New York Times Almost Finds A New Israeli "Settlement"

Almost, but not quite.

It's an architecture article on Tel Aviv:

Letting in the Light in Tel Aviv

DESIGN buffs may swoon over Tel Aviv’s legendary Bauhaus architecture, but most of the city’s apartment buildings are like the one where Idit Barak, a fashion designer, and her husband, Ron Reinfeld, an executive at a high-tech company, live — big, boxy and boring.

Ms. Barak and Mr. Reinfeld’s six-story building, which was constructed in the 1950s, is on the south side of Rabin Square, one of the city’s biggest public spaces. And their 1,100-square-foot apartment, bought in 2008 for $540,000, “was dark and gloomy when we first found it,” Ms. Barak said. It was also on the second floor, overlooking busy Malchei Yisrael Street, so it offered passers-by an irresistible opportunity for voyeurism.

Still, she added, it was “about 40 percent larger than other apartments I’d seen for the same price.” [she decided] to turn the apartment’s “small, obscure and unusable rooms” into a bright, unified space that felt more like a loft.

...The renovation, which was completed in 2009 for $90,000, focused on creating a sense of transparency. Several internal walls and beams were removed to create two sizable bedrooms on one side of the apartment and an open kitchen, living and dining area on the other. Heavy plate-glass panels were used in lieu of conventional sheetrock walls to define the living area and the master bedroom; in between the two rooms is an interior courtyard that faces the street. With no drapes and what amounts to a glass facade, the apartment glows from within at night, offering an illuminated view of its inhabitants.

...White walls accentuate the brightness of the space and provide a simple backdrop for the couple’s modern furnishings...The bathroom sink looks modern, but it is original to the apartment. Ms. Barak calls it “the fish sink,” because she imagines it was once used for laundry “or to store live fish before they were made into gefilte fish for Shabbat.” Now it is where she gives Sophia a bath...

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