be'er sheva, israel's brutalist desert city photographed by stefano perego

for this photography series stefano perego takes us to the israeli city of be’er sheva – otherwise known as the capital of the negev desert. the city itself dates back centuries, however, the brutalist architecture that perego has captured was developed from 1948 onwards, after becoming occupied by isreali troops. be’er sheva was to be transformed from a small center of 4000 people, inhabited mainly by military personnel, to the capital of the negev desert and the symbol of brutalist architecture in the newly-founded state of israel. 

monument to the negev brigade – dani karavan (1963-1968)

all images © stefano perego

be’er sheva was an open-air urban planning workshop and a place where many architects were inspired by the brutalism of le corbusier. the goals were mainly to redistribute the population throughout the territory, which was almost entirely concentrated in the few large centers, and the construction of residential complexes for the increasing number of immigrants. a team led by architect arieh sharon was in charge of designing the plan for the new city.

zalman aranne university library – michael nadler and shulamit nadler (1968-1971)

between the late 1950s and the early 1980s, a large number of brutalist-style buildings were constructed in be’er sheva, including residential, administrative, educational, culture and entertainment structures. these buildings were connected by common features, such as plastic shapes sculpted in the massive raw concrete façades. 

faculty of humanities and social sciences of the ben gurion university of the negev – rafi reifer, amnon niv and natan magen (1968-1971)

the redevelopment of be’er sheva was undoubtedly a challenging experiment due to its desert location. in these images, perego narrates the strong visual impact of the city, which bears witness to an architectural era of creativity and artistic value.

yad lebanim memorial museum – yochanan rechter and mordechai shoshani (1981)

residential building – meir cecik and bitosh comforti (1960s)

residential building (1970s)

cinema orot – zeev rechter (1963)

Residential building ‘Drawer Tower’ – Moshe Lupenfeld and Giora Gamerman (1962-1967)

student dormitory – ram karmi (1974)

residential building ‘quarter kilometre’ – avraham yaski and amnon alexandroni (1958)

faculty of humanities and social sciences of the ben gurion university of the negev – rafi reifer, amnon niv and natan magen (1968-1971)

medical library – arieh sharon and eldar sharon (1976)

project info:

photography: stefano perego

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edited by: lynne myers | designboom