Photo: CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikipedia

View artwork »

View exhibitions »

View videos and articles »

Visit our Information Center to browse the artist file »

Nahum Zolotov, Israeli, Israeli, born Poland, 1926-2014

Nahum Zolotov was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1926. In 1935 he immigrated with his family to the Land of Israel and settled in Tel Aviv. In 1939, he worked as a sculptor's apprentice for Moshe Sternschuss, with whom he later collaborated on many projects. In the mid-1940s, Zolotov served in the police force of the Hebrew settlements and helped to guard the fields of Kibbutz Ein Hashofet. In 1945, he began studying architecture at the Technion in Haifa but completed his studies only in 1950, after fighting in the War of Independence.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Zolotov was one of the leading architects of the Brutalist style and a pioneer of modern urban construction in Tel Aviv. He made wide use of exposed concrete and prefab elements in his designs, and registered several patents in this sphere in 1957.

In 1958, Zolotov planned Tel Aviv's first modern tower building. Located on Ben Yehuda Street, it was 11 stories high with a commercial floor, an open floor and eight residential floors. His office was on the top floor. The building also housed Israel's first supermarket, operated by Supersol. Zolotov's efforts to promote high-rise construction and the use of advanced technologies won him the Rokah Prize for Architecture in 1961.

Among Zolotov's best known works are the guesthouse in Ein Avdat (1960), for which he won the Rechter Prize in 1963, the Battle of Nitzanim Memorial building on Kibbutz Nitzanim, in collaboration with Moshe Sternschuss, a complex of buildings for the IDF (1967-1968) and the Dolphinarium in Tel Aviv (1986).

Zolotov retired in 1991. In the 1990s, he transferred original archival material to the Information Center for Israeli Art at The Israel Museum.

"Nahum Zolotov: Architect and City Planner," was published by architect Tula Amir in 2011.

Education

1945-1939 Avni-Sternschuss studio, painting and sculpture, Tel Aviv
1945-1950 Technion, architecture, Haifa

Teaching

1965 Guest Lecturer, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa
1977-1979 Consultant, Faculty of Environmental Design, Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design, Jerusalem

Awards And Prizes

1950 Memorial monument, Haifa, Second prize
1952 Purchase Prize, Herzl tombstone, Mount Herzl, Jerusalem
1951 Purchase Prize, Air Force Monument, Independence Park, Tel Aviv
1952 Monument to defenders of Tel Aviv and Jaffa occupiers, Tel Aviv, Second prize
1953 Monument to the fallen, Netanya, Second prize
1954 Purchase Prize, Yad Chaim Weizmann, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot
1954 Purchase Prize, Beer-Sheva Administrative Center
1955 Purchase Prize, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa
1958 Purchase Prize, Sherover House, Jerusalem
1961 Israel Rokach Architectural Prize, Municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa
1961 Purchase Prize, Beer Sheva ground planning
1962 Competition for Planning synagogue in Nazareth Illit, Second prize (executed)
Prize of The Israel Institute of Architects in memory of Z. Rechter, Prize for guest house in Ein Avdat
1963 Purchase Prize, Al-Manshiyya planning, Tel Aviv
1963 Competition for building a sanatorium in the Carmel Forest, First prize
1970 Reynolds Prize
1973 Israel Rokach Architectural Prize, Municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, On Construction of buildings for the Israeli Security Forces
1974 Purchase Prize, The competition for planning the tomb of David and Paula Ben-Gurion, Midreshet Sde Boker

Environmental Sculptures

1949 Beit Agor, Haotzar Neighborhood, Hadera (demolished)
1950 Beit Shapiro, Bnei Brak
1951 Beit Zolotov, 16 Hagefen Street, Ramat Gan (demolished)
1951 Shopping Center, Hanassi Street, Kiryat-Ono (w ith Israel Levitt)
1950-1951 Beit Weill, Bnei Brak (with Israel Levitt)
1951 Amphitheater, Ness Ziona (with Israel Levitt)
1951 Beit Uriel Gorny's, Savion
1951 Beit Samuel Kantor , Ganei Yehudah
1955 Artillery Monument - Tsrifin (with Israel Levitt)
1955 Housing project, three residential buildings, Freud Street, Haifa (with Israel Levitt)
1955 Housing for the "new immigrant", Balfour Street , Bat Yam
1955 Tropicana Motel, Eilat
1956-57 Beit Frederick, Nahariya (demolished)
1957 "Tromasvst" Asbestos cement prefabricated houses
1957 Housing project, three residential buildings, Ministry of Housing, Ashkelon (Zolotov's Housing project)
1957-1958 Master plan Model neighborhood, Beer - Sheva. (staff: Bareli – Kisselov, Nahum Zolotov, Danny Havkin, Carmi, Yaski-Alexandroni)

