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The new National Library of Israel building opened during the war, and the building’s unique architectural wonder made it an integral part of Jerusalem’s cultural landscape.
The basic fact of the new building, designed by the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron in collaboration with the Israeli firm Mann Shinar, is that it covers an area of 45,000 square meters and houses more than 4 million objects, including the rarest and most precious items. Rare books, manuscripts, photographs and archives of interest to Jews and the general public.
But these numbers only scratch the surface of the new library building and what it will mean for Jerusalem, Israel, and the 500,000 readers and scholars expected to visit each year.
Although a series of celebrations were planned for October, including many visiting dignitaries, all had to be postponed due to the war, but the management decided to open the building to the public just weeks after the conflict.
When the architects planned the building, they could not have foreseen that a hall next to the main reading room would be dedicated to photographs of those killed and taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, or that an exhibition in the main reading room would Hundreds of photos. On the chair were books that the hostages liked, ready to be given to them when they returned.
But throughout the years of building this edifice, what the architects really hoped for was that they were building a place where researchers, book lovers, and the general public would embrace and feel embraced, and that dream has come true.
When architect Asaf Mann, a partner at Manchinar, visited the library recently, he found the main reading room packed with people—scholars, students, readers, and writers from every religious and ethnic group in Israel. .
Many attended a presentation on International Holocaust Remembrance Day in the adjacent lecture room, while staff prepared for the evening’s scheduled literary events in the nearly 500-seat David Geffen Auditorium. Downstairs in the rare book library, researchers pored over historical documents.
One of the most beautiful buildings in Israel
People drank coffee with colleagues in a café off the main lobby, others walked through the gardens, some pausing to pray as the sun rose high in the sky and began to set. Others poke their heads into the main lobby, stopping by to take a look at this vibrant cultural center, which is undoubtedly in the running for the most beautiful building in Israel.
Herzog & de Meuron has designed notable projects such as the Tate Modern in London and the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing, while Mann Shinar designed the Yilan and Asaf Ramon airports and is working on The development of a master plan for the Haifa waterfront is underway, along with many other works.
Mann said the two companies collaborated in a creative dialogue. “It was a very interesting collaboration that combined very out-of-the-box thinking and ensured that the product ultimately belonged to Jerusalem and spoke to its public. It was important for us to work together to create a very specific vernacular architecture.”
The major donors to the new library building are the Rothschild family and its philanthropic foundation Yad Hanadiv, the David S. and Ruth L. Gottesman family, and the Israeli government.
Mann said the new library building was the culmination of a three-part project dreamed up by Lord Admiral Jacob Rothschild. “His vision was to create three institutions for Israel. The first was the Knesset, the second was the Supreme Court,” and the third was a new cultural landmark for the country, embodied by the NLI. The NLI is just steps away from the Museum Quarter scheme, which includes the Israel Museum and other museums, as well as a number of museums that have yet to be built.
NLI is located on a triangular piece of land with entrances at Kaplan Street and Ruppin Street. “When you walk into a library, you see just the tip of the iceberg,” Mann said. It has six floors above ground (three of which are dedicated to offices and three of which are the main public floors) and another five floors below ground, in which more than four million items, or the entire body of Israeli literature, are stored.
“The original master plan for the site ensured that the Knesset’s view of Jerusalem would not be obscured by the new library,” he said. “We made sure that we were creating a unique concave roof that actually provides views for the legislators who sit in our capital… Additionally, the volume of the building is cut perpendicular to the main axis of the Israel Museum,” another iconic Jerusalem architecture, creating a dialogue with these surrounding landmarks.
Unlike the previous, much-loved library building, which was part of the Hebrew University’s Givatram campus and open only to visitors to that campus, the new building is designed to appeal to everyone. The design team worked to eliminate the fencing that typically surrounds public buildings and ensure that physical fencing is replaced with technical security so that the public has full access to the park surrounding the library.
“The building resembles a giant pavilion in the middle of a Jerusalem garden,” Mann said. The original hills were excavated and some vegetation retained and replanted at other locations. Carefully selected plants and trees native to the Jerusalem area were planted on the recreated hill on a concrete membrane covering the basement.outdoor space
The outdoor space features unique artwork, such as Micha Ullman’s stone sculpture Letters of Light, which highlights the letters “Alef,” “Alif” and “A” in Hebrew, Arabic and English appearing at its center ), is a work of a friend in his “Empty Library” installation in Berlin. The sculpture deserves its own article, Mann said, “as the experience is as unique as the building.”
