Israel Museum / James Carpenter Design Associates
Designers: James Carpenter Design Associates
Location: Jerusalem, Israel
Production Architect: A. Lerman Architects Ltd
Area: 8820.0 sqm
Year: 2010
Photographs: Tim Hursley, Courtesy of James Carpenter Design Associates, Reid Freeman
Herzog & de Meuron to Design the National Library of Israel
After carefully considering six international architecture firms – Ammar Curiel; Frank Gehry; Herzog & de Meuron; Kimmel Eshkolot, Kolker Kolker Epstein and Renzo Piano – an esteemed selection committee has chosen Herzog & de Meuron to design the new National Library of Israel in Jerusalem. The result comes after a controversial first attempt that ended in the dismissal of the initial competition winner for alleged copyright infringement.
More information after the break…
Israel National Library Competition Entry / Gil Even-Tsur
Designed by Gil Even-Tsur Architecture Workshop, their concept for the new National Library suggests that the architecture should be critical, strong, but also deferential and contextually responsive. Their intent is to display an almost aesthetic neutrality in terms of its form, assemblies, and materials by providing an architecture that acknowledges this complexity. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Museum of Nature and Science Winning Proposal / Schwartz Besnosoff + SO Architecture
Designed by Schwartz Besnosoff + SO Architecture, their competition winning proposal for the Museum of Nature and Science in Jerusalem emphasizes the desire to create an open, absorbent, breathing building – the type of building that communicates with the environment, and not a closed structure with fences and a guard. In accordance with the sustainable planning approach, the building’s external appearance is restrained and modest, on the one hand blending into the environment, and on the other hand enveloping a flexible, multifaceted, and dynamic structure. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Jerusalem Museum of Nature & Science Second Prize Winning Proposal / MYS Architects
Located in the heart of Jerusalem, next to Israel’s government assembly building, the second prize winning proposal in the Jerusalem Museum of Nature & Science competition creates a vibrant flexible building that integrates seamlessly into the landscape and urban setting. Designed by MYS Architects, their design approach was sustainability driven from the get go. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Kalandia Checkpoint. The First New Gate To Jerusalem in 466 Years.
SCI-Arc graduate Harris Silver has shared his experience passing through the Kalandia Checkpoint during his quest for “an uncanny truth” that would lead him to develop an architecture project in the city of Jerusalem.
The Kalandia Checkpoint is an opening in what Israel calls “The Security Fence” and what Palestinians call “The Apartheid Wall”. Regardless of what you call the separation infrastructure, the checkpoint acts a modern gate to the city of Jerusalem.
After experiencing Kalendia first hand, I came away realizing that until I personally walked through the checkpoint, I was ignorant of the mechanism and tactics employed to humiliate and dehumanize everyone who passes through it. Which means I was not fully capable of participating in the Israeli-Palestinian discourse.
Continue reading for the full Op-Ed.
Video: Time Lapse of Ron Arad’s 720 Degrees Installation
On view in the Israel Museum’s Billy Rose Art Garden through September 5, the 720° installation, designed by internationally renowned Israeli artist, architect, and designer Ron Arad, is of monumental proportions. Composed of 5,600 silicon rods suspended from a height of eight meters to form a perfect circle 25 meters in diameter, the silicon cords serve as an empty digital canvas on which works by prominent video artists from Israel and around the world – among them Mat Collishaw, Ori Gersht, Christian Marclay, and David Shrigley – are being screened each evening. Above is a time lapse video of the installation courtesy of Ram Matz, Jerusalem Season of Culture. For more information, please visit here.
National Library of Israel Competition Entry / ODA
The proposal for the National Library of Israel by ODA takes on special significance as a site where past, present, and future converge. Unlike traditional libraries, often closed fortresses of knowledge, the new library is organized around a variety of platforms of activity that enhance interaction between the users, enabling the library to become a forum for cross-disciplinary conversations. Through the form of a floating monolith that visually connects to the foundations of Parliament, the library underscores the idea that education and learning are the bedrock of democracy. More images and architects’ description after the break.