1957-1958 "Housing carpet," Inter–ethnic synagogue, housing complex example, Beer Sheva
1958 Beit Moller, Hashita Street, Nahariya
1958 Residence House, 6 Givati Street, Ramat Chen
1958 Multi-story building, residences and supermarket, 79 Ben Yehudah Street, Tel-Aviv (Rokach prize, 1961)
1961 Beit Emanuel Rothstein Museum, Ramat Gan
1961 Beit Tamara, named for Tamara Cohen, Route 90
1961 Office building and gas station, Glilotz (demolished)
1962 Residential condominium, Region D, Beer Sheva
1962-1963 Central Synagogue, Nazareth Illit
1963 Therapeutic Steam baths, Dead Sea Spa, The Dead Sea
1963 Beit Zolotov, Hagefen Street, Tel-Aviv (demolished)
1964 Field School,Ein Gedi
1964 Residential dwellings, Neot Hakikar
1964 Student Center & Cafeteria, Tel Aviv University, Tel-Aviv
1964 Community Center with auditorium, sport center, Nazarith Ilit
1964 Residentiaql dwellings and cultural center, Ministry of Housing, Beit Shemesh
1964 Hangar for Jumbo 747 airplane and garage, ELAL, Ben Gurion Airport, Lod
1965 Beit Gibor, Yaakov Street, Rehovot (with H Shapiro)
1965 The memorial and cultural center, Kibbutz Nitzanim
1966 Residential Condominiums Ashdor Company, Ashdod
1966 The offices and computer building,Industrial area, on the road between Beersheba to the Dead Sea 1966-1967 Medical Center, Ramat Aviv, Tel-Aviv (demolished)
1967 Sanatorium, Carmel Forest

1967-1968 South Tel-Aviv Train Station, Tel-Aviv (not in use)
1967-1968 Administration and auxiliary buildings, Security System, Tel-Aviv (Rokach Prize 1973)
1968 "Coca-Cola" factory, Bnei Brak
1968 Red Rock Hotel, Eilat
1968-1969 Residential neighborhood and concert hall, Ophira, Sharm-a –Shech (demolished)
1970 Memoria grave for victims of Swiss Air Crash, Givat Shaul, Jerusalem
1971 Motel Khan – Horev, Santa Katarina, Sinai
1971 Office and commercial center, Building No. 1, Tourist Center, Eilat
1971-1972 Kindergarten and a clinic named after Paula Ben-Gurion, Midreshet Sde Boker
1974 Residential and commercial buildings, Gilo, Jerusalem
1974 Diving club "Aqua - Sports", Coral Beach, Eilat
1975 Zolotov, 23 Hatikvah Street, Yemin Moshe, Jerusalem
1976 Central Laundry for Hotels , Eilat
1978 "Israel Experience" Old Jaffa
1980 Synagogue of the Babylonian community, Beersheba
1982 The Dolphinarium , Tel Aviv, (Not in use)
1986 Shopping Center, The North Beach, Eilat
1984-1987 Residential buildings, employees housing and development, Givatayim (with A Bachar and M Moskowitz)

1974 Residential and commercial buildings, Gilo, Jerusalem
1974 Diving club "Aqua - Sports", Coral Beach, Eilat
1975 Zolotov, 23 Hatikvah Street, Yemin Moshe, Jerusalem
1976 Central Laundry for Hotels , Eilat
1978 "Israel Experience" Old Jaffa
1980 Synagogue of the Babylonian community, Beersheba
1982 The Dolphinarium , Tel Aviv, (Not in use)
1986 Shopping Center, The North Beach, Eilat
1984-1987 Residential buildings, employees housing and development, Givatayim (with A Bachar and M Moskowitz)