SAVE-THE-DATE! June 13, 2018 5:30 - 7:30 pm 67 Roosevelt Ave, Pawtucket, RI 02860 The Rhode Island-Israel Collaborative (RIIC) in Collaboration with Grow Smart Rhode Island and the Old Slater Mill Association presents Israeli Architect Eliezer Armon who will talk about"Revitalizing and Redesigning Challenger Cities in the 21st Century" organized by Rhode Island-Israel Collaborative (RIIC) in collaboration with Grow Smart Rhode Island and the Old Slater Mill Association.
Come and meet Israeli Architect Eliezer Armon who will talk about
"Revitalizing and Redesigning Challenger Cities in the 21st Century" - how smart architectural design can position cities for economic growth and be a foundation for their re-positioning and re-branding. He will then bring some interesting case studies of Israeli cities Ashqelon and Mitzpe Ramon, cities that are in the midst of a major transformation.
Guest Speaker from Israel, Architect Eliezer Armon
Rhode Island-Israel Collaborative (RIIC) in collaboration with Grow Smart Rhode Island and Old Slater Mill Association
Opening remarks will be given by Scott Wolf, Executive Director of Grow Smart RI & Avi Nevel, President and CEO of Rhode Island Israel Collaborative (RIIC).
When you usually think of a mega-architect you probably think skyscrapers, glass and metal structures jockeying for their place in the city skyline. Eliezer Armon is not a typical architect, however. He is a desert architect; he doesn’t build vertically. Yet the extent of his building could easily include dozens of skyscrapers. Over the past 3 years, he’s developed the master-plan and land use plan for over 100,000 dwelling units, as well as 5 million square meters of industrial projects, including light, heavy and high-tech use, spread over more than 20 town planning projects across Israel’s outskirts.
Yet, Eliezer Armon is not just an architect. He is a martial art master and holds a black belt Dan 6 in the method of Dennis Survival Jiu-Jitsu. He’s also a Lieutenant Colonel (reserve) in the IDF and an avid student of Kabbalah, the ancient form of Jewish mysticism. All of these elements are part of what makes him a unique individual, as well as being manifested in each and every building he designs and every town that he plans. Some of his structures are truly iconic and unique in the Israeli landscape, blending a love of the desert, the discipline of martial arts and the spirituality of kabbalah. The “Officer’s” synagogue at the Bahad 1(The Israeli Westpoint) is a structure almost literally modeled after the biblical ‘burning bush”, where Moses received his calling.
The proximity to the original location fills the project with extra meaning and intensity.
Abraham’s Well is another project with deeper meaning. A visitor center built around the believed location of the famed well of the patriarch of monotheism. The project is intensified with meaning as Eliezer Armon was named after Abraham’s servant and for him the project serves closure on a storied life and career.
But these projects are just a fraction of his current architectural activity. As a key figure in developing the rapidly growing south with mass construction projects aimed at solving the country’s on-going housing crisis, he has literally multiplied several major cities like Ashkelon, Dimona and Mitzpe Ramon. You would think that such a prolific architect would be a household name in his native country. However, he has guarded his privacy for over a quarter of a century, letting the work do the talking and staying out of the spotlight. With the launch of "If architecture is a language, then a building is a story," (Images Publishing/ Peleus Press), Eliezer is finally ready to share his story, experiences and insights of building in the desert for the past 30 years.