New Azrieli Sarona Tower starting to take shape

After more than 2 years of digging, the unconventional 200 meter, 50-story building which will be Tel Aviv largest office tower upon completion in 2016 is now starting to take shape. Azrieli Sarona will offer 125,000 square meters of working space, a three-story, 11,000-sq.-m. mall and a seven-story underground parking lot for 1,600 vehicles. It will be the country’s second-tallest building, behind Ramat Gan’s 244-meter, 68-story, multipurpose Moshe Aviv Tower.

David Azrieli purchased the land from the Israel Lands Authority for NIS522m ($139m) in 2011 and the tower will be built at the eastern end of the Sarona compound near Menachem Begin Road and Kaplan Street, diagonally opposite the three existing Azrieli towers. Architect Moshe Zur who also designed the 17 Arlozorov tower partnered with David Azrieli Architects to design the building. According to the Jerusalem Post, the architects are using simple geometry to create the effect that the building is facing the sea, which lies almost 3km to the west. The tower will be located half a block south of the company's Azrieli Center project. The office and commercial project is part of the Sarona compound in central Tel Aviv. The project offers a greater than usual number of building rights, however existing height limitations dictated a particularly large, wide building mass.

The architectural solution was to create two vertical, rectangular masses that lie alongside each other and twist slightly around two different axes. The result is a twisted tower, the base of which lies parallel to the Sarona compound pedestrian routes. Every viewpoint of the tower offers a new, different perspective. The division into two masses creates vertical proportions, which, together with the twisted effect, forms a spatial, sculptural three-dimensional object that makes a dramatic impact on its surroundings.

The lower segment of the tower accommodates a 3 storey commercial center that bridges the height variations between the Sarona compound on the western side of the project and Menachem Begin Street on its east. Each side was handled differently. Two mall entrances and a small piazza acting as an entrance plaza to the office tower above were planned on Menachem Begin Street, which is one of the main urban streets of the city. An arcade lined with stores and coffee shops is planned along the façade. The façade reinforces and revitalizes the pedestrian level.

The side facing the Sarona compound features a lower scale, green open spaces and buildings for preservation, the Templar buildings. This side contains two entrances at the end of the pedestrian paths spanning the compound. The façade facing Sarona on the pedestrian level turns its main front shopping facades in this direction. A covered sitting area is planned along the length of the façade. A sitting balcony facing west towards the compound is situated one floor above.

The overall architectural solution derives from the project’s broad urban context. The ultimate outcome is an asset to the wider public and the city, both in the capacity of its ground levels and as a striking, stately asset to the urban skyline.