Architects Paint / Uri Shitrit אדריכלות ישראלית Architecture of Israel #130 August 2022 | | 94 Uri Shitrit is, in my eyes, a fine example of Rachel Bluwstein’s naïve poem that, since it was written in 1927, gained at least 15 different compositions. "A son, If only I had one… a little boy with dark, sable-curly hair"... a talented boy and an outstanding student who reached, during his career, impressive achievements that wouldn’t shame a trio of architects. Graduating from Harvard University at the age of 30, he joined Moshe Safdie’s office in Boston, where he participated in the planning of prominent projects, such as the National Gallery in Ottawa, the Ethnographic Museum in Quebec and the new city of Robina in Northeastern Australia. Upon his return to Israel at the age of thirtytwo, Safdie appointed him to run his office there, within which Shitrit was responsible for Hebrew Union College, the City of Modi'in, Yad LaYeled at Yad Vashem and the community center in Neve Ofer. Upon his retirement from Safdie’s office Shitrit established his own office in Jaffa where he planned the residential project 'Jaffa Courtyards’, 'Daniel House', 'Federman House’ in Geula Street, residential buildings in Givatayim and Modi'in and the Teddy Kollek Park in Jerusalem. Between 2000-2006 he headed Jerusalem's Engineering Department in which he was responsible for preparing a new Jerusalem Masterplan as well as plans for the City Center and old neighborhoods’ renewal, together with the formulation of a new building height policy - controversial to this day. Shitrit’s most important achievement was the promotion of the city's mass transportation system, the main component of which is the light rail line, which required the establishment of Calatrava's "String Bridge" at the west/main entrance to the city - a project that has been criticized (and praised) from within and without. Currently Uri Shitrit manages the design of the Mamila Hotel expansion, lives quietly in "God's Little Corner" in Har Adar, draws and listens to the birds tweet at mother tongue level. Why did you choose to focus on the subject of trees, particularly under the title of "in response - from the bottom up", a modesty not particularly fitting for one who skipped a grade as a student in a school for outstanding people? Well, it's not by chance. First of all, I love trees. One of the issues I dealt with as City Engineer was the subject of shading the public realm, and the most tangible testimony to this are thousands of Platanus trees throughout the city that already provide plenty of shade on many architects paint uri shitrit - the platanus blooming Dr. Hillit Mazor of the streets. Painfully, I guess the answer is somewhere in the gap between sketching from a distance and examining details closely, something that evokes subjective memories of love and friends, which seemingly have no direct connection to the subject. Since Platanus is a wide, rapidly shedding tree, I like its flowering in the spring and enjoy the glory of its shading in the summer, the lingering appearance of the dry leaves in the fall and admire the divine wisdom that exposes its lattice-like branches in winter. I discover complexity and forms in the aging breed that reflect, as a mirror, memories from other places - love between me and her. Wooden chips relate in my eyes to painful injury, moments of transcendence to heaven, but always while recalling the reality, with its deep roots that insist on clinging to the ground. What about the daring colors that one cannot ignore in their presence? The choice of strong colors is not accidental. Though skies are usually related to blue, I sometimes use unusual colors to express my subjective reaction to the subject. Sometimes I add lightness to the composition and sometimes I prefer to enhance the impact with azure, pink, purple or yellow, just like the memories that every observer can fantasize. Between February 2016 and March 2020, you had to pay your debt to society, dropping down the pit from your high status as the Jerusalem City Engineer.
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