Ram Karmi
Encyclopedia
Ram Karmi is a leading Israel
i architect. He is head of the Tel Aviv
-based Ram Karmi Architects company, and is known for his Brutalist
style.
in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and became one of the first soldiers in the Nahal
.
He studied architecture at the Technion, Haifa
, and Architectural Association School of Architecture
, London in 1951–56. His father, Dov Karmi
, was also an architect and won the Israel Prize
in 1957. His sister, the architect Ada Karmi-Melamede
, was also awarded the Israel Prize for architecture, in 2007. He is married to Rivka Karmi-Edry with whom he has a son and two daughters. He also has two sons and a daughter from a previous marriage.
Early in his career Ram Karmi was employed in his father's office where he worked on plans for the Knesset
along with the design competition winner Joseph Klarwein. Karmi planned the Negev Center, Beersheba
, in 1960 and El Al
building, Tel Aviv
, in 1963. He continued his architectural work while lecturing at the Technion, designing the Amal School in Tel Aviv and the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station
.
According to Karmi, after the 1967 Six-Day War
, the changed atmosphere in Israeli society caused him to re-think his brutalist style. In 1974, Karmi voluntarily became the chief architect in the Housing and Construction Minister of Israel
, a position he held until 1979, and worked to re-design the near-ubiquitous public housing
projects in Israel.
In 1986 he participated in an international competition to design the Supreme Court of Israel
compound, winning it along with his sister's architecture company. The compound, designed by Karmi, opened in 1992. New York Times architecture critic Paul Goldberger
wrote of Karmi's design, "the sharpness of the Mediterranean architectural tradition and the dignity of the law are here married with remarkable grace." Beginning in 2007, Karmi was the architect in charge of renovating the Habima Theatre.
between 1964 and 1994. He lectured at MIT
, Columbia University
and the University of Houston
.
Today Karmi teaches at the Ariel University Center of Samaria.
, which Karmi designed along with the architects Tzvi Komet and Ya'el Rothschild, has been criticized over the years for being a difficult to navigate bloated structure which also destroyed the neighborhood it was built in, despite numerous advertising campaigns and improvements. In an interview, Haim Avigal, the CEO of the station from 2005, downplayed the navigation complaints, but said that "if I caught the architect who designed this building, I'd beat him up". In 2010, his renovation of Habima Theatre, which is still under way after three years, has been fiercely criticized.
In 2005, he was voted the 192nd-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet
to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i architect. He is head of the Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
-based Ram Karmi Architects company, and is known for his Brutalist
Brutalist architecture
Brutalist architecture is a style of architecture which flourished from the 1950s to the mid 1970s, spawned from the modernist architectural movement.-The term "brutalism":...
style.
Biography
Ram Karmi was born in Jerusalem, and grew up in Tel Aviv. Karmi served in the Israel Defense ForcesIsrael Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and became one of the first soldiers in the Nahal
Nahal
Nahal is an Israel Defense Forces infantry brigade. Historically, it refers to a program that combines military service and establishment of new agricultural settlements, often in outlying areas...
.
He studied architecture at the Technion, Haifa
Haifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
, and Architectural Association School of Architecture
Architectural Association School of Architecture
The Architectural Association School of Architecture, more usually known as the AA, is an architectural school in London, United Kingdom...
, London in 1951–56. His father, Dov Karmi
Dov Karmi
- Biography :Karmi was born in 1905 in Odessa, Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire. In 1921 he emigrated to British-ruled Palestine ....
, was also an architect and won the Israel Prize
Israel Prize
The Israel Prize is an award handed out by the State of Israel and is largely regarded as the state's highest honor. It is presented annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state ceremony in Jerusalem, in the presence of the President, the Prime Minister, the Knesset chairperson, and the...
in 1957. His sister, the architect Ada Karmi-Melamede
Ada Karmi-Melamede
- Biography :Karmi-Melamede was born on December 24, 1936 in Tel Aviv, in Mandate Palestine .She studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London from 1956 to 1959 and at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology from 1961 to 1962, being awarded her degree in 1963.-...
, was also awarded the Israel Prize for architecture, in 2007. He is married to Rivka Karmi-Edry with whom he has a son and two daughters. He also has two sons and a daughter from a previous marriage.
Architectural career
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
along with the design competition winner Joseph Klarwein. Karmi planned the Negev Center, Beersheba
Beersheba
Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....
, in 1960 and El Al
El Al
El Al Israel Airlines Ltd , trading as El Al , is the flag carrier of Israel. It operates scheduled domestic and international services and cargo flights to Europe, North America, Africa and the Far East from its main base in Ben Gurion International Airport...
building, Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, in 1963. He continued his architectural work while lecturing at the Technion, designing the Amal School in Tel Aviv and the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station
Tel Aviv Central Bus Station
Tel Aviv Central Bus Station, known as the New Central Bus Station , is the main bus station of Tel Aviv, Israel...
