Ada Karmi-Melamede

Ada Karmi-Melamede (Hebrew: עדה כרמי-מלמד; born 1936) is a noted Israeli architect.

Ada Karmi-Melamede
עדה כרמי-מלמד
Ada Karmi-Melamede
Born	(1936-12-24)December 24, 1936 Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine
Nationality	Israeli
Occupation	Architect
Known for	Co-designing the Supreme Court of Israel building
Awards	Israel Prize (2007) Sandberg Prize for Research in Art and Architecture (1985)

Biography

Karmi-Melamede was born on December 24, 1936, in Tel Aviv, in Mandate Palestine (now Israel).^[1]

She studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London from 1956 to 1959 and at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology from 1961 to 1962, being awarded her degree in 1963. She has taught at Columbia University (1969-1982), Yale University (1985, 1993), and the University of Pennsylvania (1991).

She established Ada Karmi-Melamede Architects in 1985 in Tel Aviv.

In 1986 she and her brother Ram Karmi won an international competition to design the Supreme Court of Israel compound, which opened in 1992.^[2] New York Times architecture critic Paul Goldberger wrote that "the sharpness of the Mediterranean architectural tradition and the dignity of the law are here married with remarkable grace".^[3]

She is the subject of the documentary film Ada: My Mother the Architect (2024).^[4]

Projects

Ramat Hanadiv Visiting Center, Ramat Hanadiv Memorial Gardens, 2008, Zikhron Ya'akov, Israel^[5]

Life Sciences Building, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel.

Supreme Court Building, Jerusalem, Israel, 1992.

• 
  Model of Israel supreme court building
• 
  aerial view, Israel Supreme Court
• 
  Viewing the model
• 
  Beit Avi Chai
• 
  Ramat HaNadiv

Awards

• In 2007, Karmi-Melamede was awarded the Israel Prize, for architecture, the second woman to have ever been awarded this prize.^[6][7] Her father, Dov Karmi, had received the same prize in 1957, and her brother Ram Karmi in 2002.
• Awarded the Sandberg Prize for Research in Art and Architecture (1985?)^[8]
• Awarded grants from the United States National Endowment for the Arts
  • New York City's Second Avenue (1975)
  • transportation, mixed-use development, housing, and industry in Long Island City (1976–1977)
  • architecture in Palestine under the British Mandate (1984)

Further reading

Karmi Melamede, et al. Ada Karmi Melamede, Architect : Life Sciences Buildings, Ben Gurion University of the Negev. Birkhauser, 2003.

Schultz, Anne-Catrin, and Richard Bryant. Ram Karmi, Ada Karmi-Melamede : Supreme Court of Israel, Jerusalem. Edition Axel Menges, 2010.

Karmi-Melamede, Ada. “The Supreme Court Building, Israel.” Perspecta 26 (1990): 83–96. https://doi.org/10.2307/1567155.

Karmi-Melamede, Ada. Ma(r)King Ground : Three Projects. Frances Lincoln, 2013.

Karmi-Melamede, Ada, et al. Architecture in Palestine during the British Mandate, 1917-1948. Israel Museum, 2014.

עדה כרמי-מלמד, et al. אבא שלי, דב כרמי: My Father, Dov Karmi. Bavel, 2018.

See also

• List of Israel Prize recipients