Master Class in Conservation and Architecture 05: Standards and Regulation -  Hebrew

The act of conservation is a constant negotiation between heritage values and contemporary functional needs. In the past, structures for conservation were required to meet the same rigid requirements as a new building, which often led to severe damage to original components. The fifth meeting in the series will be dedicated to the Fifth Amendment to the Planning and Building Law—a legislative amendment that allows the licensing authority, based on professional opinions, to approve a deviation from certain regulatory requirements, as long as a reasonable level of safety can be ensured through alternative means.

During the meeting, we will dive into the intricacies of the Fifth Amendment from different perspectives, examine safety engineering that enables creative solutions without damaging heritage, and analyze a local project where standard requirements clashed with conservation values. The evening will conclude with an open discussion on the professional challenge of balancing conservation ethics, safety, and accessibility in a changing city. We will ask where the line is drawn between functional adaptation and damage to the authenticity of the material, and how collaboration between architects, engineers, and consultants produces creative engineering that balances heritage with acute contemporary needs.

The Master Class series in conservation and architecture functions as a cumulative process of knowledge, where each meeting lays an additional layer to understanding the urban space. Throughout the series, we have learned that historical structures are a living cultural document that continues to change and influence the city. We opened by examining the burning engineering tension between conservation and protection, and the creation of reinforced spaces (Mamadim) in heritage structures; we continued to mapping climate values and embodied carbon in the documentation phase (Pre-Intervention); we researched the broad programmatic flexibility in Adaptive Reuse in industrial structures; and we dealt with the ethical dilemma of deciding between different time layers of tradition in religious structures. The fifth meeting in the series brings to the discussion table the practical intersection that connects and challenges all these insights together: the world of standardization and regulation.

Featuring:

Dr. Arch. Jermy Hoffman, Director of the Conservation Department at the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality

Professional Management and Guidance: Arch. Sharon Golan, Director of the Liebling House Research Lab

Content Production: Arch. Noam Sar Shalom, Research Lab

Participation is free upon registration, and limited to the first 100 registrants

The event will be held via Zoom, a link will be sent at the time of registration

The series of meetings Master Class in Conservation and Architecture offers a broad view of architectural conservation as a field that connects research, building culture, and thinking about the future of cities. Through examples from the urban space of Tel Aviv, we will learn how structures tell a story of society, climate, and ideas, and we will deal with urban current events related to the conservation of the built space. Inspired by the concept upon which the research lab at Liebling House operates, the Master Class will present the craft of conservation as a tool for understanding the city in the present and as a basis for creative thinking about its future—and not just as an act of protecting the past.