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Kenneth Helphand sketches a landscape, Drawing by Lawrence Halprin, z"l. View from Goldman Promenade looking toward the
a common practice of one of the 20th cen- Haas Promenade. The Haas Promenade overlooking Jerusalem is likely one of Halprin’s
tury’s great landscape architects Lawrence most visited designs in Israel, with most tour groups stopping there for the magnificent view
Halprin, z”l. Kenneth is considered one of of the Old City, the Dome of the Rock, Mount Scopus, the modern sections of Jerusalem
the foremost authorities on Halprin’s work. and the desert beyond. (Courtesy Bruce Levin).

Portland fountain designer Halprin's Israel fame

BY DEBORAH MOON During his first sabbatical from the Uni- ning, national parks and was an influential
Landscape architect Lawrence Halprin versity of Oregon in 1980-81, Kenneth member of Mayor Teddy Kollek’s Jerusa-
(1916-2009) is renowned for his iconic taught design studio and the history of lem Committee. His design projects, all in
projects in the United States: the Port- landscape architecture at the Technion in Jerusalem, include: the Hadassah Medical
land Fountains, Freeway Park, Ghirardelli Haifa, Israel. During that year and many Center, the Israel Museum and the Ben Ye-
Square, Sea Ranch and the Franklin Dela- subsequent visits, he visited many of Hal- huda Mall. His most significant work is the
no Roosevelt Memorial. Yet he also made prin’s designs in Israel. A dozen years later, Haas Promenade (with Shlomo Aronson)
crucial contributions to the landscape of the Israeli Association of Landscape Ar- and the Rhoda Goldman Promenade (with
Israel, which played a large role in forming chitects invited him to write what became Bruce Levin).
Halprin’s values and vision. Dreaming Gardens: Landscape Archi- In a phone interview, Kenneth discussed
Halprin lived in pre-state Israel as a teen- tecture and the Making of Modern Israel. Halprin’s work in Israel and Portland.
ager, helped found a kibbutz in the 1930s He is also the author of Lawrence Halprin “The clear intention in virtually all his
and maintained a relationship with the land (part of the Masters of Modern Landscape design work is how do you engage people
and people throughout his life. Design Series). in the landscape? A multi-sensory experi-
Kenneth Helphand, the guest curator of But when the Landscape Journal asked ence people see, feel, touch and hear,” says
the current exhibit of Halprin’s Portland him to write “Halprin in Israel” for the Kenneth. “The intention in Portland is to
Fountains (see next page), says that Halprin journal’s 2012 special issue devoted to engage people in the fountains, in the wa-
credits that formative experience, especial- Halprin, Kenneth took a deeper dive. He ter, in the sensory experience that kind of
ly on the kibbutz, with creating his values of perused all of Halprin’s 167 notebooks in microclimate creates. … They are inspired
community working together and people’s the Lawrence Halprin Collection, The Ar- by mountain landscapes – originally the
knowledge and respect for the land. chitectural Archives, University of Penn- Sierras and certainly the Cascades – (and)
“Halprin’s ties to Israel are especially no- sylvania. Kenneth searched the notebooks trying to get a sense of that into the city.”
table,” says Judy Margles, director of Or- for sketches and notes about Israel before While his design for Portland’s "Open
egon Jewish Museum and Center for Ho- writing the in-depth, 20-page article. The Space Sequence" revolves around water, in
locaust Education. “When I look at photos article includes Kenneth’s photographs of Israel Halprin uses water sparingly.
of Ein Hashofet, the kibbutz that he helped Halprin’s projects and several sketches and “You shouldn’t have something like that
found in the 1930s and one that I lived on notes from Halprin. in Israel, because water is so scarce,” says
for a summer when I was 14, I see the in- “Israel and Jerusalem have affected my Kenneth. “If you are going to use water,
fluence of its landscape on his projects, es- life ever since – my value systems and my you need to … use water in very prudent
pecially the Haas Promenade in Jerusalem attitudes have been deeply influenced. I ways” – a single jet to create the sounds of
and Sea Ranch in California. I’m grateful have been deeply swayed by Israelis’ rev- water or a fountain modeled on the village
to curator Kenny Helphand for noting this erence for the land,” wrote Halprin in 1981 fountains where villagers would get their
important aspect of Halprin’s work and in notebook 122. water.
providing us with a deeper understanding The article abstract notes: In Israel, Hal- He notes in his article for the Landscape
of what inspired him.” prin advised on national landscape plan- Continued on next page
2 Jewish Review Aug. 4, 2021