WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.319 Welcome back. It is so great to have you sitting 00:00:02.319 --> 00:00:05.400 down with us again today. We spend a lot of time 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:07.780 on this show looking at how the world works, 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:10.480 exploring different ideas and movements. But 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:13.539 today we are looking at something a little different. 00:00:13.699 --> 00:00:16.179 A very different kind of blueprint, really. Right. 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:18.829 We are looking at a master plan. We're asking 00:00:18.829 --> 00:00:20.870 a question that sounds almost like a crazy thought 00:00:20.870 --> 00:00:24.550 experiment. How do you physically design a society 00:00:24.550 --> 00:00:27.089 from scratch? Which is a massive question, and 00:00:27.089 --> 00:00:29.429 it's not theoretical. No. We aren't just talking 00:00:29.429 --> 00:00:32.450 about designing a single building or, you know, 00:00:32.450 --> 00:00:34.649 laying out a nice park. We are talking about 00:00:34.649 --> 00:00:36.950 the literal blueprint for a burgeoning nation. 00:00:37.350 --> 00:00:40.570 Exactly. And today we are introducing you to 00:00:40.570 --> 00:00:42.969 the man who actually got to answer that question 00:00:42.969 --> 00:00:45.750 in the real world. His name was Richard Kaufman. 00:00:45.869 --> 00:00:48.390 A German -born architect. Yeah. who migrated 00:00:48.390 --> 00:00:52.109 to British -controlled Palestine in 1920. And 00:00:52.109 --> 00:00:54.469 he essentially laid the architectural groundwork 00:00:54.469 --> 00:00:57.969 for the nascent state of Israel. Okay, let's 00:00:57.969 --> 00:00:59.590 unpack this, because the sheer scale of what 00:00:59.590 --> 00:01:01.850 this one person accomplished is almost hard to 00:01:01.850 --> 00:01:03.969 wrap your head around. The scale is precisely 00:01:03.969 --> 00:01:07.150 what makes his story so compelling. Because Kaufman 00:01:07.150 --> 00:01:09.909 didn't just design a few nice houses for wealthy 00:01:09.909 --> 00:01:12.489 clients. Right. He was tasked with creating the 00:01:12.489 --> 00:01:15.930 physical master plan for an incredibly wide spectrum 00:01:15.930 --> 00:01:18.760 of human life. We are talking about everything 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:22.040 from tiny agricultural villages in the northern 00:01:22.040 --> 00:01:24.700 valleys. All the way to major bustling urban 00:01:24.700 --> 00:01:28.379 centers. Exactly. He shaped the fundamental layouts 00:01:28.379 --> 00:01:31.500 of major cities like Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem. 00:01:32.319 --> 00:01:34.219 And for you listening right now, whether you 00:01:34.219 --> 00:01:36.439 are someone who geeks out over urban planning 00:01:36.439 --> 00:01:39.079 or you love digging into history. Or you just 00:01:39.079 --> 00:01:41.739 appreciate a really good aha moment. Yeah, an 00:01:41.739 --> 00:01:43.859 aha moment about how our physical environments 00:01:43.859 --> 00:01:46.959 dictate the way we live our lives. This deep 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:49.200 dive is going to completely change how you look 00:01:49.200 --> 00:01:51.260 at the layout of your own city or your own neighborhood. 00:01:51.659 --> 00:01:54.439 Because behind every curved road and every brick 00:01:54.439 --> 00:01:57.079 building, there is a philosophy. And Kauffman's 00:01:57.079 --> 00:01:59.120 philosophy was literally carved into the earth. 00:01:59.450 --> 00:02:01.650 But to really understand those buildings and 00:02:01.650 --> 00:02:04.189 those roads, we have to understand the man. Right. 00:02:04.329 --> 00:02:06.409 And the historical forces that pushed him toward 00:02:06.409 --> 00:02:08.729 this monumental task. So let's start at the beginning. 