The Transfer of Media Strategies: “Habinjan Bamisrah Hakarov”
As the first Hebrew-language architectural journals, Habinjan Bamisrah Hakarov can provide insights into cultural transfer from two different perspectives.
On one hand, it served as the Chug’s journalistic vehicle for presenting forms of European architecture of the avant-garde to the Yishuv, documenting the adaptation of these styles in contemporary projects, and promoting their adoption. On the other hand, the journal itself was a product of cultural transfer between Europe and Palestine — the transfer of a cultural technique.
The Berlin-based Ring architects —after which the Tel Aviv association of architects Chug modelled itself — regularly published inserts in Bauwelt in order to exert influence on contemporary architectural trends. Habinjan Bamisrah Hakarov followed their example, not only emulating mostly French and German architectural journals, but also enlisting the skills and expertise of such established architects as Sam Barkai and Julius Posener, who formerly worked as correspondents and editors for L’ Architecture d’Aujourd’hui.
This paper highlights the fact that members of the Chug not only learned the strategic design approaches and the formal repertory of their instructors during their studies in Europe, but also the strategies to communicate and implement them back in Palestine. Furthermore, it examines the journal Habinjan Bamisrah Hakarov as the medial instrument of Chug and discusses its significance with respect to cultural transfer.