Though the book spans over three decades, the exhibition focuses only on architectural projects realized between 1930 and 1940—the years when, according to Sagiv, European Modernism was embraced with the most coherence in Palestine’s three major cities: Ancient Jerusalem and the slopes of the Judean Mountains; the port city Haifa along the rugged bay; and Tel Aviv, the country’s first Hebrew city. It was during those years that Modernism, a movement determined to embrace a new beginning and ideological foundation, arrived in Palestine.

Its arrival, along with the influx of immigrants from Europe following the Russian Revolution of 1905 and the rise of the Nazi regime in 1933, announced the elimination of the ornament and the celebration of function. “As newcomers, the architectural pioneers in Palestine did not have to struggle with classical architectural European precedents or adopt the vernacular ones,” write Ada Karmi-Melamede and Price in their book. “They were free to experiment and search for their own version of the modern language, which was neither inspired by European technological innovations of the time nor enamored of the picturesque local architecture and handicraft. A unique modern language evolved, which was a transformation of a borrowed set of rules.”