00:02:08.849 --> 00:02:10.610 Let's get a sense of who Richard Kaufman was 00:02:10.610 --> 00:02:13.150 before he became this legendary master planner. 00:02:13.509 --> 00:02:17.110 He was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1887. And 00:02:17.110 --> 00:02:19.610 his path to architecture wasn't exactly a straight 00:02:19.610 --> 00:02:22.550 line. No. In 1907, he actually started out studying 00:02:22.550 --> 00:02:25.650 art. Right. In Amsterdam. But the very next year. 00:02:26.139 --> 00:02:28.699 He pivots. He transfers to architecture studies, 00:02:28.900 --> 00:02:30.860 heads to the Technical University of Munich, 00:02:31.020 --> 00:02:35.080 graduates in 1912, and by 1914 he has opened 00:02:35.080 --> 00:02:36.939 his own architectural office back in Frankfurt. 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:40.219 So he is a highly educated, European -trained 00:02:40.219 --> 00:02:43.000 professional. He is completely immersed in the 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:46.020 artistic and architectural movements of early 00:02:46.020 --> 00:02:48.360 20th century Europe. Learning about structure, 00:02:48.520 --> 00:02:51.060 form, the classical aesthetics of the continent. 00:02:51.219 --> 00:02:53.879 Right. But then, as it did for millions of others, 00:02:54.120 --> 00:02:56.240 history intervenes. The First World War breaks 00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:58.139 out. The First World War breaks out. And this 00:02:58.139 --> 00:03:00.780 is a massive turning point in his life. During 00:03:00.780 --> 00:03:03.539 World War I, Kaufman fought on the Eastern Front. 00:03:03.879 --> 00:03:05.719 And it was there that he witnessed something 00:03:05.719 --> 00:03:08.259 that would profoundly alter his life's trajectory. 00:03:08.520 --> 00:03:12.020 Yes. He saw firsthand the severe persecution 00:03:12.020 --> 00:03:15.020 directed against East European Jews. And this 00:03:15.020 --> 00:03:17.680 experience is absolutely crucial to understanding 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:20.419 his later decisions. It provides the emotional 00:03:20.419 --> 00:03:23.340 and historical context for his eventual shift. 00:03:23.620 --> 00:03:26.400 He isn't just an architect looking for a paycheck 00:03:26.400 --> 00:03:28.879 anymore. No. He becomes someone deeply affected 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:31.960 by the geopolitical realities of his time, looking 00:03:31.960 --> 00:03:34.680 for a way to use his skills for a larger purpose. 00:03:35.060 --> 00:03:37.300 But the opportunity doesn't happen overnight. 00:03:37.580 --> 00:03:40.860 Let's fast forward a bit to 1919. The war is 00:03:40.860 --> 00:03:43.849 over. Kaufman has landed on his feet in a major 00:03:43.849 --> 00:03:46.689 way. He is now working as a government town planner 00:03:46.689 --> 00:03:49.090 in Christiania. Which is the city we now know 00:03:49.090 --> 00:03:51.150 as Oslo, the capital of Norway. Right. So he 00:03:51.150 --> 00:03:53.830 has this solid, prestigious government job in 00:03:53.830 --> 00:03:57.009 Scandinavia. But then he has a meeting that changes 00:03:57.009 --> 00:03:59.310 everything. He meets a man named Arthur Ruppin. 