# Richard Kauffmann > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Richard_Kauffmann > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Richard_Kauffmann.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Kauffmann > Source revision: 1343821203 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|German-born architect and town planner, active mainly in British Palestine}} {{distinguish|Richard Kaufman (disambiguation){{!}}Richard Kaufman}} thumb|upright=0.85|Kauffmann c. 1950–1957 '''Richard Kauffmann''' (1887–1958) was a [German-Jewish](/source/German-Jewish) architect who migrated to [Palestine](/source/Mandatory_Palestine) in 1920. His architecture was influenced by [Ludwig Mies van der Rohe](/source/Ludwig_Mies_van_der_Rohe), a proponent of the International Style, and was applied to the local landscape, laying the architectural groundwork for the nascent [State of Israel](/source/State_of_Israel) as well as that of several cities including [Hadar HaCarmel](/source/Hadar_HaCarmel) in [Haifa](/source/Haifa), [Nahalal](/source/Nahalal), [Afula](/source/Afula) and the [White City](/source/White_City_(Tel_Aviv)), as [Tel Aviv](/source/Tel_Aviv)'s [International Style](/source/International_style_(architecture)) architecture became known.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/arts/16iht-rartbauhaus16.html|title=The Influence of Bauhaus on Architecture in Early Palestine and Israel|last=Zach|first=Elizabeth|date=2012-03-15|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-06-08}} ==Biography== ===Early life, World War I, work in Europe=== Richard Kauffmann was born in 1887 in [Frankfurt](/source/Frankfurt), Germany. In 1907, he began to study art at the [Städelschule](/source/St%C3%A4delschule), but transferred to architecture studies in Amsterdam the following year. In 1909, he moved to the [Technical University of Munich](/source/Technical_University_of_Munich), graduating in 1912. In 1914, he opened an office in Frankfurt.{{cn|date=August 2018}} During the [First World War](/source/First_World_War) Kauffmann fought on the Eastern Front, where he became aware of the persecutions directed against East European Jews.Esther Kauffmann Forsen (ed.), [http://www.richardkauffmann.com/wordpress Richard Kauffmann – Architect and Town Planner: A daughter's perspective on his life and work], accessed 13 August 2018 In 1919, Kauffmann met [Arthur Ruppin](/source/Arthur_Ruppin), who invited him to design new Jewish settlements in Palestine as the leading physical planner of the [Zionist enterprise](/source/Jewish_Agency). At that point, Kauffmann was already a government town planner in Christiania, now [Oslo](/source/Oslo), the capital of [Norway](/source/Norway). ===Mandate Palestine=== In 1920, he immigrated to [Eretz Yisrael](/source/Eretz_Yisrael), at that point a [British-controlled territory](/source/Mandatory_Palestine). Between 1920 and 1932, Kauffmann was the chief architect of the [Palestine Land Development Company](/source/Palestine_Land_Development_Company) (''Hachsharat HaYishuv'') of the [Zionist movement](/source/Zionist_movement). Kauffmann designed and initiated, almost alone, a full architectural master plan for the new rural villages of many [kibutz](/source/kibutz)im and [moshav](/source/moshav)im in the northern valleys ([Jezreel Valley](/source/Jezreel_Valley)), most notably [Ein Harod](/source/Ein_Harod), [Kfar Yehoshua](/source/Kfar_Yehoshua), [Degania Alef](/source/Degania_Alef), [Kfar Yehezkel](/source/Kfar_Yehezkel) and [Nahalal](/source/Nahalal). [[File:Nahalal2.jpg|thumb|Moshav [Nahalal](/source/Nahalal) in the [Jezreel Valley](/source/Jezreel_Valley), designed by Kauffmann]] [[File:Julius Jacobs house.jpg|thumb|[Beit Aghion](/source/Beit_Aghion) in Jerusalem, designed by Kauffmann, is the official residence of the [Israeli Prime Minister](/source/Israeli_Prime_Minister)]] Nahalal, the first ''[moshav ovdim](/source/Moshav)'', was designed in a circular shape, where public buildings were located in the middle surrounded by a circular road, then the agricultural farm buildings were about {{Convert|20|m}} from each other, and then the farms and fields were {{Convert|45|m}} wide and hundreds of meters long, forming a whole shape of sunshine rays. His designs for the children's house, kindergarten and school in Degania Alef embodied the social and educational principles of the [kibbutz](/source/kibbutz) movement.{{Cite web |url= https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1478/ |title= Degania & Nahalal |website= UNESCO World Heritage Centre |language= en |access-date= 2016-06-08}} Kauffmann was asked to design the northern neighborhoods of [Tel Aviv](/source/Tel_Aviv), based on the urban plans of [Patrick Geddes](/source/Patrick_Geddes). In 1927, he was appointed a member of the [British Mandate](/source/Mandatory_Palestine) town planning committee. He built private residences all over the country and participated in design competitions. He was one of the architects of the [Levant Fair](/source/Levant_Fair) (Hebrew ''Yarid HaMizrah'') in 1932–1934.{{Cite web |url= http://www.artlog.co.il/telaviv/19.html |title= Richard Kaufmann |website= ArtLog |publisher= |access-date= 2018-08-13 |archive-date= 2016-03-04 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304220614/http://www.artlog.co.il/telaviv/19.html |url-status= dead }} He planned the layout of the pavilions.{{Cite web |url= http://www.artlog.co.il/telaviv/orient.html |title= The Orient Fair |website= ArtLog |access-date= 2016-06-08 |archive-date= 2016-03-04 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025943/http://www.artlog.co.il/telaviv/orient.html |url-status= dead }} Kauffmann designed some new Israeli cities, such as [Afula](/source/Afula) and [Herzliya](/source/Herzliya), and neighborhoods in major Israeli cities such as [Rehavia](/source/Rehavia), [Beit Hakerem](/source/Beit_HaKerem%2C_Jerusalem), [Talpiyot](/source/Talpiyot) and [Kiryat Moshe](/source/Kiryat_Moshe) in [Jerusalem](/source/Jerusalem), and [Hadar HaCarmel](/source/Hadar_HaCarmel), [Neve Sha'anan](/source/Neve_Sha'anan%2C_Haifa), [Bat Galim](/source/Bat_Galim) and [Central Carmel](/source/Central_Carmel) in the city of [Haifa](/source/Haifa). ===Concept and style=== The main idea in his urban planning was the incorporation of [Ebenezer Howard](/source/Ebenezer_Howard)'s idea of [Garden suburbs](/source/Garden_city_movement), as a manifestation of social ideals, with the ideals of agricultural-Zionist communities, and with the pragmatical needs of the inhabitants of those communities and the settling organizations requests. He was influenced by [Neoclassicist](/source/Neoclassicism) architecture, but his urban and agricultural community planning also addressed specific environmental and climate conditions. ==See also== *[Architecture in Israel](/source/Architecture_in_Israel) ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== {{commonscat|Richard Kauffmann}} * The personal papers of Richard Kauffmann are kept at the [http://www.zionistarchives.org.il/en/Pages/Default.aspx Central Zionist Archives] in Jerusalem. The notation of the record group is A175. {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Kauffmann, Richard}} Category:1887 births Category:1958 deaths Category:Architects from Mandatory Palestine Category:Israeli architects Category:Technical University of Munich alumni Category:19th-century German Jews Category:German emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Category:Burials at Har HaMenuchot --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Richard Kauffmann](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Kauffmann) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Kauffmann?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.