Bethaniëndwarsstraat 6d 1012 CB Amsterdam
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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…