00:03:59.389 --> 00:04:01.250 And Ruppin comes to him with a proposal that 00:04:01.250 --> 00:04:04.560 is... Frankly, audacious. He invites Kaufman 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:06.479 to become the leading physical planner of the 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:09.300 Zionist enterprise. He wants him to design entirely 00:04:09.300 --> 00:04:12.000 new Jewish settlements in Palestine. Just imagine 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:13.800 that pitch. You're sitting in your comfortable 00:04:13.800 --> 00:04:15.759 climate -controlled government office in Norway, 00:04:15.960 --> 00:04:18.199 probably looking out at a fjord. Enjoying the 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:21.199 stability. Yeah. And someone says, hey, want 00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:23.399 to leave this incredibly stable job, move across 00:04:23.399 --> 00:04:25.600 the world to the desert, and design a society 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:28.319 from the dirt up? It is an astonishing leap of 00:04:28.319 --> 00:04:31.379 faith. Think about the stark contrast. He is 00:04:31.379 --> 00:04:34.160 leaving a secure position in the cool, established, 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:36.920 highly structured environment of Oslo. To travel 00:04:36.920 --> 00:04:39.379 to the Middle East. A completely different climate, 00:04:39.540 --> 00:04:42.259 a radically different geography, to build entirely 00:04:42.259 --> 00:04:45.000 new settlements essentially from scratch. It 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:47.879 required not just architectural skill, but immense 00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:51.000 vision and a willingness to embrace total uncertainty. 00:04:51.560 --> 00:04:55.449 But he actually does it. In 1920, Kauffman immigrates 00:04:55.449 --> 00:04:58.250 to what was then Eretz Israel, a territory under 00:04:58.250 --> 00:05:00.670 the British mandate. And regardless of the massive 00:05:00.670 --> 00:05:03.370 political complexities of that era, from a purely 00:05:03.370 --> 00:05:05.529 architectural standpoint, Kauffman was essentially 00:05:05.529 --> 00:05:08.870 handed a blank slate and asked to build a nation's 00:05:08.870 --> 00:05:10.829 infrastructure. And for the next dozen years, 00:05:10.970 --> 00:05:15.350 from 1920 to 1932, he takes on this titanic role. 00:05:15.649 --> 00:05:17.589 He becomes the chief architect of the Palestine 00:05:17.589 --> 00:05:20.250 Land Development Company. And what blows my mind 00:05:20.250 --> 00:05:23.610 is that he initiated and designed these full 00:05:23.610 --> 00:05:26.970 architectural master plans almost alone. That 00:05:26.970 --> 00:05:30.250 phrase, almost alone, is staggering when you 00:05:30.250 --> 00:05:33.370 consider the sheer output. He was single -handedly 00:05:33.370 --> 00:05:36.990 translating abstract social ideals into physical 00:05:36.990 --> 00:05:39.449 realities. Like the rural villages in the northern 00:05:39.449 --> 00:05:42.399 valleys. specifically the Jezreel Valley. Right. 00:05:42.540 --> 00:05:45.000 And to understand what he was up against, we 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:46.860 have to look at the types of settlements he was 00:05:46.860 --> 00:05:50.199 designing, like the kibbutzim and the moshavim. 00:05:50.339 --> 00:05:52.120 Right, because those aren't just interchangeable 00:05:52.120 --> 00:05:54.500 words for farm. They represent totally different 00:05:54.500 --> 00:05:58.100 ways of living, like ein harod, kofar yehoshua, 00:05:58.199 --> 00:06:02.019 kofar yeheskel. Exactly. A kibbutz is a fundamentally 00:06:02.019 --> 00:06:05.199 communal settlement. In those early days, everything 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:07.699 in a kibbutz was shared. The land, the tools. 00:06:07.939 --> 00:06:10.879 A dining hall, even the razor. of children, but 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:13.500 a moshav of dim was a hybrid. It was a cooperative 00:06:13.500 --> 00:06:15.720 agricultural settlement. So they wanted communal 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:17.980 infrastructure, like shared purchasing and marketing. 00:06:18.139 --> 00:06:21.660 But they wanted individual family farms. Kaufman's 00:06:21.660 --> 00:06:24.139 design had to physically solve that specific 00:06:24.139 --> 00:06:26.800 social puzzle. And that brings us to the settlement 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:28.699 that I am absolutely obsessed with, Nahalal. 