Zvi Hecker: Sketches

The exhibition, the first after the passing of the renowned architect Zvi Hecker in Berlin in 2023, offers a new perspective on the creative force he embodied, as expressed in his dialogue with his daughter on projects he designed for her. In a letter he left, Hecker wrote that looking at his work from the perspective of the relationship between father and daughter could be “a unique reality that might be attractive because of the human touch, seldom felt in such undertakings.”

Hecker’s daughter, Dr. Ella Zimmerman, a researcher at the Weizmann Institute, spent most of her life living in apartments in iconic buildings designed by her father: Dubiner House (designed with Alfred Neumann and Eldar Sharon, 1963) and the Spiral House (1989) for which he won the Rechter Prize (1999). His last project, Casa di Ella, a private house for Ella and her family in Italy, remained unfinished.

Ella, who carries his legacy, as a witness and “collaborator,” as her father referred to her, considers her father an artist, or as he himself would say, “an artist whose medium is architecture.”

The exhibition includes sketches, plans, photographs, models and films that were part of their dialogue, things they talked and corresponded about. They are part of the father-daughter relationship centered on his work. Hecker designed Ella’s apartments, or works of art, as she refers to them, whereas she saw her role in their collaboration in the precise realization of his vision.

Hecke’s many sketches, part of which are on display, reveal a glimpse into his unique work and thought process. These homes can be regarded as labs for Hecker to explore his ideas on dwelling and domesticity—from the building to the apartment and the life it contains. They can also be seen as model apartments of sorts, welcoming students, architects, artists and scholars from Hecker’s circle to experience his vision as a comprehensive design from inside and out.

The exhibition does not aim to summarize the vast body of work created by this exceptional—if also controversial—groundbreaking architect. It presents an intimate and personal aspect of his approach to designing and implementing his visions in projects he designed for his daughter within the domestic and family spheres.