Folds in the hill. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Architects
30/05/2017.
West Bank [Birzeit] Palestine
metalocus, SARA NÁJAR
metalocus, SARA NÁJAR
The history, society and culture of Palestine is contained in a museum inserted in one of the hills in Berzeit, between the vegetable terraces that trace the land.
Overview. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects.
Bird eye view. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
Overview. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
Overview. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum blends in seamlessly with the surrounding landscape. Photograph by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden (photographer)
The Palestinian Museum in the midst of traditional terraced gardens. Photograph by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden (photographer)
The Palestinian Museum’s design was inspired by the traditional terraced hills around Birzeit. It is surrounded by terraced gardens, planted with local trees and flowers. Photograph by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden (photographer)
The museum is integrated into the surrounding landscape. Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Architects. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
Main view to the museum with its agricultural terraces. Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Architects. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
View from exterior. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
View from exterior. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
Exterior view. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
Two men discussing in the wind-sheltered amphitheatre. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
Woman drinking a cup of coffee in the outdoor amphitheatre. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
Connection between the gardens and the terrace, displaying different types of local stones used in the construction. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
Visitors enjoying the museum’s shaded terrace. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
The stone on the western facade is cranked upwards exposing a linear curtain wall with charcoal metal fins, which protect the interior spaces from the glare of the setting sun. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
People sitting in the outdoor amphitheatre. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
Path leading to the museum’s terraced gardens, whose design was inspired by the country’s rich botanical history. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
Access. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The concrete structure of the exterior is clad in Palestinian limestone. Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Architects. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
The agricultural terraces inspired the architectural form of the museum. Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Architects. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
Group of schoolchildren waiting in the central entrance space, which contains a reception, shop and a café. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
School group following a guided tour of the museum. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
Exhibition space on the ground floor. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
The central entrance space opens out into a stone paved terrace overlooking the gardens. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
Interior, exhibition area. Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Architects. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
Interior, exhibition area. Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Architects. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
Lower level of the museum, comprising an education and research centre, as well as the primary art collection stores, photographic archive, workshops and facility management rooms. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
Children enjoying a guided tour of the museum’s exhibition. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
Children enjoying a guided tour of the museum. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
Children entering an artistic installation. Photograph © Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Cemal Emden.
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
Gardens. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
Details. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
Overview. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
Night view. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
Overview. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Photograpy © Iwan Baan. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
Model. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine. Image courtesy of Heneghan Peng Arquitects
Urban context. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine.
Urban context. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine.
Site plan. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine.
Lower Ground Floor Plan. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine.
Ground Floor Plan. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine.
Section. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine.
Section and Elevation. The Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Arquitects. Birzeit, Palestine.
The design of Heneghan Peng Architects tries to create a new attraction for the site that will provide culture and history knowledges to those who dare to approach the museum and its surroundings. The topography of the site allows the museum being embedded in a vegetable terraces landscape.
Description of the project by Heneghan Peng Architects
THE PALESTINIAN MUSEUM, BIRZEIT, WEST BANK, PALESTINE
The mission of the Palestinian Museum is to be the leading, most credible and robust platform for shaping and communicating knowledge about Palestinian history, society and culture. To deliver on this mission, the client’s intention has been to develop a Palestinian Museum hub located 25km north of Jerusalem (West Bank), and in two phases of building construction. Phase 1 (completed 2016) consists of a built area of 3, 500SM. It includes a climate-controlled gallery space, an amphitheatre, a cafeteria with outdoor seating, a library, classrooms, storage, a gift shop and administrative spaces; all set within 4 hectares of planned gardens. During Phase 2; the Museum will expand to a total of 10, 000SM.
WORKED LANDSCAPE
The landscape of the Palestine has the ‘worked’ quality of a city; every element of it has been touched and tells a story of intervention, production, culture, environment and commerce. Like a city, the terraced landscape has embedded within it its history. The approach to the Palestinian Museum is to draw on this history of the terraced landscape, embedding the museum into its immediate site and drawing from this site to tell a larger story of a diverse culture. The site is formed through a series of cascading terraces, created by field stone walls which trace the previous agricultural terraces of the area. The theme of the landscape; from the cultural to the native landscape, unfolds across the terraces with the more cultured and domesticated terraces close to the building, the planting changes gradually as one moves down the terraces to the west.
