speech: 21 community centre

16–18 Центр музыки и танца
в Ашкелоне, Израиль,
в стадии строительства, 2012 /
Music and Dance center in Ashkelon,
Israel, in progress, 2012
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© Manuelle Gautrand Architecture
centre is intended equally for several different
communities who will co-exist peacefully within a
single building.
A M Did this complex work take account of
the desires of the communities themselves?
M G Yes, of course, the project was intensively
discussed with its future users. For instance,
the local residents asked for more co-working
spaces to be included in the complex. And
restaurants too — in view of the fact that the
project initially offered just one cafeteria. In
Ashkelon in Israel, meanwhile, we are currently
designing a philharmonic hall, and the hall’s
future users have had a direct influence on its
functional programme. You probably know
that Ashkelon has a very large and influential
Russian diaspora, and it is this diaspora that
initiated the creation of a new philharmonic
hall to accommodate all types of classical
performing arts — ballet, music, opera, and
theatre. And then they lobbied for a significant
enlargement of the project: they wanted there
to be room for everything, including sufficient
spaces for activities with children. We looked
for an adequate form for bringing together
all genres and generations; so we rejected
corridors and created a single large 35-metrehigh
atrium with all the rooms situated around,
and oriented on, this multi-height, truly
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© LUXIGON
21 speech: portrait
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