Jerusalem is a city of layers: historic, ethnic, religious, cultural, architectural.

The future site of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Architecture is an acropolis where the Tower of Psephinos bore witness to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

The site is rich in layers; at one time it was a quarry catering to the city’s edifices, at another it was a place of pilgrimage, recently it was home to a Russian mission. Presently it houses a parking lot and series of weak urban connections. These fragments of time suggest an architectural intervention evidencing a system of layering to organize the complexities of the program and its urban implementation. This vision generates spaces where students and faculty are lead to cross paths in a vertical and horizontal series of gallery spaces that connect the horizons and people of Jerusalem to the campus.

The departments are stratum stacked one above another around an internal courtyard bridged by crystal galleries and the ascending main stair permitting the faculty, students and visitors to permeate through them. As with the celebrated Tower of Psephinos which commanded the most extensive and beautiful prospects of Jerusalem’s seven hills, the proposed structural layers reclaim the prospects of Mount Scopus, the Nob of the Mount of Olives, Mount Offence, old Mount Zion, Ophel Mount, the Rock and the new Mount Zion as places for study, exhibition, repose, contemplation and discussion.

The topographical nature of the site is an ‘acropolis’ and a key component of Jerusalem’s natural skyline. The proposal terminates the formal urban plan by framing the Holy Trinity Cathedral and extends the visual axis to the horizon beyond the Old City to the Mount of Olives. The upper level (the main building and administrative building) and lower level (the future cultural center) of the site are brought together to embrace the auditorium situated between the two levels forming one of the many points of contact throughout the new campus.

One enters the main building from the piazza facing the views to the Old City. The structure is situated on the northern area of the site; the sun illuminates its entrance throughout the course of the day. The administration building sits opposite and is smaller in scale allowing the main building and the municipal building to balance the urban landscape around the Holy Trinity Cathedral. The potential public spaces (Library, Canteen, Coffee Shop, Student Shop, Supply Store and Sports Facility are located at ground and/or a lower level through a series of mezzanine spaces surrounding the courtyard of galleries; this simplifies security surveillance and generates a much desired public/private dialogue/interaction.

The layering of the departments leads to an architectural play of materials and tectonics responding to the characteristic of the program, environment and architectural vision. The proposal uses a screen cladding system to shade the interior spaces from direct sunlight and steps the floors to extend the shading qualities; this results in generous roof terrace conditions for the students to use as work areas. The use of Jerusalem stone is implemented to define specific areas of the building and offset ones sense of gravity by superimposing the screen cladding with the stone.

The new Bezalel Academy of Art and Architecture is a new beacon in Jerusalem replacing the defensive qualities of the Tower of Psephinos with fragile galleries framed by the students, faculty and public suspended over the seven prospects of Jerusalem.