‘Second Nature’ Natural History Museum / o2a studio
Designed by o2a studio, the man-made structure for the Natural History Museum in Jerusalem is designated to celebrate the transcendent force and majesty of nature, which is a contradiction in terms. The paradoxical question that arises when approaching the design of a building that is dedicated as a showcase for the unbuilt, is how does one bridge this conceptual gap between the man-made and the organic – between the artificial and the natural. The proposal aims to highlight this difficulty, while allowing for a composite coexistence between the natural and the artificial – interpreted here as ranging between various degrees of control. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Barud House / Paritzki Liani Architects
Architects: Paritzki Liani Architects
Location: Jerusalem, Israel
Site area: 850 sqm
Total floor area: 350 sqm
Completion: 2011
Photographers: Amit Geron, Pavel Wolberg, Omri Amsalem
Mamilla Hotel / Safdie Architects
Architects: Safdie Architects
Location: Jerusalem, Israel
Client: Alrov Luxury Hotels
Interior Design: Piero Lissoni
Total Cost: US $60 million
Completion: 2009
Photographs: Timothy Hursley, Ardon Bar Hama, Courtesy of Mamilla Hotel
District Courthouse Proposal / Chyutin Architects
Chyutin Architects, in collaboration with Shmaya Zarfati, shared with us their first prize winning proposal for the District Courthouse in Jerusalem. Located on a newly designed main public square in the city center, the building houses all the judiciary levels except the Supreme Court, and contains 113 courtrooms and 135 judges’ chambers. The design of the court building connects and bridges among the host of diverse design languages of the buildings around it while creating a distinctive language of its own. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The Polonsky Academy of Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences / Chyutin Architects
The Polonsky Academy building, designed by Chyutin Architects, is situated on the cliff facing south towards the Jerusalem Theater. Its northern side faces the Main Garden Court which will function as the heart of the campus in the new master plan. The low horizontal appearance of the Polonsky Academy building fits in with the dimensions and design characteristics of the existing buildings with their closed stone fronts to the city and glass fronts facing the open inner garden. Other building materials to be used are exposed concrete and wood slats. The design of the building elevation respects the modernistic spirit of the existing buildings. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem / Bracha Chyutin, Michael Chyutin, Jacques Dahan, Ariel Noyman
The Museum of Tolerance, designed by Bracha Chyutin, Michael Chyutin, Jacques Dahan, and Ariel Noyman is located at the heart of modern Jerusalem, in its rejuvenated city center, on the borderline between the spacious Independence Park, and the urban built environment. The location is a meeting site of three main streets which differ in character and function. Hillel street: a bustling commercial zone; Moshe Ben Israel street: a road crossing the park; and Moshe Salomon street- Nachalat Shiva’s pedestrian mall, a tourist hub, full of restaurants and shops. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Supreme Court Building in Jerusalem / Ada Karmi-Melamede Architects & Ram Karmi
Architects: Ada Karmi-Melamede Architects & Ram Karmi
Location: Jerusalem, Israel
Client: Yad Hanadiv
Photographs: Courtesy of Ada Karmi-Melamede Architects
Gutman Visitor Center at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory / Weinstein Vaadia Architects
Architect: Weinstein Vaadia Architects
Location: Jerusalem, Israel
Project Area: 120 sqm
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: Amir Balaban
Flashback: Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum / Safdie Architects
Flashback: One of Archdaily’s goals is to bring you up to date information about projects that are being designed and constructed around the world. We’ve created a new category to cover inspiring projects that were constructed between the 1990′s and the early 2000′s.
Architect: Safdie Architects
Location: HaZikaron, Jerusalem, Israel
Client: Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority
Total Cost: $90 million
Project Area: 190,521 sqf
Project Year: 2005
Photographs: Timothy Hursley
The Mashrabiya House / Senan Abdelqader
Architects: Senan Abdelqader
Location: Jerusalem, Palestine
Project Area: 1700 sqm
Photographs: Amit Giron
AD Classics: Shrine of the Book / Armand Phillip Bartos and Frederick John Kiesler
The Shrine of the Book (Hebrew: היכל הספר Heikhal HaSefer) is a wing of the Israel Musem near Givat Ram in Jerusalem, constructed in 1965. The building houses the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in and around the Wadi Qurman.
The building was the result of an elaborate seven-year planning process funded by the family of David Samuel Gottesman, a Hungarian philanthropist who purchased the scrolls as a gift to the newly founded state of Israel. One architect, American philanthropist-cum-designer Armand Phillip Bartos, was chosed because he was married to Gottesman’s daughter. The other appointed architect, Frederick John Kiesler, had previously recieved funding from Gottesman to install the “Endless house” at the Museum of Modern Art. The architectural team also included the well-connected Gezer Heller, brother-in-law to Ibbi Hammer, future chief banker for the State of Israel and daughter of the Chief Rabbi of Budapest. Israelis objected to the choice of non-Israeli architects, especially Kiesler.
Academy of Advanced Studies / Chyutin Architects
The Polonsky Academy of Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences, designed by Chyutin Architects, is part of the Van Leer Institute campus at Jerusalem. Situated on the cliff facing south towards the Jerusalem Theater, its northern side faces the main garden court which will function as the heart of the campus in the new master plan. This court has two levels, with a one storey differential between them which makes it possible to create two entrances to the structure on different levels: main entrance near the Van Leer Institute and secondary entrance near the Council for Higher Education. More images and architects’ description after the break.
