Page 102 - The Architecture of Nadler-Nadler-Bixon-Gil

1966–71 Leo Baeck Education
Center, Haifa

Model, 1966 Founded in 1938 as a kindergarten, the institution
1966 ,‫דגם‬ developed into a school and community center for the
Progressive Judaism movement in Haifa. As the needs
p. 98: General view, 1971 grew, the city municipality provided the community
1971 ,‫ מראה כללי‬:98 ‫עמ׳‬ a 20,000 m² plot on the slope of Mount Carmel for a
99 building containing twenty classrooms, a 750 seat lecture
hall, a sports hall and a prayer hall; together totaling in
a built area of 6,300 m². The building was planned after
Moshe Gil joined the firm.

The view of the Mediterranean and the site’s
hilly topography established the planning concept
for stepped-units cast over the mountain slope like a
miniature city. This four-story building is divided into
several wings that converge at a central hall and a set of
open spaces, some covered, which simulate a city plaza
where students can meet. The main open space – facing
west and overlooking the mediterranean sea – functions
like an intersection gathering and dispersing the
horizontal and vertical circulation. The internal division
is organized modularly in a rhythm orchestrated with the
apertures in the hall ceiling. These let in natural light that
lends the space an intimate ambiance. The plasticity
of the exterior, with its bare concrete, is also felt in the
internal spaces where parts of the concrete were painted
in the primary colors red, blue and yellow.