From the Research Lab: Privatization as publicization

Sharon Golan-Yaron, program director of the Liebling Haus, talks with architect Asaf Lerman about the ongoing privatization that triggered the Israeli economy's fundamental transformation.

The responsibility for infrastructure and elementary public services - health, education, housing, and transportation - has been transferred from the state to the hands of private entrepreneurs. This process, which epitomizes the dramatic withdrawal of the state from its involvement in shaping various aspects of public space, also demands that the Israeli architecture innovate its language so it can continue to exist as a relevant practice and reclaim its place in shaping public agenda.

The primary colors in the architect's palette blend as political, economic, and technological changes continue to blur the boundaries.

For example, think how privatizing companies like Shikun Ovdim, infrastructures such as ZIM, or even the emergence of mobile phones, altered the distinction between the private and the public.

However, the semantic deconstruction inherent in privatization offers Israeli architecture a rare opportunity to regenerate and review the validity of rigid typological formats: school, stadium, museum, building, and residential neighborhood. Unraveling the shell covering these formats would inevitably lead to a new, specific architectural response - a beautiful hybrid creature.