Tel Aviv-based architecture studio A. Lerman Architects has completed a cultural center in Herzliya, Israel, which opens up the building with a wide panorama with its linear volume.

Named TEO Center for Culture, Art and Content (TEO), the 2,500-square-metre building is located in a beachside residential area of Herzliya, TEO comes into view as a distinct single-story building, eminently lower than the neighborhood’s enclosed private mansions.

The freestanding TEO opens up a wide panorama toward the west—the horizon over the ocean—thus rupturing the visual and social narrative of walled luxury villas this area of Herzliya is known for. The insertion of a fully exposed public cultural center as an event in the surrounding urbanscape was key to the design strategy.

East facade. Image © Amit Geron

TEO provides a unique functional facility to the city’s art-practicing and culture-seeking residents. The plan is designed within a 50 by 50 square meters around an offset central patio surrounded by the various programs: a music conservatory, a dance school, art and ceramics studios, a gallery, a senior recreation center, and a cafeteria. 

An upper partial floor houses a library complemented by a 300-square-metre open deck.

Site bird's eye view. Image © A.Lerman Architects Ltd.

The uniqueness of the design lies in the coherence of a precise geometric module that is strictly enforced throughout; concrete (on-site casts & precast units), textured glass, and metal flow seamlessly from exterior to interior surfaces. 

North Facade. Image © Amit Geron

Cutting-edge sealing techniques were used to protect the building from the rain while maintaining its flat roof silhouette and tight proportions.  

The patio - covering 292-square-metre area - makes available a space of quiet and welcoming scale. The floated, draining floor provides a pleasing horizontal surface from which a single mature oak tree rises. 

Patio

Direct sunlight from above dynamically projects its presence across the patio’s surfaces, creating ever-changing visual compositions of organic against geometrical form.

North West corner

Inside | Outside

West Entrance

Art and Ceramics studio

Main Entrance at night

Patio | Corridor

Interior - strip of light. Image © Amit Geron

Entrance Pergola. Image © Amit Geron

Events Hall

Events Hall - view from garden

Dance Studio

Site plan

Plan

Sections

A. Lerman Architects is situated in the south of Tel Aviv in a locksmith workshop turned into an architectural studio. The practice was established in 2006 by Asaf Lerman, an Architectural Association graduate. 

Their portfolio consists entirely of public projects & Asaf is a well-known spokesman for the civic rights in face of the rapidly privatized world everyone lives in.

Project facts

Client: Herzliya development company Ltd.

Completion year: September 2019

Built area: 2500 m2

Location: Herzliya, Israel

Principal architect: Asaf Lerman

Project architects: Danielle Nagila, Nimrod Schenkelbach, Itai Bachor.

All images © Nimrod Levy unless otherwise stated. 

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