00:06:29.240 --> 00:06:32.420 Kaufman designed Nahalal, which is the very first 00:06:32.420 --> 00:06:36.180 moshav of dim. And he didn't just throw some 00:06:36.180 --> 00:06:39.079 houses in a field. I saw pictures of Nahalal 00:06:39.079 --> 00:06:42.579 from above and it blew my mind. It's a literal 00:06:42.579 --> 00:06:45.420 perfect circle. A perfect circle. It is a very 00:06:45.420 --> 00:06:48.660 deliberate, bold choice. Right in the very middle 00:06:48.660 --> 00:06:51.259 of this circle, he placed all the public buildings. 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:53.720 Surrounding those public buildings was a circular 00:06:53.720 --> 00:06:56.699 road. And then radiating outward from that road, 00:06:56.779 --> 00:06:58.779 you had the agricultural farm buildings. And 00:06:58.779 --> 00:07:01.420 behind those, the field stretching outward. So 00:07:01.420 --> 00:07:02.839 when you look at this whole settlement from the 00:07:02.839 --> 00:07:05.720 sky. The shape it forms looks exactly like sunshine 00:07:05.720 --> 00:07:08.199 rays. It really does. It is stunning. But I have 00:07:08.199 --> 00:07:11.379 to ask, as beautiful as a circle is, wouldn't 00:07:11.379 --> 00:07:14.339 that create really weird pie -shaped farming 00:07:14.339 --> 00:07:17.660 plots that are a nightmare to actually plow and 00:07:17.660 --> 00:07:19.639 manage? That is exactly what you would think. 00:07:19.699 --> 00:07:21.759 It sounds like an architect prioritizing a pretty 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:24.220 map over practical farming. Right. But Kaufman 00:07:24.220 --> 00:07:26.500 anticipated that. It all came down to mathematical 00:07:26.500 --> 00:07:29.540 precision. He spaced the farm buildings exactly 00:07:29.540 --> 00:07:33.000 20 meters apart, which is about 66 feet. And 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:37.060 he made each agricultural plot exactly 45 meters 00:07:37.060 --> 00:07:41.180 wide, about 148 feet, stretching outward for 00:07:41.180 --> 00:07:44.060 hundreds of meters. Ah, I see. By extending the 00:07:44.060 --> 00:07:46.879 plots that far out, the slight wedge shape became 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:49.620 negligible for the farmers, but the mathematical 00:07:49.620 --> 00:07:52.199 rigidity solved the social puzzle we just talked 00:07:52.199 --> 00:07:54.920 about. Wait, how does math solve a social puzzle? 00:07:55.360 --> 00:07:58.019 Well, what's fascinating here is the why behind 00:07:58.019 --> 00:08:00.939 the what. By putting the public buildings, the 00:08:00.939 --> 00:08:04.060 communal spaces dead center and having every 00:08:04.060 --> 00:08:06.699 single farm radiate outward equally from that 00:08:06.699 --> 00:08:09.740 center, he was designing equality into the dirt 00:08:09.740 --> 00:08:12.560 itself. Oh, wow. Every family had the exact same 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:14.879 access to the center. And every family had the 00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:17.720 exact same width of land. The architecture forced 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:20.339 a communal focus while still allowing for individual 00:08:20.339 --> 00:08:23.019 agricultural plots. He was taking the ideological 00:08:23.019 --> 00:08:26.050 goals of the settling. organizations and making 00:08:26.050 --> 00:08:28.490 them impossible to ignore because they were built 00:08:28.490 --> 00:08:31.449 into the very roads you walked on. Exactly. I 00:08:31.449 --> 00:08:33.669 love that. You can't escape the philosophy because 00:08:33.669 --> 00:08:35.950 you're literally living inside it. And we see 00:08:35.950 --> 00:08:38.389 