Bethaniëndwarsstraat 6d 1012 CB Amsterdam
Bezalel Academy
Jerusalem
Art, religion and basketball
The master plan suggests a monumental axis towards the
East with the church dominantly as its focus. This axis is
considered mainly as a view corridor to and from East
Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives and an opportunity to
introduce an important urban public route through the
grounds of the academy.
The urban layout is deliberately ambiguous in its
relationship to the axis, combining the formal and the free,
the religious and the secular. The two academy buildings
and the alternating courtyards break the spatial symmetry
of the axis, while the large staircase can be interpreted as
a formal element. Yet, this very staircase will also be used
as a grandstand overlooking – exactly in the middle of the
formal axis of the church – a basketball court…