BDES1020 'Continuous City' <Amy Clark>

Abstract

The Old City of Jerusalem, a conurbation of utmost historical and religious significance, is comprised of four distinct quarters of disparate cultural facets. This socio-political environment is consequentially founded in great civil division, formulating these distinct city precincts. Furthermore, these variant quarters are home to a myriad of culturally-specific art galleries and memorial museums, each founded in a static appreciation of Jerusalem and its inhabitants. However, while the city is highly vivacious along the main arteries of the street grid, it is devoid of any dynamic permanent cultural spaces. Hence, this proposal encompasses a community concert hall founded on the notion of bringing these disparate cultures into proximity, ultimately endeavouring to amass these peoples in a non-hierarchical environment. The design for this theatre is founded on the concept of deconstructing the physical and metaphysical barriers present within the Old City to create a uniquely heterogeneous community that celebrates diversity. Consequentially, the structure is founded on the iconic dome, reworked such that its rigid form is being physically and metaphorically deconstructed. Being enveloped in Jerusalem stone and local timbers, the concert hall attempts to rework existing traditional mediums to develop a dynamic space common to all citizens of Jerusalem.