this application of social principles in his 00:08:38.389 --> 00:08:41.230 other rural designs as well. Look at his work 00:08:41.230 --> 00:08:44.990 in Deganya Aleph, a famous kibbutz. He designed 00:08:44.990 --> 00:08:47.049 the children's house there. He did. The children's 00:08:47.049 --> 00:08:49.230 house, the kindergarten and the school. These 00:08:49.230 --> 00:08:51.950 structures explicitly embodied the educational 00:08:51.950 --> 00:08:55.259 principles of the kibbutz movement. Every window, 00:08:55.379 --> 00:08:58.600 every communal room was drafted to foster a specific 00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:01.519 way of living and learning together. It was social 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:04.000 engineering through architecture. Truly. It's 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:06.320 incredible. But here's where it gets really interesting. 00:09:06.580 --> 00:09:09.320 Because Kauffman didn't just stay in the valleys 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:12.080 designing perfect circles and agricultural utopias. 00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:14.940 He had to scale up. Yes. He had to transition 00:09:14.940 --> 00:09:19.379 from rural farms to bustling modern cities. The 00:09:19.379 --> 00:09:21.639 urban blueprint. This is where we see the breadth 00:09:21.639 --> 00:09:23.980 of his European training really collide with 00:09:23.980 --> 00:09:26.279 his new environment. Let's look at Tel Aviv. 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:29.120 Kaufman was asked to design Tel Aviv's northern 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:31.899 neighborhoods. Now, he was basing this work on 00:09:31.899 --> 00:09:33.799 the urban plans of a man named Patrick Geddes. 00:09:33.960 --> 00:09:36.840 Right. Geddes laid out the master plan. But Kaufman 00:09:36.840 --> 00:09:39.519 brought his own immense architectural influence 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:41.980 to the table. He brought what was called the 00:09:41.980 --> 00:09:45.159 international style to the local landscape. And 00:09:45.159 --> 00:09:46.679 we should note where that influence came from. 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:49.159 Kaufman's architecture was deeply influenced 00:09:49.159 --> 00:09:51.960 by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. A massive figure 00:09:51.960 --> 00:09:54.000 in modern architecture. Absolutely. Mies van 00:09:54.000 --> 00:09:55.960 der Rohe was a leading proponent of the international 00:09:55.960 --> 00:09:58.039 style. Which, for those who might not know, is 00:09:58.039 --> 00:10:01.279 characterized by clean lines, extreme functionalism, 00:10:01.460 --> 00:10:04.360 a total lack of ornamentation. And the use of 00:10:04.360 --> 00:10:07.919 modern materials like steel and glass. Think 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:10.639 of those sleek, minimalist, blocky buildings 00:10:10.639 --> 00:10:13.279 you see in modern design magazines. Right. Kaufman 00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:16.740 took those modernist European concepts and used 00:10:16.740 --> 00:10:19.340 them to help create what is now famously known 00:10:19.340 --> 00:10:22.080 as Tel Aviv's White City. He did. But hold on. 00:10:22.139 --> 00:10:24.840 If you take a concrete and glass European building 00:10:24.840 --> 00:10:27.080 and drop it into the Middle East, doesn't it 00:10:27.080 --> 00:10:29.799 just become an oven? That is the genius of his 00:10:29.799 --> 00:10:31.980 adaptation. If he had just copy pasted a building 00:10:31.980 --> 00:10:34.139 from Frankfurt to Tel Aviv, it would have been 00:10:34.139 --> 00:10:37.379 unlivable. So he had to adapt. He utilized architectural 00:10:37.379 --> 00:10:39.720 features like pilatus, which are essentially 00:10:39.720 --> 00:10:41.779 pillars that lift the building off the ground. 