Palestinian Museum
200best ES
Heneghan Peng Architects
2017
Type
Museum
Tags
memory spaces , local drive , art spaces , 200Best, Inhabited landscapes
Visitability
Allowed
Description
The design of the Palestinian Museum is primarily aimed at fostering the spirit of dialogue and tolerance, as well as to preserve the cultural heritage of the Palestinian people. To do this, it is rooted in the landscape by means of a topographical strategy that divides the plot into terraces using the local technique known as sanasil. A faceted zig-zag volume completes the hill and houses the exhibition spaces as well as the public spaces and the cafeteria. The symbolic value of the building is reinforced by the cladding material, a white limestone quarried near the city of Bethlehem, which clads the exterior surfaces. Furthermore, the building serves as the infrastructure for the garden that has been created: it collects rainwater and distributes it to the terraces, whose plants are local and gradually become wild as they grow away from the main building.