Axelrod Architects, led by Principal Irit Axelrod, recently transformed a single-family house in Tel Aviv to reflect the homeowners’ love of serenity and sleek modern design, and the firm’s vision of modern residential architecture. The firm provided architectural design and interior design services for this 510 sq m / 5500 sq ft residence, consisting of two levels plus a basement, on a landscaped lot size: 710 sq m / 7600 sq ft.

The new homeowners wanted to remodel an existing 1980’s house to reflect their indoor-outdoor lifestyle. Their family life is now centered around a lush landscaped courtyard just outside their living-dining space. Axelrod Architects organized the house around a new ‘Black Core’, a glossy, black glass elevator that connects the living spaces below to the private sleeping spaces above.

The living space opens out to nature with sliding, clear glass openings, while opening upward to the bedroom level with open balconies and a double height ceiling. An open reading/media area tucked away upstairs allows the family to see each other while still finding quiet space for relaxation. 

The entry facade of white concrete and matte stucco is perforated by vertical openings and horizontal slits that reveal the indoor-outdoor nature of the home within, presenting a sleek modernist face to a quiet, upscale neighborhood of Tel Aviv. 

The glass surface of the black core inside reflects images of landscape throughout the house, reinforcing the idea of living in nature. The simple clarity of contrasting surfaces - in black & white or glossy & matte - is one of the unifying characteristics repeated in the interior design and the architecture of the building envelope.

The Black Core House espouses the firm’s Principal Irit Axelrod’s modern visual language, influenced by numerous International Style and Bauhaus buildings found in modern Tel Aviv. This design influence runs deep in all her projects.

Data Sheet

Architects—Axelrod Architects

Designers—Axelrod Architects

Location—Tel Aviv, Israel

Client name—Private, anonymous.

Project Manager—Erez Zandberg

Budget—Withheld, confidential.

Project End Date—December, 2016

Photographer—Amit Geron

About Designer Irit Axelrod

Shortly after Tel Aviv-born Irit Axelrod graduated from the Faculty of Architecture in the Technion/Israeli Institute of Technology, she landed her first architectural commission, the Ben Gurion Heritage Institute building in south of Israel. Twenty years later, Axelrod continues to bring her sense of “quiet power” to all her projects, now splitting her time between Tel-Aviv and San Francisco, where she set up her stateside office (Axelrod Design) in 2006.

Growing up in Tel Aviv, Axelrod was surrounded by the city’s early 20^th century, International Style architecture. The beauty of the buildings’ raw concrete construction, part of her daily experience, made a marked impression on the young Axelrod. The monolithic forms continue to influence her work today. The buildings, whose origins are rooted in the Bauhaus tradition, find expression in all her commissions, including single-family residential, institutional and commercial.