On the height: The magnificent achievement of Yashar Architects

Yashar Architects, headed by master architect Avner Yashar, won two prestigious awards in the annual international competition of the CTBUH (National Council for Skyscrapers and Urban Construction) for the year 2024 for two towers in Tel Aviv whose construction was completed this year: The Da Vinci Towers of Israel Canada and Acro Real Estate, Aviv Limited Edition Tower of the Aviv Group (Doron Aviv and Dafna Harlev).

As every year, the prestigious competition CTBUH Awards Program examined the most innovative skyscrapers in the world. Dozens of projects from around the world reached the finals and were presented to an international panel of judges. The skyscrapers are tested according to various categories, including: The quality of the planning, green construction, attention to detail and their connection to the urban context, and more. Yashar Architects will present the two winning projects at the CTBUH annual conference to be held in September 2024 in London and Paris, and will compete for the highest award: "The best building in the world" (a title that awarded the architectural firms Ron Arad and Avner Yashar the prize in 2021 for the ToHa office tower).

Architect Avner Yashar: "With many years of hard work, we designed and built the Da Vinci Project and the Limited Edition Project, with the thought and passion of creating a better living environment for people. We are very excited, especially at this time, to win international awards that bring pride not only to us, but to the State of Israel". Doron Aviv, Chairman of the Aviv Group: "We were very excited when we received the announcement of the award for the Aviv Limited Edition project, a unique project in a strategic location in Tel Aviv, 19 stories high with a spectacular view of the sea, with the whole city spread out in front of it. The project was built on the basis of the highest and most innovative standards of the Aviv Group. There is no more satisfying feeling, especially these days, that our project from Israel wins an international award. The Aviv Group will continue to build for its customers at the highest and most professional standard."

The Aviv Limited Edition Tower was built by the Aviv Group of company chairman Doron Aviv and company CEO Dafna Harlev. The tower is located on Achimair Street in Tel Aviv. It is mostly intended for residences, offices and commerce, including 64 units in a 20-story residential tower with a spectacular view of the sea with the entire city spread out in front of it. The area of the tower is 24,000 square meters. The tower, designed according to high and innovative standards, consists of 17 residential levels above 2 commercial floors and with 4 underground parking levels. This is a project with complex and unique design elements. The tower is based on a diverse spatial geometry, which creates large roof balconies for the entire height of the building, and not only in the roof apartments as is customary, a structure that allows for a growing variety of apartments with large balconies and unique layouts.

The unique structure of the building allows for the maximization of the areas and balconies overlooking the sea - the planning challenge was to produce as many unique apartments facing the sea as possible. The building is located on the highest point of land in the Ramat Aviv III neighborhood, and the low density of the buildings around it allows an open view of the sea.

The tower resembles a "Hungarian cube" in its structure, when the apartments are arranged in 6 clusters of 3 floors, standing on top of each other, in such a way that each cluster of 3 floors faces 15 degrees around the center point of the pattern. In planning the project, there was a search for an architectural innovation that would express the changing urban environment, which is becoming more vibrant and active day by day. The refinement of the treatment of the tower's volume, and the formal dynamism, offer new qualities for the tenants, such as: an optimal reference to the landscape, the creation of varied balconies and a sense of individuality that does not exist in a repeated tower. The Aviv Limited Edition Tower expresses proof of the power of architecture, and its ability to influence.

The Da Vinci Towers project, designed by Yashar Architects, was built at the initiative of two of Israel's leading real estate companies: Acro Real Estate and Israel Canada. The towers are located at 12 Leonardo da Vinci St., corner of 19 Eliezer Kaplan St. in Tel Aviv, close to the main transportation routes in Tel Aviv. Their construction will be completed this year (2024). The towers, intended for residences, commerce and public buildings, include 412 units in 2 towers rising to a height of 42 floors, and at a height of 155 meters. The extent of the areas for employment, public and commerce are about 36,000 square meters, the extent of the underground areas is about About 40,000 square meters.

It is a mixed-use project that combines commerce on the ground floor, and employment floors and a public structure in a textured construction. Above, in two residential towers, are also integrated apartments for protected rent, a gym and a pool.

The project as a whole was designed around an internal square that allows all the residents of the project to stay outside. The office building, in particular, was designed around three sides of that inner square, in order to allow a direct connection between the office spaces and the outside. The entrance to the two cores used by the office building is from the same inner square, and the elevators lead to an outer "corridor" that surrounds the square, so that the way to the office is entirely outside. This design solution makes it possible to attach a garden balcony at the entrance to any office. Also, the balcony area is designed to allow working in the open air, and also encourages social gatherings between the floor's residents. In addition, on the roof of the office building is a shared green roof with a variety of seating and shading areas, next to trees.

The project is planned as a structure that includes 2 residential towers in the eastern part and a structural building intended for employment, built around an open square with an area of 1,000 square meters. In the western part, a structural building that includes an open square that includes entrances to a public building and commercial areas on the ground floor and to the residential towers and an office wing connected to the eastern side of the residential towers.

Between the residential towers, at the height of the top floor of the offices, a swimming pool in a bridge structure, for the use of the residents of the residential towers, areas for the well-being of the residents are offered adjacent to the pool and on another floor in the area of the residential tower. Access to the square, which is used as an open square, is made through 3 wide entrances, from Sharona Park, from Kaplan Street and from Da Vinci Street.