EMBEDDED LANDSCAPE
The cascade of terraces tells a diversity of stories; citrus brought in through trade routes, native aromatic herbs, a rich and varied landscape with connections east and west. Terrace themes include:
- Cultural Landscapes and themes relating to culture and history
- Agricultural Heritage
- Relationship of plants to trade routes and commerce
- Natural Landscapes and themes relating to wilderness and native plants, scrub lands, grass lands
- Nature & Culture: Incorporation of native plants into domesticated agriculture and food/medicine.
EMERGING LANDSCAPE
The building itself emerges from the landscape to create a strong profile for the hilltop both integrated into the landscape yet creating an assertive form that has a distinctive identity. Largely single-storey; it stretches out along the hilltop from the south to north; overlooking the gardens to the west. The ground floor, comprising entrance reception, museum administration, galleries, screening room and cafe opens out directly to the gardens at its northern end, while overlooking a stone amphiteatre below it at the southern end. In the lower ground floor there is a public Education and Research Centre with classrooms, workshops and administrative spaces. The education centre opens out to a cut stone amphiteatre to the west. In addition to the Education and Research Centre, the main art collections spaces, photographic archives, and art handling are all located in the lower ground floor. These spaces are not accessible to the public; they open out to a secure delivery yard at the eastern side of the building. The building will be the first LEED Certified building in Palestine.
More information
Architect
Heneghan Peng Architects
Design Team
Concept/ Scheme Design.- Heneghan Peng Architects.
Landscape Architect.- Lara Zureikat.
Civil/ Structural/ Building Services/ Fire.- ARUP (London).
QS.- Davis Langdon/ AECOM (London).
Concept Façade.- T/E/S/S (Paris).
Concept Lighting.- Bartenbach GmbH (Aldrans, Austria).
Project Managers.- Projacs International (Jordan).
Design Team - Tender/ Construction Stage.- Heneghan Peng Architects
Landscape Architect.- Lara Zureikat.
Civil/ Structural/ Building Services/ Fire/ QS.- Arabtech Jardaneh (Local Partner).
Project Managers.- Projacs International Palestine.
Contractor
Consolidated Contractors Company, Ramallah, Palestine. Tubeileh, Nablus, Palestine. Al Sabe Landscape Contractors, Qalqilia, Palestine.
Area
(Phase I) - 3,500m² Building & 40,000m² Gardens
Cost
€ 16.5m
Client
Welfare Association/ Taawon
Specified Materials
Dolomitic Limestone - Nassar Stone Ltd., Bethlehem, Palestine.
Schueco Curtain Walling & bespoke brise soleil - ALICO, Dubai, UAE.
Tretford Carpet - Waterford Carpets Ltd., Ireland.
ERCO Lighting - ERCO, Germany.
D-Line Ironmongery - D-Line, Dubai, UAE.
Bespoke Fitted furniture - Manjorco, Ramallah Palestine.
Signage/ Wayfinding - Creative Ad Design, Beit Jala, Palestine.
Peng Architects Heneghan
Heneghan Peng Architects is a design partnership practising architecture, landscape and urban design. The practise was founded by Shih-Fu Peng and Róisín Heneghan in New York in 1999 and in 2001 opened an office in Dublin, Ireland.
They take a multi-disciplinary approach to design and have collaborated with many leading designers and engineers on a range of projects which include larger scale urban masterplans, bridges, landscapes and buildings.
Current projects include the Grand Egyptian Museum, at the Pyramids, the Giant’s Causeway Visitors’ Centre, Central Park Bridges at the 2012 London Olympic Park, a Library and School of Architecture at the University of Greenwich in Greenwich, London and a Mittelrheinbruecke in the Rhine Valley.
They take a multi-disciplinary approach to design and have collaborated with many leading designers and engineers on a range of projects which include larger scale urban masterplans, bridges, landscapes and buildings.
Current projects include the Grand Egyptian Museum, at the Pyramids, the Giant’s Causeway Visitors’ Centre, Central Park Bridges at the 2012 London Olympic Park, a Library and School of Architecture at the University of Greenwich in Greenwich, London and a Mittelrheinbruecke in the Rhine Valley.
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