The new building of the National Library of Israel, designed by the Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron, is located in the National District of Jerusalem near the Knesset and Israel Museum.
The beginning of its construction is an important milestone in the National Library's transformative renewal process, which aims to preserve and open access to the cultural and intellectual treasures of the State of Israel and the Jewish people safeguarded in its collections.
Description of the project by Herzog & de Meuron
Designing a new building in Jerusalem juxtaposes the desire to react to the architectural traditions of this historically significant place with the ambition to make a building that is both appropriate for the contemporary city and specific to the immediate site. These challenges frame our proposal for the National Library of Israel.
Jerusalem has two primary urban precincts. The historical center lies to the East while the modern administrative and cultural zone sits among newer development in the West. The dense and highly pedestrianized Old City forms the dominant image of Jerusalem. Unlike the Old City, buildings in the new development are heterogeneous, freestanding, and primarily linked by vehicular traffic. It is in this area that the site for the National Library of Israel is located. The site is a sloped, triangular plot at the intersection of Ruppin Boulevard and Kaplan Street. Located between the Israel Museum to the South and the Knesset to the East, the National Library site is directly between Jerusalem’s most prominent institutions and is an extension of the park-like landscape that weaves through the area.
While fully independent, the library will be a link between the cultural and civic buildings around it. A native garden with public space and art will surround the Library and connect the interior functions to the surroundings. Visitors, who come for the cultural experience, mingle with local residents, researchers, and staff who use the Library on a daily basis. Exhibition spaces, eating venues, an auditorium, bookstore, and youth center, all surround the reading room. The diversity of functions and the connection to the city ensure that the Library will remain a strong and vibrant institution in the future.
The design responds to the context and reflects the ambitions of the National Library of Israel. It is open and transparent but grounded in the traditions of great libraries and the city itself. As in the past, books will remain at the center. They form a foundation and necessary balance against constant technological change. Books root the building to the ground and are visible to all in a central void. Vitrine-like elements form the bottom two floors and display the Library's content and activities to the street. Above, a carved space containing stone binds the project together and reflects the massive quality of Jerusalem’s historical architecture, the scale of the adjacent buildings and the shape of the site. The stone is not just sculptural. The elevated mass provides shade while its mineral construction adds thermal mass to insulate the interior spaces. The form is strong but humble to its surroundings and the environment.
