a. lerman architects converts former print factory in tel aviv into contemporary art gallery

a. lerman architects has converted a former print factory at the southern end of tel aviv into a contemporary art gallery that celebrates the building’s industrial past. instead of a polished art space, the project tackles the existing building with contemporary tools and concepts aimed at manifesting the conflict between the found object (building), and the new use inserted into it.exterior images by amit geron, interior images by jochum richard

a. lerman architects transformed the former print factory into an art gallery that highlights the tension between new versus old; sensual versus alienated; exposed versus hidden; and high versus low. the neutrality of the existing building, as described by the studio, allowed for a major intervention that explores the boundaries and potential of re-use.

‘the building on 117 herzl street was a mediocre architectural product in the positive sense of the word,’ notes the tel aviv-based studio. ‘it had other qualities too, being practical, average, unremarkable, generic, and faded. but in fact, its actual neutrality allowed a major intervention that did not suffice with a mere facelift and the creation of a polished art space.’

led by architect asaf lerman, the gallery design was developed based on a ‘hot-cold’ interaction between extremes. for the tel aviv-based studio, this tension emerges from the confusions and contradictions of daily life in the city, resulting in a hybrid between local traditions and modernism. though the intervention within the existing building was extensive, new spatial elements exist in harmony with the former character of the factory.

project info:

architect: a. lerman architects

client: contemporary art gallery

location: tel aviv, israel

principal architect: asaf lerman