Perhaps we environmentally savvy folks see viable architectural development in terms of ideas that have become a collection of norms—energy and water-saving features, minimizing the impact on the environment, or the kind of material to be used.
Architect Nili Portugali, however, widens this view by placing the welfare of the subject for whom the construction takes place at the center.
Portugali's book Act of Creation and the Spirit of a Place: A Holistic-Phenomenological Approach to Architecture offers her view on creating a physical environment where the human perspective is considered first. She not only tells us about 30 years of architecture, she also shows us her design projects through more than 700 color pictures.
"Not every day comes a book showing the world of an Israeli architect," says the British Architecture Association. "Portugali's work blends architecture, spirituality, hope, and essence. There's no similar book. It's a sui generis."
What is good for humans, Portugali believes, will be good for the environment too. For example, it's in the interest of humans to be exposed to natural daylight in the stairwell instead of having to rely on electricity; this of course, also saves energy.
In this age of alienation and detachment in which people in increasing numbers, work on computers, Portugali still plans her projects in the field. During the first stages of planning, she is on site.
With physical tools like ropes for delineation, she goes about the spot, discovering its terrain and character and how the construction will blend with the environment.
When Portugali plans a window, for instance, she does it in the field because it's very important to understand what the subject will see from the building through that window, and what passers-by will see when they look at the building from outside.
When the terrain where the building will stand is not uniform, it's necessary to take into account its peculiarities and to plan every part of the building accordingly. Thus, the planning of a building is a chain of details ranging from the shape and colors of the outside walls to the stairwell inside. Portugali plans the building in its entirety, from its face to the last detail.
Portugali respects the environment as well. For example, she doesn't destroy trees. She tells of two instances in which there were trees on the development site. In the first case, an elderly care facility in Tel-Aviv, she used two ancient eucalyptus trees to mark the entrance.
In the other case, in which there was a row of trees in the area to be built, she planned the building in the center of the row of trees and placed the windows facing out to the trees, creating the sensation, when looking out, of being across from a forest.
Portugali tells us that in the 1970s, a research group proposed that in those historical places where we feel comfortable despite our not having a connection to the culture, there's a common element that reflects something deep inside us.
"If we can identify those design patterns which reflect that feeling," she adds, "we could recreate those places in this age as well. It's not about nostalgia, but rather about things that can be created if we return to a right appreciation of the world and right design patterns."
Portugali relates this issue to tradition: "In the past there were traditions for every aspect of life. Things were clear. There were points of reference that dictated a language. Now there's no clear culture and therefore no language."
That same research group from the 1970s said that in order to create an environment where all its members would understand each other, it would be necessary to redefine those design patterns. "It is necessary to find strong design patterns which can recover the lost quality."
Portugali understands the traditions of place profoundly. Her family has been in the city of Safed for seven generations. As a child she rambled around in the city's streets and synagogues.
The shapes and forms she experienced left their mark on her. According to her, those patterns are related to the physical place of Israel that comes as a result of living as Jews there.
Those are values that can be recreated today as well.
The condition to create them would be understanding that those notions related to beauty and aesthetics are not subjective but rather objective.
Thus, "in those places where tradition is strong, like in the Far East, Paris, London, or Italy," Portugali explains, "modern architecture is very good as well."
[ Act of Creation and the Spirit of a Place: A Holistic-Phenomenological Approach to Architecture won the Royal Institute of British Architects prize, one of 20 chosen by the British Architects Association in the category Architecture Books in the world.]
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