Spaces for Art, People, and Light

Exterior of the Herta and Paul Amir Building at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art
The new building’s 87-foot-high, spiraling “Lightfall” atrium
The building’s library
Another view of “Lightfall”
A multifunctional gallery
“Lightfall”
“Lightfall” and a gallery displaying Israeli art
The Amir Building in situ
An exterior shot
Exterior detail

[extra:Extra]

 

The photo gallery above contains additional images complementing those that appear in the print edition. Use your mouse or the arrow keys to browse.

This winter, the entire Gund Hall lobby of the Graduate School of Design (GSD) was given over to various depictions, commentaries, and celebrations of the Herta and Paul Amir Building at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, which opened in November. Its designer is McCue professor of architecture Preston Scott Cohen, who is chairman of the GSD’s architecture department. The dramatic 195,000-square-foot building greatly enlarges the museum housing Israel’s largest collection of modern and contemporary art. Cohen’s plan won the design competition in 2003; design development went on from 2005 to 2007 and construction proceeded over the four years ending in 2011. An 87-foot-tall spiraling atrium that Cohen styles as “Lightfall” is the structure’s central element.

In a booklet on the building, Cohen writes that it “embodies the tension between two prevailing models: the museum of neutral white boxes that allow for maximum curatorial freedom and the museum of architectural specificity that intensifies the experience of public spectacle. An antidote to the Bilbao phenomenon [a reference to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, one of the most widely admired works of contemporary architecture, designed by Frank Gehry, Ds ’57, Ar.D. ’00], the Amir Building signals a new synthesis: deeply interiorized and socially choreographed space, as opposed to the tendency in the 1990s to display the museum as a sculptural object in the city.”

Click here for the May-June 2012 issue table of contents

Read more articles by Craig Lambert

You might also like

Salsa Squared

Latin dancing fills the streets in Harvard Square   

Pony Plunges

Scrapbooking a woman who rode horses into the sea

Sister Acts and Cyanotypes

Julia Rooney’s paintings cross the analog-digital divide.

Most popular

Harvard Layoffs Continue, with More to Come

In the wake of federal government actions, several Harvard schools and institutes are cutting costs.

Trump Administration Threatens Harvard’s Accreditation, Subpoenas Student Records

The federal government mounts pressure amid negotiations with Harvard.

Jodie Foster Honored at Radcliffe Day

The actress and director discussed her film career and her transformative time at Yale.

Explore More From Current Issue

Saluting the 2025 Centennial Medalists

Four alumni of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences are honored.

A Look at Harvard’s Distinctive Doctoral Regalia

On regalia, a Jack-of-all-trades retirement, and a Bok’s office bon mot.

Harvard Medalists

Four people honored for exceptional service to the University