional façades manifest a unique identity to each of the apartments in the project.
The primary goal of Ahad Haam Tower was to create a microcosm of local culture that distills the principles of the entire neighborhood. This goal is achieved by combining a commercial floor on the ground level with an array of artist workshops – an important part of the neighborhood’s revitalization. Alongside the skyscraper, the Birkenheim House, a 19th-century Templar building, has been restored to serve as a commercial area that hosts artist studios and a café.
The building was restored together with various craftsmen who paid respect to the details that characterized the original building — wood, iron and stone — all the while under strict supervision of the Israeli Society for the Conservation and Preservation. The materiality of Ahad Ha’am Tower is composed of exposed concrete castings that create a complete and coherent aesthetic with the architectural language of the many preservation buildings in the neighborhood.
The Ahad Ha’am Tower seamlessly integrates into the existing urban fabric and pays respect to the original aesthetic of Haifa, based upon the Bauhaus architectural style of the 1930’s and restored century Templar buildings, while creating a new dimension of the surrounding cityscape. Ahad Ha’am Tower’s 170 residential spaces over 24-floors all come replete with iconic panoramic views of the Mediterranean Sea and Mount Carmel.
Ahad Ha’am Tower, which is currently populated by a diverse population consisting of academics, high-tech entrepreneurs, designers and artists from diverse ethnic backgrounds, symbolizes a new era for the entire neighborhood towards the modernization of the neighborhood as a significant urban center in Haifa. Source by Bar Orian Architects, Schwartz Besnosoff Architects.
- Location: Haifa, Israel
- Architect: Bar Orian Architects, Schwartz Besnosoff Architects
- Head Designers: Gidi Bar Orian and Gaby Schwartz
- Planning team Bar Orian: Yoni Havaletzki, Simon Girshovich, Merav Gelbart, Omri Rimon, Tovi Gal
- Planning team Schwartz Besnosoff: Omri Schwartz, Ken Natan, Amin Yasin
- Civil Engineering: Karben and CO.
- Management: A. Epstein
- Landscape: Bo landscape
- Roads and infrastructure engineering: Guy Druckman
- Aluminum consultant: AMG Design consultancy project managementt
- Head Contractor: Denya Sibos
- Client: Shagrawi Leibowitz and Ronen & Yossef Sionov
- Area: 16000 m2
- Year: 2020
- Photographs: Amit Geron, Courtesy of XHIBITION
