Kibbutz Nir Oz and I

Photo Credit: Haim Zinger

On Monday, September 30, 2024, Iftach Mashal presented his final project at the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at the Technion. Architect Gabi Schwartz and architect Dr. Dikla Yizhar supervised the project. The project will soon be displayed in the United States at the GA, the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America. The exhibition will open in Washington, D.C. on November 10.

Before the war, Mashal thought his final project at the faculty would be focused on his hometown of Ashkelon. However, the intense period he spent at Kibbutz Nir Oz – where he stayed for an extended time as a reservist – changed his initial decision. His special reserve unit settled in the kibbutzim near Gaza at the beginning of the war, and his connection with Nir Oz became a part of him. During his free time there, he worked on his final project at the Technion.

In the opening text of the project, titled “Nir Oz and I,” Mashal wrote, “For three consecutive months, I lived in the ruined kibbutz. Many homes were completely burned out, bullet marks on the reinforced safe-room windows, entire families were erased, and lives were cut short in an instant. Every day revealed more layers of the kibbutz’s story and the place’s complexities, its residents, and its history. I met survivors of the massacre who came to collect their belongings, spoke with the founders of Nir Oz, and encountered people who had lost their entire world. As a person, a soldier, and an architect, I kept asking myself how it would be possible to bring home a wounded and bleeding community that had experienced such a profound trauma.”

The final project focuses on the rehabilitation of Nir Oz in a way that does not turn the kibbutz into a memorial but restores it as a living place. “When thinking of rehabilitation, one must understand what Kibbutz Nir Oz is and what kind of life existed there before the ‘Black Saturday,’” he said. “Afterward, it is necessary to study the spatial trauma the place experienced, and the members’ feelings. The final step is to formulate principles for intervention and create a restored space.”

Mashal, 30, grew up in Ashkelon. His parents, Udi and Noga, are doctors, as are his two older sisters. He studied at an art school in Ashkelon and completed a five-unit matriculation in plastic arts. “There, I discovered that I wanted to be an architect, and by the age of 13, I had already started building model houses, so the path to the world of architecture was natural.”

After the army, he considered studying at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design or the Technion, and following an open day at the Technion, he chose the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning. “In addition to the Technion’s reputation, I liked the campus atmosphere and the green spaces near the faculty. Inside the faculty, I saw ‘Moti’s Workshop,’ a carpentry shop that reminded me of my school.” Mashal began his studies in 2018, and today, alongside his studies, he works at an architectural firm. “I am in the right place professionally, a place that allows me to develop and continue nurturing my passion for the profession.”

The paintings Mashal created in Nir Oz during the war were recently exhibited in the exhibition “From Reality to Memory” at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, and the proceeds from their sales were donated to the “For Tomorrow” association, which helps released soldiers cope with their experiences. The exhibition came to the Technion during its annual Board of Governors meeting, then continued to the Israeli Knesset.