00:10:41.980 --> 00:10:44.379 Oh, so that allows the Mediterranean sea breeze 00:10:44.379 --> 00:10:46.419 to flow under the buildings and cool them down. 00:10:46.539 --> 00:10:49.740 Exactly. He used small recessed windows to block 00:10:49.740 --> 00:10:52.980 out the harsh, direct desert sun, but painted 00:10:52.980 --> 00:10:55.419 the buildings stark white to reflect the heat. 00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:58.919 He was using European geometry, but Middle Eastern 00:10:58.919 --> 00:11:01.519 survival tactics. Precisely. That makes so much 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:04.049 sense. And it wasn't just residential neighborhoods 00:11:04.049 --> 00:11:08.110 in Tel Aviv either. Between 1932 and 1934, he 00:11:08.110 --> 00:11:09.929 was one of the architects for the Levant Fair. 00:11:10.299 --> 00:11:12.940 Yarid Hamizra in Hebrew. Yeah, he actually planned 00:11:12.940 --> 00:11:15.240 the entire layout of the pavilions for this massive 00:11:15.240 --> 00:11:17.419 international exhibition. Which again shows his 00:11:17.419 --> 00:11:20.039 incredible versatility. He's designing cooperative 00:11:20.039 --> 00:11:23.139 farming villages one day, residential urban grids 00:11:23.139 --> 00:11:25.720 the next, and massive international exhibition 00:11:25.720 --> 00:11:28.059 spaces after that. And his footprint just keeps 00:11:28.059 --> 00:11:30.419 expanding. He actually designed entire new Israeli 00:11:30.419 --> 00:11:34.080 cities like Afula and Hersliya. And then he tackles 00:11:34.080 --> 00:11:36.299 Jerusalem. He designed major neighborhoods there. 00:11:36.679 --> 00:11:40.299 Places like Rahavia, Beit Hakrim, Talpiot, and 00:11:40.299 --> 00:11:44.720 Kiryat Moshe. But Jerusalem is a totally different 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:47.000 beast than Tel Aviv, isn't it? Entirely different. 00:11:47.100 --> 00:11:49.960 Tel Aviv is essentially built on flat coastal 00:11:49.960 --> 00:11:53.159 sand dunes. So you can impose a rigid grid system 00:11:53.159 --> 00:11:56.379 there relatively easily. Yes. But Jerusalem is 00:11:56.379 --> 00:11:59.240 ancient and it is incredibly hilly. You cannot 00:11:59.240 --> 00:12:03.350 force a flat, rigid grid. onto the Judean mountains. 00:12:03.590 --> 00:12:06.370 It just wouldn't work. No. Kaufman had to completely 00:12:06.370 --> 00:12:09.210 change his approach. In neighborhoods like Rehavia, 00:12:09.389 --> 00:12:11.990 he designed winding, curving streets that respected 00:12:11.990 --> 00:12:14.129 and followed the natural topography of the hills. 00:12:14.370 --> 00:12:16.750 So he's not just stamping his signature style 00:12:16.750 --> 00:12:18.710 everywhere. He's actually listening to the land. 00:12:18.789 --> 00:12:21.230 Exactly. And we see that same adaptability in 00:12:21.230 --> 00:12:23.629 the northern port city of Haifa. Which is coastal, 00:12:23.730 --> 00:12:25.750 but sits right on the slopes of Mount Carmel. 00:12:25.909 --> 00:12:27.950 So again, he's dealing with intense elevation 00:12:27.950 --> 00:12:31.480 changes. He designed Hadar Hakarmel, Niv -Sharan, 00:12:31.720 --> 00:12:34.820 Bat -Galim, and Central Carmel. He was quite 00:12:34.820 --> 00:12:36.879 literally shaping the urban flow of the three 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:39.419 major cities of the region, adapting his style 00:12:39.419 --> 00:12:42.139 to sand, to ancient hills, and to coastal mountains. 