Muslala urban renewal to be shown at Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism

Feeling downcast, dejected, pessimistic about the future in these here parts? At a wild guess, one could venture that applies to a large proportion of Israelis, at least over the past nigh on two years. But the plain, less disseminated fact of the matter is that there are folk among us getting up to all sorts of wonderful endeavors with the unabashed, upfront intent of making this country – nay, the whole world – a better place to live in.

The latter will be facilitated by Muslala’s participation later this month in the prestigious Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, in South Korea, while there are talks with municipalities around Israel to spawn similar ventures elsewhere in the domestic arena.

When I paid a return visit to the nonprofit earlier this week, I was happily reunited with the refreshing and calming ambiance of the place, which continues to exude a sense of tranquility, as well as proffer a balm to both the spirit and the body. And that’s despite being met by the pervading sound of drills, hammers, and other tools as an expansive deck took shape in one section of the rooftop.

THE FESTIVAL moniker is a thinly disguised take on Gan Eden – the biblical Garden of Eden – which, if Israeli’s credo is anything to go by, may eventually materialize in our capital.

“Look at that floor,” Israeli advises when we sit down to chat at the rooftop urban perch with a jug of lemon verbena tea that Israeli, co-founder and director of the NPO, prepared using leaves from the Muslala garden. “That’s gray bitumen. If you flew over the city, you’d see that the majority of the city is covered with it. “And what is bitumen?” he poses, quickly saving me some dome-scratching. “It is a sort of petroleum which stops vegetation from taking root; it’s used in roofing and waterproofing applications.”

We move into philosophical, almost lyrical, climes. “If you take an allegorical view of that, you realize we’ve covered our buildings with an outer coating that prevents the formation of life. We say we don’t want vegetation, we don’t want animals, we don’t want anything other than sealing.” It gets worse, and more morbid. “And what is petroleum oil? That’s a substance that results from the death of living beings. That gray layer is the exact opposite of the place in which we would want to live.”

The man has an irrefutable point, in aesthetic, human, and fundamentally existential terms. Any architect worth his salt will be fully cognizant of the inescapable fact that our emotional as well as logistical well-being is powerfully impacted by our man-made urban environment. Hence, surrounding ourselves with lifeless, colorless, drab slabs of concrete isn’t going to do much for our spirit or our get-up-and-go.

That also forms part of the message Israeli is taking to South Korea with him, together with Ytav Bouhsira, the definitively green- and human-guided architect and Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design head of advanced architecture studies. Now that is quite a feather in the nonprofit’s and the country’s hat, especially in these dire times. Israeli admits he was taken aback a little when word came through that their application to the biennale was approved.

“I was surprised and not surprised,” he remarks a mite enigmatically. “It was surprising because Israelis are not currently welcome everywhere,” he notes. That’s pretty high in the understatement stakes. Then again, this isn’t about the country per se, which, Israeli feels, may have helped to circumnavigate the political minefield. “This is an exhibition of cities [in Seoul]. Jerusalem is a brand, a powerful brand around the world, and it isn’t affected by what happens in Israel.” That, indeed, came as a surprise of the most pleasant kind.

It also fits the theme of the biennale, which goes by the inviting titular banner of “Radically More Human.” That, in a nutshell, is what Muslala is about. “We need to make cities more human, more inviting,” Israeli states. It makes perfect facts-on-the-ground sense. “The vast majority of the people of the world live in cities, and we want to make the cities more livable and to stop people running away to the country.”

That flies in the face of the ideal, or idealized, image of a cozy cottage dwelling nestled in verdant surroundings. Israeli knows that he and Muslala have their work cut out for them if they are to change that marketing executive-fueled take on the optimum quality of life.

“Ask kids around the world, from anywhere, to draw a picture of a house, and you’ll always get a house with a sloping red-tiled roof. That’s ridiculous,” Israeli smiles grimly.

WE RETURN to Muslala’s downtown premises, the theme of next week’s festival in Jerusalem and one of the nonprofit’s principal objectives. There is a whole other level – corporeal and philosophical – that needs to be addressed, for the benefit of one and all.

Israeli envisages urban domains in which skyscrapers, which supply much-needed accommodation and work spaces far removed from street-level life – and Mother Earth – also provide valuable spaces that are utilized for quotidian purposes, as well as for aesthetically and spiritually enriching expanses. He cites a highly salient case in point, right in his own backyard, which encapsulates the idea of embracing possibly unwanted advances and doing one’s best to reap unsuspected rewards. It also reflects Israeli’s unstinting drive to meet our existential challenges and maintain a positive mindset, regardless of the bad stuff going on around us.

“You see that office building?” he says, pointing to a tower block looming up close – ever so close – to our rooftop refuge. “A few years ago, you could look out and just see the sky. It was lovely. Gradually, a tall building sprang up. We were browned off, but what can you do? The sky doesn’t belong exclusively to us.” The positive flip side duly transpired. “We discovered that the roof of the building is very innovative, possibly one of the most innovative in the country.”

How so? “The apartment block was designated for Americans and the wealthy. They come here for the religious holidays, and they didn’t have anywhere to build their sukkot. They built a bridge to the office block next to them and created a sukkot area there for the entire residential building. So you now have a 30-floor apartment building with a bridge on the 11th floor to the next-door building. That’s amazing.”

