אדריכלות ישראלית

DGT Architects

Architecture of Israel #

106

August

2016

page

english

In an internet interview, we mentioned an

interview with his father Charles Dorell that

was published 27 years ago in AI #4. At the

time, Charles was at the peak of his career,

and one of the things he said was that his

greatest achievement was proving to those

who refused his acceptance to the Technion

that someone who grew up sharing an

apartment in Jaffa with four families, could

succeed.

Was your childhood affected by the

fact that your father was a well-known

architect?

My father’s office was adjacent to our home

in Tel Aviv. He used to take me to his and

his friends’ building sites. Their children

were my friends and they took me to their

parents’ practices. Looking back, I was

lucky to be exposed to all the stages of

planning and building as a child. My father

was very enthusiastic about his work, and

the message absorbed by the age of 7, long

before I knew I‘d be an architect, was that

good architecture is a source of pride. When

I studied architecture at the Politecnico

di Milano, I would come home to Israel to

work in the office during vacations and this

helped me to connect theory and reality.

the tree and the apple

dan dorell

born close

raised afar

Dan Dorell was born during the Yom Kippur War. His father – architect Charles Dorell, heard of

his birth on the radio while serving at the Suez Canal. His mother – Italian architect Gaby Fois,

had immigrated to Israel only two years before. Dan studied architecture at the Polytechnic in

Milan and the Mackintosh School of Architecture in Glasgow. After graduating he worked for

several years in Renzo Piano’s office and then with Jean Nouvel in Paris. In 2006, he participated

in a competition for the design of the Estonian National Museum and, upon winning, he left Jean

Nouvel’s office and opened his own together with his competition partners – Lebanese architect,

Lina Ghotmeh, and Japanese architect, Tsuyoshi Tane. The recently completed museum gained

international recognition and won DGT a number of prizes at the Architectural Bienale in Venice,

among them the Afex Grand Prize and the Academic Prize for Architecture by the French Ministry

of Culture. Today Dan lives and works in Paris.

Your father said that aesthetics is an

absolute and supreme ideal. Does this

preoccupy you?

Not in the common meaning of the word.

At the Politecnico in Milano the emphasis

was mainly on context - the meaning of

the place and the technology that helps us

meet social and cultural needs. During my

final year, I went to the Mackintosh School

of Architecture in Glasgow as an exchange

student, where I actually completed my

studies. As the school there is part of the

Art Faculty, the emphasis was more on art,

history and the philosophy of aesthetics.

The cover of AI #4 is illustrated with

one of your father’s sculpted buildings.

I remember him saying that he embeds

dramatic elements in his buildings to

encourage the observer to relate to

them...

I think that what is common to our buildings

is that they are different from each other.

Each is a one-time combination of cultural

and social needs in time and space. This

is why I so loved studying at Mackintosh.

Unlike conservative British architecture that

is rich with heritage, Mackintosh promotes

creative freedom based on the power of the

concept.

Is this what made you stay in London for

several years?

At this time London was bursting with new

construction and architects could choose

their place of work. I was accepted to Ron

Arad’s office in Chalk Farm near Camden

Town only after a brief friendly conversation.

Later on I worked at Michael Hopkins’ - each

of them having a different agenda.

What was the most important stage in

your career?

Following my then French love and future

wife to Paris, I was accepted to Renzo

Piano’s office. At the beginning I worked

on the New York Times sky-scraper, then I

went on to design the roof of the Pinacoteca

Agnelli (Fiat's owner) private museum,

upon which I planned a racetrack. It was

fascinating working with Renzo Piano and

John Elkann – Agnelli’s nephew and heir.

However, it was only after the project was

accomplished that I realized its importance,

when the opening ceremony was attended

by world celebs, Henry Kissinger included.

Rachel Ben Aharon