Architect(s): Safdie Architects
Address: Chaim Levanon St 8, TEL AVIV, Israel
Latitude/Longitude: 32.1031,34.7999
The Yitzhak Rabin Center was commissioned as a memorial to the slain Israeli leader. The centre includes a museum focusing on Rabin’s life and times, an auditorium, a research institute devoted to the study of the history of his era, a library and archive, and a multipurpose great hall. The complex is located in northern Tel Aviv on an escarpment atop an abandoned wartime emergency power-generating station.
The power station’s outer wall forms a cliff like structure overlooking the Yarkon River. Above this structure, a two-storey arcade traverses east to west and opens to a roof terrace with views of the city to the south. The arcade is framed by the great hall and museum to the east and the library and research centre to the west. The great hall protrudes towards the south and affords dramatic vistas of the metropolitan region and the Mediterranean.
The museum consists of a series of galleries arranged around a two-storey descending spiral, each one devoted to a chapter in Rabin’s life. Both the great hall and the library are roofed by a series of undulating, curved, shell like elements, overhanging and shading the glazed walls and reflecting diffused light inward.
Safdie has also designed the Rabin’s tomb, that is located on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem’s National Cemetery.
Roof & facade consultant: Octatube International
Client: Friends of the Yitzak Rabin Center for Israel Studies
Size: 12,000sqmt
Associate architect: Zahi Halberstadt Architectur