00:12:42.500 --> 00:12:44.639 Oh, and I have to drop this memorable trivia 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:46.799 nugget for you listening, because it bridges 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:51.330 his work back then to the modern day. While he 00:12:51.330 --> 00:12:53.509 was designing all these sweeping urban plans, 00:12:53.830 --> 00:12:56.570 Kaufman also built private residences. He did. 00:12:56.830 --> 00:12:59.009 And one of the private residences he designed 00:12:59.009 --> 00:13:02.570 in Jerusalem was called Beit Agion. You might 00:13:02.570 --> 00:13:04.429 not know the name, but you definitely know the 00:13:04.429 --> 00:13:07.909 building because today Beit Agion is the official 00:13:07.909 --> 00:13:10.610 residence of the Israeli prime minister. It is 00:13:10.610 --> 00:13:13.490 a perfect example of his lasting legacy. The 00:13:13.490 --> 00:13:16.389 structures he envisioned a century ago are still 00:13:16.389 --> 00:13:19.049 at the very center of civic and political life 00:13:19.049 --> 00:13:21.860 today. So what does this all mean? We have a 00:13:21.860 --> 00:13:24.779 guy who started in Frankfurt, saw the horrors 00:13:24.779 --> 00:13:27.259 of war on the Eastern Front, designed towns in 00:13:27.259 --> 00:13:29.600 Norway. And then spent a decade and a half drawing 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:32.320 perfect circles and valleys and sleek white lines 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:34.860 in Tel Aviv. How do we synthesize all of this? 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:37.120 If we connect this to the bigger picture, we 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:40.000 can really see Kaufman's unique genius. And it 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:42.700 was a genius of synthesis. As we discussed, he 00:13:42.700 --> 00:13:44.919 didn't just force European ideas onto the Middle 00:13:44.919 --> 00:13:47.419 East. He took diverse, sometimes competing theories 00:13:47.419 --> 00:13:49.909 and wove them together. Give me an example of 00:13:49.909 --> 00:13:52.590 that synthesis from his urban planning. Well, 00:13:52.649 --> 00:13:55.029 if you look at his urban plans, you can see he's 00:13:55.029 --> 00:13:57.549 pulling directly from Ebenezer Howard's garden 00:13:57.549 --> 00:14:00.429 city concept. Howard was a British urban planner, 00:14:00.529 --> 00:14:03.750 right? Yes, whose idea was essentially a manifestation 00:14:03.750 --> 00:14:07.330 of social ideals. He wanted to combine the best 00:14:07.330 --> 00:14:10.049 parts of city living, like jobs and culture, 00:14:10.250 --> 00:14:13.350 with the best parts of country living, like abundant 00:14:13.350 --> 00:14:16.169 green space and planned communities. To avoid 00:14:16.169 --> 00:14:18.370 the crowded slums of the Industrial Revolution. 00:14:18.389 --> 00:14:22.009 Right. Kaufman took that British garden. suburb 00:14:22.009 --> 00:14:24.710 concept, and he mixed it with the specific ideals 00:14:24.710 --> 00:14:27.309 of the agricultural Zionist communities he was 00:14:27.309 --> 00:14:29.629 working with. So he's taking a British urban 00:14:29.629 --> 00:14:31.769 theory, blending it with a Middle Eastern agricultural 00:14:31.769 --> 00:14:34.570 movement, and wrapping it all up in the modernist 00:14:34.570 --> 00:14:37.590 international style. Precisely. But the most 00:14:37.590 --> 00:14:39.809 important element, the reason he was so successful, 00:14:39.929 --> 00:14:42.529 was his pragmatism. Right, because you can have 00:14:42.529 --> 00:14:44.929 all the high -minded social ideals and sleek 00:14:44.929 --> 00:14:47.409 architectural theories in the world, but if the 00:14:47.409 --> 00:14:49.190 building doesn't function for the people living 00:14:49.190 --> 00:14:52.220 in it... It is a failure. Kaufman was fiercely 00:14:52.220 --> 00:14:54.940 pragmatic. He understood the angle of the sun, 00:14:55.159 --> 00:14:57.919 the need for airflow, the realities of the heat. 00:14:58.059 --> 00:15:00.840 He ensured that the practical everyday needs 00:15:00.840 --> 00:15:03.679 of the inhabitants were met while also fulfilling 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:05.940 the broad requests of the settling organizations 00:15:05.940 --> 00:15:08.379 that hired him. He wasn't just an artist. He 00:15:08.379 --> 00:15:10.840 was an incredibly effective project manager. 