.
According to Karmi, after the 1967 Six-Day War
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
, the changed atmosphere in Israeli society caused him to re-think his brutalist style. In 1974, Karmi voluntarily became the chief architect in the Housing and Construction Minister of Israel
Housing and Construction Minister of Israel
The Ministry of Housing and Construction is a portfolio in the Israeli cabinet. The ministry was created in 1961, and until 1977 it was known as the Ministry of Housing. Construction was also previously part of the Labour and Construction ministry during the provisional government between 1948 and...
, a position he held until 1979, and worked to re-design the near-ubiquitous public housing
Public housing
Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. Social housing is an umbrella term referring to rental housing which may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the...
projects in Israel.
In 1986 he participated in an international competition to design the Supreme Court of Israel
Supreme Court of Israel
The Supreme Court is at the head of the court system and highest judicial instance in Israel. The Supreme Court sits in Jerusalem.The area of its jurisdiction is all of Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories. A ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every court, other than the Supreme...
compound, winning it along with his sister's architecture company. The compound, designed by Karmi, opened in 1992. New York Times architecture critic Paul Goldberger
Paul Goldberger
Paul Goldberger is the Architecture Critic for The New Yorker, where since 1997 he has written the magazine's celebrated "Sky Line" column. He also holds the Joseph Urban Chair in Design and Architecture at The New School in New York City...
wrote of Karmi's design, "the sharpness of the Mediterranean architectural tradition and the dignity of the law are here married with remarkable grace." Beginning in 2007, Karmi was the architect in charge of renovating the Habima Theatre.
Academic career
Karmi taught at the Technion, HaifaHaifa
Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of over 268,000. Another 300,000 people live in towns directly adjacent to the city including the cities of the Krayot, as well as, Tirat Carmel, Daliyat al-Karmel and Nesher...
between 1964 and 1994. He lectured at MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and the University of Houston
University of Houston
The University of Houston is a state research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System. Founded in 1927, it is Texas's third-largest university with nearly 40,000 students. Its campus spans 667 acres in southeast Houston, and was known as University of...
.
Today Karmi teaches at the Ariel University Center of Samaria.
Criticism and controversy
The massive Tel Aviv Central Bus StationTel Aviv Central Bus Station
Tel Aviv Central Bus Station, known as the New Central Bus Station , is the main bus station of Tel Aviv, Israel...
, which Karmi designed along with the architects Tzvi Komet and Ya'el Rothschild, has been criticized over the years for being a difficult to navigate bloated structure which also destroyed the neighborhood it was built in, despite numerous advertising campaigns and improvements. In an interview, Haim Avigal, the CEO of the station from 2005, downplayed the navigation complaints, but said that "if I caught the architect who designed this building, I'd beat him up". In 2010, his renovation of Habima Theatre, which is still under way after three years, has been fiercely criticized.
Awards
Karmi won the following awards:- Israel PrizeIsrael PrizeThe Israel Prize is an award handed out by the State of Israel and is largely regarded as the state's highest honor. It is presented annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state ceremony in Jerusalem, in the presence of the President, the Prime Minister, the Knesset chairperson, and the...
, 2002 – for architecture. - Rechter PrizeRechter PrizeThe Rechter Prize is an Israeli architecture prize awarded bi-annually and intended to "encourage landmark projects of Israeli architecture". It was established in 1962....
:- 1967 – for the Negev Center in BeershebaBeershebaBeersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....
; - 1999 – for the Children's Memorial (Yad LaYeled) in the Ghetto Fighters' HouseGhetto Fighters' HouseThe Ghetto Fighters' House , full name, Itzhak Katzenelson Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Heritage Museum and Study Center, was founded in 1949 by members of Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot, a community of Holocaust survivors, among them fighters of the ghetto undergrounds and partisan units...
.
- 1967 – for the Negev Center in Beersheba
- Reinholds Prize, 1969 – for a mixed residential/commercial project in Beersheba.
- Rokach Prize:
- 1965 – for the El Al building in Tel Aviv;
- 1970 – for residential buildings in Be'eri St., Tel Aviv.
In 2005, he was voted the 192nd-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet
Ynet
Ynet is the most popular Israeli news and general content website. It is owned by the same conglomerate that operates Yediot Ahronot, the country's secondleading daily newspaper...
to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis.
Published works
- Lyric Architecture (2001). Israeli Ministry of Defense.
See also
- List of Israel Prize recipients