Israeli believes that is the way forward for cities here and around the world. “That’s the future. There will be a network of roofs, right across the city, which also allows people to move [freely] around town.”

THE – LITERALLY – lofty concept will feature in the Gag Eden bash, with its spread of workshops, entertainment, and guided tours, including in other parts of the city, such as the delectable roof garden of AI company Lightricks in Givat Ram, and the Song-Prayer-Body performance slot atop the Art Cube Artists’ Studio in Talpiot.

Israeli Ambassador in Korea Rafael Harpaz is naturally supportive of the Clal Building outfit’s initiative and its inclusion in the biennale. He also believes it feeds off mutual bilateral appreciation. “The participation of Muslala, representing Israel and its capital at the Seoul Biennale of Architecture [and Urbanism], highlights the strong cultural affinity between Israel and Korea. Israeli art and culture are highly valued in Korea, and this event is no exception. It reflects the deep appreciation Koreans have for Israeli architecture, creativity, and innovation.”

The potential for exponential environmentally and urban dweller-friendly evolution will be conveyed here and over in Korea. No doubt, the Clal Center, which was initially designed in the early 1970s by Dan Eytan as a roofless commercial and business space, will not be the only urban space on show at the biennale that has undergone a fruitful makeover. Still, in addition to the clear green and human downtown-based message, Israeli and Bouhsira may very well offer the world a glimmer of positive light from this part of the world.

Unavoidable politics aside, the idea is to exhibit the upbeat side and the opportunities available to us in urban edifices that come across as dismal failures. There are a number of enticing videos in the Israeli showing in Korea. “This is a process of human renewal,” Israeli advises.

“Despite the generally perceived image of the [Clal] Building as a building which is devoid of life, the video shows there is an abundance of life in it, across a broad range of events and human movement. And that happens right around the clock, from the early morning cleaner’s work through to activity on the roof, cultural events, and all sorts of businesses that operate there.”

There is a sneak preview of what the Koreans and foreign visitors to the biennale will catch at the Israeli stand. “It didn’t seem fair to take the exhibition to Korea without offering people here, who can’t travel over there, a taste of what we are putting on,” says Israeli with typical all-embracing pathos.

For Bouhsira, it is basically a matter of peeling back the outer layers and taking a peek at the pulsating innards. He also believes the downtown edifice is a good choice for the biennale. “You can love or loathe the Clal Building, but you can’t really ignore it,” he smiles. Jerusalemites, or anyone who passes through the downtown domain, will, no doubt, concur.

“The exhibition looks at the skins of buildings, the envelope,” he explains. So, the interior design and structure, and inner dynamics, are of no interest? “We believe that the central part of the building – setting the two Clal towers to one side – is entirely an envelope. It is a sort of ever-folded envelope.”

As such, Bouhsira says, the center is part and parcel of its surroundings. “In that respect, it is a direct continuation of the streets around it. The building skin looks to be part of the city, to be an urban animal, not a constructional animal.” That idea comes through more clearly when you take a look at Eytan’s original open-to-the-sky plans. And not just on the vertical plane.

Bouhsira also says that the Clal Center is very much a product of its physical and historical backdrop. “That’s the rhetoric of the building, but also its codex. We want to unfold the building, which gradually closed in on itself and lost its presence over the years. That was because of the roof, and also the security issues, with guarded gates added. So the streets don’t naturally flow inside. And Jerusalem, as a walled city, had gates.”

He also challenges the stance taken by some that the building – particularly those who want to tear it down and replace it with enormous skyscrapers – is a financial failure.

“Matan calls it [Muslala’s work] human renewal. I go along with that. But I see it as more than human regeneration. They say the Clal Building is not financially viable. On the other hand, we know that as a result of urban crowding, the bee population of the world is diminishing by around 60% annually.”

That is not only an alarming ecological cataclysm; it translates into hard cash. “Bees are worth about $20 billion annually around the world,” he states. “The fact that the bee population is declining costs the world $20b., and counting, every single year.” Part of the Muslala roof provides a home for beehives; and naturally, establishing and nurturing similar facilities on other urban rooftops is central to the nonprofit’s ethos.

That, among other messages, will be proffered to visitors to the Muslala exhibition in Seoul through five drawings that unfold the Muslala story.

“We write: ‘Jerusalem is not written in master plans but in mythologies.’ We formulated five typologies in the building. It is an [urban] oasis which is also located right on the watershed of the Judean Desert. And there are gates which are mythological creatures – on physical and liminal, and spiritual, levels.”

JERUSALEM STONE is an abiding symbol across the ages, denoting both the challenges of the harsh substance and its ability to weather the ravages of history. Interestingly, the Clal Building is light on that side of the construction material.

“There is minimal stone content in the Clal Center,” Bouhsira says. “It is sawn off, down to fine layers. It is an extreme example of trying to avoid the use of stone. Today, around the world there is great renewed interest and use of stone in construction – in places like England, France, Spain, South America, and Africa. It’s an ecological factor, too. It is carbon, but it doesn’t release it into the atmosphere.”

Clearly, there are numerous layers to the story of the Clal Center and Muslala’s sterling efforts to improve the lot of urban residents here, there, and everywhere. Perhaps the biblical prophecy “The Torah will go forth from Zion” is up and running.

For more information about Muslala and Gag Eden: www.muslala.org/ and gag-eden.co.il/