The library is inspired by “traditional Jerusalem architecture”, with its main entrance flanked by two curved stone sculptures that are abstract versions of the lion, the symbol of Jerusalem, and are reminiscent of the lion statues at the entrance to the building, which include the oldest in the world. one of the lion statues. The Great Library, the main branch of the New York City Public Library. The unique concave shape of the roof resembles a gently sloping hill and is also reminiscent of an unrolled scroll, while windows offer views of the Israel Museum and surrounding hills.The building itself is divided into three basic parts. The first part, the upper part, is a huge stone, “one of the earliest works of architecture. In ancient times it was essentially heavy… The architecture we have here, unlike in the past, was reconstructed through modern techniques, making it look It looks like it’s suspended in mid-air, and sometimes it’s almost feathery through the carving of its geometric shapes,” referring to the feathers that mark locations in the book. The monolith is “partly suspended in the air, riding on five masses” from which a 26-metre-long cantilever extends, shading some outdoor spaces from the sun. The crowds supporting the monolith “recall the ancient Jerusalem villas and their pocket-like shady courtyards”.
At the center of the monolith is a skylight that brings natural light into the heart of the building. Mann showed me a sketch by Jacques Herzog of Herzog & de Meuron for the centerpiece of the building, called “The Well of Knowledge, which runs through every part of the building and is recreated through it.” A well of books and a well of light.” Skylights “allow abundant natural light to flow into all levels of the reading room.”
sustainable architecture
Special glass must filter the light so it doesn’t glare, damage or discolor the books. This is part of a larger plan to create “the highest level of sustainability” in line with the aspirations of Yad Hanadiv and all the architects involved.
Through sustainable development strategies, a special mechanism called “Rockstore” was developed that allows cold air to passively enter the cave-like space at night. “Basically, the cold air is stored in the stone itself. On hot days, the air is drawn into the air conditioning system through the filter; the cold air is already passively cooled. This reduces energy demand by approximately 50% in the spring and fall.” He said it was the first time such a mechanism had been used anywhere in the world and was inspired by the cooling systems of ancient Roman villas. Use as many natural materials as possible, especially concrete, stone and wood. When steel structures are required, they are clad in timber, and innovative methods have been developed to achieve this. The facade, which consists of hundreds of scrolls that let in light, was inspired by the stones of the Old City’s western wall, which impressed a member of the Swiss architecture team, Mann said. After looking at it, I came back with a sketch that said, “This actually illustrates the geometry of the erosion of the stone on the wailing wall.” After completing the design, they revisited the west wall and found that the stone was more curved, and between the stones and the gaps Complex textures are formed. We developed a sophisticated process of placing similarly curved stones on the facade, with light entering through the gaps between the curves of the stone. The interior-facing stone facade is covered with fabric mats, a design created by textile designer Gali Cnanni that Mann said reminded him of the Israeli textile industry of the 1970s. Even people just driving or walking past the library can see and appreciate the innovative nature of the façade design. Curves and swirls are used throughout much of the interior, especially in the main reading room. “Curves are at the core of the library’s overall design,” he said. “We find this kind of curve in the alleys, arches and semi-arches of Jerusalem”. There are also meeting and seminar rooms as well as study rooms that can be booked. The Reading Room is surrounded by exhibition halls which, after the war, will showcase a selection of some of the Library’s rarest and most fascinating books and manuscripts. As important as the reading room is, in some ways the heart of the building lies on its lowest level, known in Hebrew as “ha matmon”, meaning treasure, which is the library’s collection of millions of books of storage facilities that it “rides on.” Deep underground, 20 meters deep. “ Books in the National Library building were previously sorted by human hands, but now robots retrieve and return books kept in diluted oxygen storage spaces, which is vital for preserving manuscripts. A collection of rare books is also housed on this lower level, including manuscripts from Maimonides to Kafka. Mann proudly noted that Israeli contractor Electra completed the actual construction work, with support from host Blue and White Entities. While in the past, some may have thought that Israeli builders could not match the skills and efficiency of their counterparts abroad, Mann said, the complex has been on schedule, within budget, and achieved the required quality, becoming a major player in the construction industry. a milestone. “80% is customization; only 20% is shelf items. So you have to know how to use the money in a targeted way,” he points out.In the months after the war broke out, the library began offering tours to the public, some of whom were families evacuated from the South. Mann accompanied one such trip, and when it was over, he noticed two families sitting on one side of the main reading room, gazing out at the view of Jerusalem.
“They were just looking out quietly, as if they were meditating,” he said. “They found a place to call home; it’s almost sublime. I’m humbled that it really means a lot to be able to provide this experience for these people here.”
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