Rows of metal sun louvres slotted between structural concrete fins help to shade the glazed facade of this university building near Tel Aviv by local architects David S Robins and Dan Price.

Adelson School of Entrepreneurship is situated on the campus of the Interdisciplinary Center of Herzliya, and accommodates facilities for the study and promotion of entrepreneurship.

David S Robins of Robinsalliance and Dan Price of Price Piltzer Yawitz Architects collaborated on the design of the building, which seeks to encapsulate the confident and progressive attitude of its occupants.

"The architecture of the Adelson School of Entrepreneurship embodies the spirit of innovation and transformative thinking, central to its mission," said the architects.

"The building is an extended metaphor for the entrepreneurial mindset – clear, straightforward, no frills while simultaneously assertive, dynamic, passionately creative and humane."

The building's form also references Tel Aviv's Bauhaus buildings, constructed between 1920 and 1940 by German-Jewish architects who immigrated to the region after the rise of the Nazis. The building style is based on the teachings of the renowned Bauhaus art school, which ran between 1919 and 1933.

"We meant to keep the composition of the forms tight, linear and strong against the Mediterranean sun light," Robins told Dezeen. "This was also best accomplished with white plaster work over a reinforced concrete frame that remains one of the strong local craft traditions, having had as its original basis the Bauhaus style in the Tel Aviv area."

"The use of craft in fashioning details on the interiors out of the common materials one finds here in Israel – concrete, steel, wood – also harkens back to Bauhaus influences," he added.

The institution's west facade presents a large glazed surface towards the rest of the campus. The upper storeys look out over the surrounding buildings and trees, while the lower levels promote a more intimate relationship with the landscaped gardens.

The windows are incorporated between long-span beams that extend from the front of the building to a solid core containing the main technical and communications services at the rear. This arrangement frees up the internal floor plan from obstructive structural elements.

Vertical louvres made from painted steel and aluminium mesh are arrayed in front of the glazing to filter the strong afternoon sun, while allowing appropriate levels of daylight to enter the space and ensuring the views out are retained.

A double-height public lobby on the building's ground floor is used as a gallery space to host exhibitions that promote the region's entrepreneurial activities.

The lobby provides access to a 165-seat lecture hall and a refreshment kiosk, with administrative offices and a glass-walled conference room situated on a mezzanine level.

A central suspended steel staircase with cable-mesh balustrades provides circulation connecting the lobby with three upper storeys accommodating specialised classrooms, accelerator spaces, staff offices, meeting rooms and support facilities.

"The plan is efficient and modular," said the architects, "with tall spaces designed to be conveniently reconfigured to support a variety of teaching environments."

One of the key teaching areas is the media innovation laboratories, where activities relating to topics including new media, robotics and human-computer interactions are conducted in an open lab and a series of smaller glass-walled rooms.

"Because the activities of this lab have a certain performative quality, the spaces are united with large acoustic glass walls that nurture an atmosphere of enthusiasm and collective creativity," said the architects.

The architects also suggested that the building's design was informed by the idea of a factory, in which "the raw materials are people who want to work together collaboratively, efficiently and in a spirit of opportunity and inspiration."

The factory concept is expressed literally in the use of exposed technical services and lighting, and materials including polished concrete flooring, painted steel and architectural birch plywood furniture, as well as the large windows.

Photography is by Amit Geron.