POSTCARD FROM PIESTANY Dear ArchitectureWeek, Balneotherapy — therapeutic bathing in hot springs — has been attracting visitors to Piestany, Slovakia since the 17th century. Today, a treatment area and five hotels are situated on Spa Island in the River Váh, the source of the healing thermal waters and sulfuric mud. — Published 2004.1208
	CALATRAVA WAVE IN TENERIFE It was originally intended to be a simple concert hall, but the multifunction building for the city of Santa Cruz, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, also promises to be a landmark. The distinctive, overhanging "wave" curving out over the white concrete Auditorio de Tenerife is the latest creation of renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. — Published 2003.0903
	CREATIVE KINDERGARTEN Caesarea, Israel is a city founded more than 2,000 years ago by Herod the Great, who dedicated it to Caesar Augustus. Many of Herod's structures are well preserved — the palace, aqueduct, hippodrome, and the amphitheater, which is a modern venue for concerts and plays, valued for its superb acoustics. — Published 2003.0813
	MOSHE SAFDIE IN ISRAEL Israeli-born architect Moshe Safdie is well known for structures on the American continent, including his pioneering Habitat '67 in Montreal. This residential complex with distinctive stacking blocks has widely influenced thinking about urbanism and building systems. Safdie has also continued to work in his native country. He spends one week a month at his practice in Jerusalem, where he has designed numerous public and private buildings of note. — Published 2002.0904
	OASIS IN A WAR ZONE Israel's modernist Supreme Court, with its clean stone lines and its miniature pyramid, seems to rise up from one of Jerusalem's many hills. Planned by the brother-sister architectural team of Ram Karmi and Ada Karmi-Melamede, it is a complex three-story building of local limestone. — Published 2002.0403
	ISRAEL'S AMBASSADOR IN STONE This was to be Israel's first embassy in Berlin, the same city in which, almost 60 years ago, the then-ruling Nazis decided on a "final solution." That death sentence for millions of Jews is now commemorated in six stone pillars at the building's entrance. In designing the embassy, the architects were faced with the challenge of finding a symbolically appropriate architectural expression, while refraining from monumentalism. Tel Aviv architect Orit Willenberg-Giladi worked in collaboration with German architect Wolfgang Keilholz. — Published 2001.1205
	LIBESKIND ZIGZAG IN BERLIN In an unprecedented happening, more than 300,000 visitors went to see a totally empty museum. During the 18 months between completion of the structure and its official opening, the edifice itself became an attraction in a city bursting with building fever. — Published 2001.1107
	KIBBUTZ, THEN AND NOW The first kibbutz, a voluntary collective community, sprang up on the shores of the Sea of Galilee almost a hundred years ago. It was formed by a group of young Jewish men and women from Eastern Europe fired by Zionist and socialist ideals. — Published 2001.0829
	BROWNFIELD RECYCLING Communities around the world are declaring war on brownfields, those abandoned, idled, or under-used industrial and commercial facilities where redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination. These sites, of which there are some 500,000 throughout the United States, represent pockets of disinvestment, neglect, and, often, missed opportunities. Brownfields come in the form of industrial properties, old gas stations, warehouses, or even residential buildings containing lead paint and asbestos. — Published 2001.0620
	CONTEMPORARY MUSIC IN HISTORIC TEL AVIV The first thing that strikes you when you enter the Felicja Blumental Music Center and Library is its transparency. A holistic approach to the building's design has resulted in successful visual connections between the rooms and an extraordinary attention to detail. A muted golden hue pervading the open, spacious foyer originates from the intense Mediterranean light blended into the white walls with their discreet gold design and the plain pink carpeted floors. — Published 2001.0404

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