Gottesman-Szmelcman Architecture unveils the new Gordon gallery in south Tel Aviv

Gottesman-Szmelcman Architecture unveiled the new and third physical space for Gordon Gallery, one of Israel's leading art institutions, located in Tel Aviv, Israel. The 165-square meter contemporary art space was transformed from the ruins of a warehouse on the fringe of the city and extends the burgeoning south Tel Aviv art scene into the industrial neighborhood bordering Jaffa.

Gottesman-Szmelcman Architecture was tasked with a peculiar municipality development affecting their strategic plan for the new Gordon Gallery. The industrial neighborhood was re-zoned during planning as a high density, mixed-use area, opening the possibility to future residential tower construction. While the structure can be viewed as temporary in zoning terms, the design could not afford to be taken lightly. The gallery was grounded and constructed in the spirit of permanence with a keen attention to detail. As the firm has learned over the years, few things are quite as permanent in Tel Aviv as temporary structures.

The firm maintained a great respect to the industrial landscape of the South Tel Aviv neighborhood, the gallery's requirements and the surrounding carpentry workshops and zipper factory on Hapelech Street. The dialogue between the internal and external areas of The New Gordon Gallery color the perception of the space. Gottesman-Szmelcman Architecture was adamant in avoiding the Platonian illusion of a neutral "white box" atmosphere common to contemporary galleries.

Asaf Gottesman comments:

The designing of any art gallery is as much about its boundaries as the volumes that defy definition. As architects who are commissioned to design art spaces, we have learnt that works of art are perceived in their fuller richness in spaces that have character, where spaces are akin to the silence or counterpoint that exist between the musical notes.

The firm's principal objective in the design of the new Gordon Gallery was to set the stage for the unexpected; to enhance the senses not through the introduction of noise but through the silence of light and shade; to enable a measured discourse between objects and the spaces that they occupy.

The new space in south Tel Aviv is Gordon Galleries' third locale and the latest iteration allowing the institution to further extend its reach and influence in the contemporary art sphere in addition to its contemporary Gordon Gallery 2 and the fine arts focus of of the original Gordon Gallery and auction house on Ben Yehuda Street. The large converted warehouse will showcase established and up-and-coming names from the local and International art world to a wider and diverse crowd.