Ph4 joaquín garcía

Casa Mediterráneo inside a sukkah Joaquín Ramón García Marín

Proyectos 7

2nd May 2015

LOCATION AND BACKGROUND Jerusalem Plan buliding location

The building is located in the city of Jerusalem, in the middle of Zion Square. This place is in the nearby of the Old City and the Holy center of the city. This neighborhood was built in the early years of XXth Century, becoming at that moment a cultural center plenty of theaters, cafes and shops.

After the beginning of the political struggle around 1950’s this area became a center for demonstration and struggle for the citizens, and commercial and other services were transferred gradually to other areas of the city. At the moment the area is in the middle of a transformation process. The goverment has forbidden completely demonstration or other type of meetings at this square.

The old buildings have been gradually destroyed and new hotels and services are appearing in the context. The square is an open space crossed by two main roads and two secondary ones.

Zion Square (1934)

The aim of this work is to try to use this point to locate the Casa Mediterraneo building in this location for two main reasons: The first to recover the cultural activity in the area.

The second, to locate in the extraradio of the cultural and historic center a new referent for the revitalisation of the neighborhood.

THE SUKKAH AS A BUILING MADE OF SIMBOLOGY Sukkot is one of the most important Jewish holidays. For a week, Jews celebrate the tradition of harvest by moving their lives to a shelter laid on the street. In the shelter different furniture elements will allow the users to eat, share and celebrate with friends.

Phase 2 drawing

The most important part of the Sukkah is the ceiling (sechach). It must have at least 50 % of open spaces and should be made of fresh cut leaves of palm tree or similar ones. The natural light will thus be present in the shelter, a feeling of unprotectioness. In the sukkah is God the one to protect the family. The user is completey exposed not only to nature, but also to the pedestrians and neigbours.

During this week, the street in almost all Israel’s cities become a network of spaces in which private uses come to the public space.

For Casa Mediterraneo’s project, the main element exported is the Sechach. A network of natural elements made of wood and different vegetal tissues are used to create different kind of spaces, by means of superposition of layers in orden to confer different kinds of privacity and lighting for the uses of the building.

Phase 3 building scheme

PROJECT DEVELOPMENT The sape of the square is determined by the confluence of several streets. The building is devoted to create a new protected public space that will interact with the Casa Mediterraneo’s program. The project looks for a way to create an appropriation chance for the user. Is conceived to be open 24 hours a day and just have some restrictec areas for the institutional program.

The six point star, extremely iconic for Jewish culture becomes a starting point to develope the functioning of the building, as it gives a strong visibility to the project from many different points of the city from the horizontal pedestrian point of view. The height is considered not to be above of the existing buildings, as the flat surface skyline of the city should not be interrupted.

plans

example of light filtering inside the building

FLOOR PLANS: groundfloor

auditorium

toilets

exhibition area

reception

restaurant

FLOOR PLANS: first floor

offices 3 + 4

offices 1 + 2

FLOORPLANS: Third floor

meetings room

manager´s office

SECTION: east-west