Dizengoff Square

Dizengoff Square, photographed between 1940 and 1946.

The square, built in 1934, was part of the original urban plan by Sir Patrick Geddes, and was designed by architect Genia Averbuch. The idea to build a parking lot under the square went unrealized, and instead a roundabout was fashioned around the square, at its center a garden with a fountain and shady seating areas.[2] For decades the square was a popular location and one of the landmarks of Tel Aviv's historic "White City."[2]

The square is a circular plaza and has been a focal point of Tel Aviv since its establishment in the 1930s,[4] its location in the very heart of Tel Aviv being one of the reasons.[3]

A picture showing the former split-level layout (2010)

The square's Fire and Water Fountain, behind it the Esther cinema.

In 1978, however, the former split-level configuration was introduced, during Shlomo Lahat's tenure as mayor, with Dizengoff traffic flowing beneath it.[2] The plan was by architect Tsvi Lissar, of Lissar Architects and City Planners.[5] It was elevated in an effort to ease congestion in the area.[1] The square was rebuilt using an entirely different design: the square was covered with an elevated pedestrian plaza above Dizengoff Street, Pinsker Street and Reines Street.[3] The pedestrian area is elevated, connected by ramps to the adjacent sidewalks and to the pedestrian areas of Ben Ami and Zamenhoff streets, while traffic uses the lower level.

The changes met with furious reactions, but the city authorities explained at the time that these were necessary to solve traffic problems.[2]

The square stands 300 metres (980 ft) from Dizengoff Center, construction of which began in 1972 and was not completed until 1983. A fountain bearing a Glass Statue made by Allen David was erected in the middle of the square during its redesign in the 1970s, and was replaced in 1986 with Yaacov Agam's now landmark kinetic sculpture fountain.[2] The Fire and Water fountain was located in the center of the elevated, second square and will be reinstalled in the third street-level square once work on its core finishes; an underground infrastructure chamber will be built for the Fountain.

Hotel Cinema detail

There were proposals however to return Dizengoff Square to its original state in order to restore its popularity.[3] In 2007, Tel Aviv's municipal engineer, Hezi Berkovich, explained how they wanted to "avoid split-levels, raised or sunken, in the center of town, and currently the square cuts off the line of sight that is so important for pedestrians, who do not walk along the street sidewalks and do not enjoy them. They simply go up and down at the square. Over the years, the square and the houses surrounding it deteriorated together".[2] In addition, they would want to move Agam's sculpture elsewhere in Tel Aviv.[2]

Former Mayor Lahat, who was mayor when the redesigned square was brought in, also favours restoring the square to street level, saying that destroying the original square to solve congestion was the one mayoral decision he regretted.[2] He said that, "I am responsible, and I take the blame," and that "we changed the square, and all the greenery, the beauty and the pleasantness went. Now it is possible to do something really beautiful and impressive," referring to the potential redevelopment of the square.[2]

In 2012, the fountain was restored, freshly painted and repaired.[6] In addition, the benches were repainted blue.

Dizengoff Square in June 2018

In 2016 Tel Aviv municipality decided to bring the square back to its original design and move it back to the street level, causing a public controversy.[7]

The works on demolishing the heightened square began on January 8, 2017 and a ground-level road, similar in layout to the underpass under the heightened square, was opened on January 18. At that point, work began on tiling the sidewalk rim and paving a permanent circular road. The circular road, which maintains the second square's traffic directions, was opened – though in an unfinished state – on October 30, with the interchange-style road being closed, and demolished a day later to allow work on the third square's core to begin.

On June 2, 2018, all roadworks on the Third square's circular road were completed: its remaining closed section, running from Reines St. to Dizengoff St., was opened, and the crosswalks were brought closer to the square's core.