00:15:11.159 --> 00:15:13.039 And he was respected across the board for this, 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:15.080 too. It wasn't just the Zionist organizations 00:15:15.080 --> 00:15:18.820 that recognized his talent. In 1927, he was actually 00:15:18.820 --> 00:15:21.000 appointed as a member of the British Mandate 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:23.639 Town Planning Committee. So he had this broad 00:15:23.639 --> 00:15:27.019 administrative respect from the governing authorities 00:15:27.019 --> 00:15:29.809 of the territory as well. Which just reinforces 00:15:29.809 --> 00:15:33.789 how crucial his expertise was considered by everyone 00:15:33.789 --> 00:15:35.789 involved in the region's development at that 00:15:35.789 --> 00:15:38.350 time. He was the man you went to when you needed 00:15:38.350 --> 00:15:40.809 to turn an idea into a reality on the ground. 00:15:40.990 --> 00:15:43.730 And what a reality he built. As we wrap up this 00:15:43.730 --> 00:15:45.909 deep dive, I want to take a second to speak directly 00:15:45.909 --> 00:15:48.330 to you listening. Think about the incredible 00:15:48.330 --> 00:15:50.750 journey of Richard Kaufman. It is an amazing 00:15:50.750 --> 00:15:53.769 legacy. Here is a man who took the abstract ideas 00:15:53.769 --> 00:15:57.029 of a social movement, equality, cuneal living. 00:15:57.730 --> 00:15:59.730 modernization, and quite literally gave them 00:15:59.730 --> 00:16:03.269 a floor plan. And we are just factually recounting 00:16:03.269 --> 00:16:05.309 these architectural assignments based on the 00:16:05.309 --> 00:16:07.929 source text. But regardless of the complex history 00:16:07.929 --> 00:16:11.809 of the region, his impact is undeniable. Whether 00:16:11.809 --> 00:16:14.289 it's the sunshine rays of Nahalal, the climate 00:16:14.289 --> 00:16:16.509 -adapted modernist lines of the White City, or 00:16:16.509 --> 00:16:18.710 the winding, hill -hugging streets of Jerusalem, 00:16:19.090 --> 00:16:21.570 he shaped the daily lives of millions of people 00:16:21.570 --> 00:16:23.590 who walk through those spaces today. it is the 00:16:23.590 --> 00:16:25.789 architecture itself that tells the story of that 00:16:25.789 --> 00:16:28.009 era it really is and that architecture leaves 00:16:28.009 --> 00:16:29.830 us with a lot to consider in fact this raises 00:16:29.830 --> 00:16:31.870 an important question that i'd love for our listener 00:16:31.870 --> 00:16:34.710 to ponder next time you walk out your front door 00:16:34.710 --> 00:16:37.169 look at the layout of your own street Look at 00:16:37.169 --> 00:16:38.750 the way the buildings are spaced or where the 00:16:38.750 --> 00:16:41.690 parks are located. What social ideals or pragmatic 00:16:41.690 --> 00:16:44.409 climate needs dictated the shape of the neighborhood 00:16:44.409 --> 00:16:47.230 you live in? Because every curved road, every 00:16:47.230 --> 00:16:49.950 cul -de -sac or every rigid grid system was a 00:16:49.950 --> 00:16:53.210 choice made by someone somewhere trying to build 00:16:53.210 --> 00:16:55.789 their own version of a utopia. I love that. It 00:16:55.789 --> 00:16:57.789 really makes you realize that we are all walking 00:16:57.789 --> 00:17:00.539 through someone else's master plan. Thank you 00:17:00.539 --> 00:17:02.639 so much for joining us on this deep dive. Keep 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:04.420 questioning the world around you. Keep looking 00:17:04.420 --> 00:17:07.200 closely at the spaces you inhabit, and we will 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:07.900 catch you next time.