»If someone asked me: what is the film about, I would have to say:It is really about the essence of human life! I find it incredibly beautiful!It is really a moving experience ... I think it is obviously artbuilt and master full ...« (Prof. Howard Davis, University of Oregon,on my film And the alley she whitewashed in light blue.)At a time of existential threat to the physical and human environmentwe live in, architect and film maker Nili Portugali takes thereaders through a poetic text and spectacular photo gallery, extractedfrom her awarded new film, into a deeply intimate journeyof memories in the Galilean »Kabbala« holy city of Tsefat.A childhood journey that unfolds gradually from her presentholistic / Buddhist / phenomenological point of view to a discoveryof profound universal insights of what is the secret of all thosetimeless places endowed with beauty and soul where one feels»at home«? And what is that »one pure art of making« that createsthem? At any culture at any place and at any time.Nili Portugali unfolds the way in which her holistic-phenomenologicalapproach to the arts as a whole and to architecture in particulargenerated her creative process in making her film. A processfundamentally different from the common production processesin the film industry.The book includes a free streaming access to watch the film.Nili Portugali, a seventh generation descendant of a family livingin the city of Tsefat, is a practicing architect, lecturer, researcher,author and film maker. Her work focuses on both practice and theory,closely connected to the holistic-phenomenological school ofthought. Her first book The Act of Creation and the Spirit of aPlace. A Holistic-Phenomenological Approach to Architecturewas nominated for The RIBA International Book Award 2007:»There is no other book quite like this one, it really is singular andworthy of your close attention.« Her film is the third chapter in hercreative trilogy following the buildings she designed and the booksshe wrote. She did post-graduate studies in architecture and Buddhismat the University of California in Berkeley and participatedthere in research with Christopher Alexander at the Center for EnvironmentalStructure. She taught at the Bezalel Academy of Artand Design in Jerusalem and at the Technion Institute of Technologyin Haifa.
Nili Portugali, a seventh generation descendant of a family living
in the city of Tsefat, is a practicing architect, lecturer, researcher,
author and film maker. Her work focuses on both practice and theory,
closely connected to the holistic-phenomenological school of
thought. Her first book The Act of Creation and the Spirit of a
Place. A Holistic-Phenomenological Approach to Architecture
was nominated for The RIBA International Book Award 2007:
ªThere is no other book quite like this one, it really is singular and
worthy of your close attention.´ Her film is the third chapter in her
creative trilogy following the buildings she designed and the books
she wrote. She did post-graduate studies in architecture and Buddhism
at the University of California in Berkeley and participated
there in research with Christopher Alexander at the Center for Environmental
