An architectural plan by Selma Milson Arad and Avner Simon Architects and Urban Planners has been selected for the new home of The Jerusalem Foundation and The Yellow Submarine.

The two groups are currently located in separate buildings in the Talpiot neighborhood. This new building will merge the two in downtown Jerusalem on a 1.6-hectare property near the King David Hotel. The 5500 sqm. building will be surrounded by lush greenery and will serve as an entry into Yemin Moshe, the Sultan’s Pool and the slope overlooking the Old City basin.

The Yellow Submarine will be situated underground, “beneath the surface”, for optimal acoustics. Included on the level will be a music hall, a studio, offices, exhibition space, and a storage area.

The ground floor will be shared by the two groups. The eastern wing will serve as an entrance to the offices of the Jerusalem Foundation. The West Wing will include rehearsal spaces, classrooms, a studio and gallery overlooking the foyer.

The second floor will house The Jerusalem Foundation’s offices, meeting rooms and archive. The floor will be bridged to an employee leisure and eating area. 

The third floor will serve at the executive level with offices for the foundation management. 

There is no word on the expected completion date as of publication.

 

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat is serious about making Jerusalem into a world-class cultural capital. His ideas range from extremely ambitious to very silly. But between those two extremes falls projects like the Jerusalem Arts Campus.

Set in downtown Jerusalem at the top of Bezalel Street, the campus combines three renowned institutions – The School of Visual Theater, The School of Middle Eastern Music and The Nissan Nativ Acting Studio. The expansive campus will serve to unite the schools, much in the same way the new Bezalel Academy Campus intends.

Construction on Barkat’s “flagship project” began today and is scheduled to be completed in 2018. Check out the Jerusalem Foundation video below for further details.

Last year construction began across from the Jerusalem Theater on Chopin Street. Little attention was given to the massive lot, but the story of Mishkenot HaTe’atron is quite elaborate and begins nearly seventeen years ago.

In 1999, an architectural plan provided by Nadler-Bixon-Gil was rejected by the city council. The plan, set over the 52,000 sqm. theater parking lot, featured 14 low-rise apartment buildings, a health club, commercial space and an enormous 700-vehicle underground parking lot for use by theatergoers. A pedestrian bridge would connect the parking lot to the theater square.

One decade later, in February 2009, Ahim Hasid won a tender to build 42 housing units for 36.3 million shekels. The plan also included a public parking lot and a pedestrian bridge. Construction was slated to begin in 2011.

By January 2014, five years after winning the tender, construction had still not begun on the project. Ahim Hasid requested that a 90-room hotel be added to the site in addition to four additional housing units. The Ginot Hair Community Council objected to this and made three requests: that Chopin Street be turned into a dead end, that the bridge be removed from the plan and that commercial space be added to the site.

Construction on the site began in 2015 and the plan now includes the requested hotel. The amount of housing units will be halved to only 20. The pedestrian bridge will be completed unless a better solution is found. By the time construction is completed, the project will have been two decades in the making.

The story of Mishkenot HaTe’atron is not atypical. There are many projects in limbo throughout Jerusalem and finalizing plans often takes more than a decade. This, in part, is the reason for the housing shortage and for the exorbitant prices in Jerusalem. Because of the drawn-out approval process, it is not worthwhile for companies to build anything but luxury complexes.