Trainees renovate Bauhaus facade in Tel Aviv

In 2019, the most influential architectural movement of the 20th century celebrated an anniversary: 100 years of Bauhaus. A residential building in Tel Aviv built in this style was the subject of an international cooperation project in the same year. Together with young Israeli craftsmen and women, trainee painters and plasterers from Germany renovated the Max Liebling House in the "White City" and converted it into the White City Center. The Sto Foundation organized and financed the elaborate facade restoration for four German-Israeli teams, who worked and lived together in the city for ten days each from the end of March to mid-May 2019.

Trainee plasterers from the vocational school in Leonberg made the start. They repaired cracks, applied deep and adhesive primer as well as finishing plaster. Seven journeyman painters from the German vocational schools in Berlin, Hamburg, Hildesheim, Fulda, Lahr, Munich and Stuttgart then took care of the new coat of paint.
 

Intercultural knowledge transfer

The work on the building was accompanied by a lively exchange with the young Israeli craftsmen and women on site. For example, the young German professionals learned the correct mixing ratio for plaster in the salty air of the Mediterranean. After the work was done, the workshop participants gained impressions of Tel Aviv and Israel during the accompanying cultural program.

The Max-Liebling-Haus, which has now been renovated, is one of around 4,000 residential buildings in the "White City" that German Bauhaus architects of Jewish faith built in Tel Aviv after 1933. The buildings are a typical example of the "International Style" characterized by Bauhaus elements and are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In September 2019, the completely renovated building shone in new splendor. It was officially handed over for use as a German-Israeli documentation, mediation and competence center.