Kidron Valley Cultural Center
Simon Stahnke, 2009-2010
The Kidron Valley Cultural Center is a crucible for further development in Jabel Mukaber, reconnecting to the cultural history of the village. The Center provides a new meeting point for the neighborhood, which will also lead to further development by attracting people from other areas in Jerusalem. Informal paths will be used and connected to a clear system of small streets. Only stairs allow a connection through the valley. This keeps the streets in the inner part of the valley as small and quiet as possible. The density will be slowly increased at the edges of the valley while the area in between maintains its green spaces.
The Kidron Valley Cultural Center functions as an axis in the area and provides a connection through the valley at the central junction of Jabel Mukaber. It forms a new central plaza for the neighborhood from which a new commercial center can develop, with a palm-shaded market and shops facing the plaza Carefully integrated into the surroundings, the building digs into the hillside and provides space on its roof at the level of the upper road for a small neighborhood garden. The building can be read in the black plan as one large Arab courthouse. Upon zooming in, it is also a cluster of many smaller cubic houses, each for a different cultural activity. This relates to the sizes of the surrounding houses and also gives the opportunity for a phased construction of the Center. Not only the use of the courthouse typology but also the cubic articulation has its tradition in Arab architecture, transformed here into our times.
The cultural activities are protected from outdoor traffic while the distinct spaces are accessible to one another via the courtyard.