5 june 2010, bauhaus

Having a lovely time in tel aviv, hanging out by the sea and eating and drinking all manner of good things. Highlight was a guided tour of the world's bauhaus capital. The school was german (1919 to 33) but although there are examples the world over, no other city centre is built in the style, as this was just when tel aviv was being built: the population in 1920 was just 2000 people and lots of sand dunes. Bauhaus was deeply egalitarian and utopian, all about building things that are not decorative but purely functional and so cheap to produce for the masses. The square, simple style is evident everywhere here, and the story of its decay, being ignored and then slow restoration and resuscitation is the story of a modern city and people still being built. One favoured solution is to sell off the roof of a typically 3-storey block, with another layer being built and the money used to restore the whole thing. "But that's not preservation !" say the purists. It's wonderful form following function though, and I think those bauhaus pioneers would have approved.