A tour of Design City under construction in Ma’ale Adumim
There is a copy here of the famous part of the Venice – that hotel and casino in Las Vegas, which itself copies parts of the center of Venice in Italy. Here too you will find alleys and here too there is a large square surrounded by the scenery of house facades and a ceiling painted with a cloudy sky. A conversation with Gartner reveals how the project was planned and designed and what makes it unique from the architect’s point of view. And for that in this list.
Live in Venice?
A glass tower with a plate that looks like a helipad was designed at the end of the building as a modern contrast to the more classic design of the rest of the building
The inspiration for the design came from the malls in the USA. In Israel, a commercial center with a similar appearance at the entrance to the room has already been established
Gate
The facade: on the ground floor there is a covered parking lot (under the entire area of the building) and above it two commercial floors and also a roof floor that will be used for entertainment and events
Design Center is in Bnei Brak, Design City is in Ma'ale Adumim
Two large pillars mark an entrance but it doesn't seem like it's really the entrance
The huge parking lot is currently empty
Here they might be able to park all the hundreds of Palestinian vehicles that currently park at the entrance to the industrial area next to road number 1
Waiting for cars and buyers
From a covered street you enter a square
Inspired by Venetian in Las Vegas: restaurants will be opened on the lower floor, the middle is the back of shops and some of the openings on the third floor face the rooms and corridors of the boutique hotel
The inspiration from Las Vegas (photo: Frank Schulenberg (1969–)
San Marco square
A tour of the intriguing project reveals that construction is underway. The efforts are to meet the schedules and open the place already at the end of May. Access to the complex is by car through a gate that welcomes visitors and leads to a covered parking lot that occupies almost the entire area of the lower floor of the building. Escalators lead to the main commercial floor, which consists of a walkway designed like a street that is open to the sky and surrounds the floor with commercial areas on both sides. Two more commercial floors are located above.
Compared to the central block of the building which is designed with classical inspiration, a rounded block which is completely covered in opaque glass and designed in a contemporary way faces as the main facade of the Design City towards the main street of the industrial area. In this wing, it is planned to open a restaurant, shops for the sale of lighting fixtures, and a meeting hall will be located above, all of which were set here with the intention that even during the day, and especially after dark, the presence of the building will stand out even more. “The size of the project makes you look at it like a fortress city,” explains architect Shlomo Gartner, 69. “It is 500 meters long and close to a hundred meters wide, with opaque facades. There were thoughts of turning some of the stores to the outside with transparent facades, but this idea was quickly dropped from the episode.”
Three large squares, one of them covered and two open to the sky. Each of them creates a walking trail, in which the promoters plan to hold entertainment events for visitors. Restaurants will be integrated into the complex and will also provide a respite or a starting point for visitors, and also for those who just choose to stop here on their way from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea or just hang out. A complex for gatherings and performances will be built on the roof floor, and a boutique hotel will also be integrated into the building – the first and only one between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea, which will appeal mainly to those who will come here to purchase all the contents of their home with peace of mind or just to spend time with a neighbor or friend.
The ornate design and the closed structure succeed in disconnecting the visitors from the surroundings. In the covered square, the inspiration is from the Venetian: its sides are made up of building facades reminiscent in their design of those you will find in San Marco Square in Venice (in the Rabin Square designed in the 1950s in Tel Aviv you will also find inspiration from the Venetian square, one that appears in the paving and the idea of the dictated facade). At the end of the square there is also a narrow pool of water that simulates a water canal – although there hasn’t been a canal in the Venetian square for a thousand years, but here it is more of an ornamental element and it is expected to sail in tiny gondolas that can be sailed by remote control.
The setting of the facades facing the square is not completely sealed – restaurants and small shops are planned to be built on the ground floor that will open onto the square. The second floor facing the square is the back of shops and will remain closed. The third floor partly includes real openings that face the balconies of some of the guest rooms (most of them face the exterior view of the building) and the corridors of the boutique hotel.
Disneyland
A water canal under construction: small gondolas will sail in the canal that can be controlled by remote control
We did all kinds of sketches, but by and large the result came from our ideas and also from the entrepreneur who did other projects and came with his own tastes and ambitions,” Gartner explains when I ask him where the design decision came from. “It was clear that the design should be something classic, because nowadays the best thing is to stay away because modern design becomes obsolete within two or three years. Part of the influence is from the area – Herod’s palaces which are not far from Ma’ale Adumim and where there are Roman influences from his architects. I published a lot of literary material about The Herodian construction, and the experience of previous projects I planned such as the Queen of Sheba Hotel and the Harrods Hotel in Eilat helped me use this language, a simple and direct language. In the planning of the Queen of Sheba Hotel I had an archaeologist who collected material for me and built me a library of details from the First Temple period, but here I did not have Exactly the need I needed at the time. I also employ architects with a suitable background of these styles, one is an Italian architect originally and the other masters classic European design”
The field of commerce occupied Gartner from an early stage in his professional career. Anyone who visits his office will discover a huge model the size of a closed commercial center that he designed as a final project at the Technion and which he has been proudly guarding for four decades. Even in a conversation with him, he returns to the same project that the architect Yaakov Rechter supervised at the time (Gartner worked in his office after finishing his studies and as part of this planned a large commercial center that was not built in the Marom Neve neighborhood in Ramat Gan). He points out that the ambitions for a large center were already there then and points out that the same final project offered no less than 130 thousand square meters of built space in a building that was 500 meters long and included, apart from commerce, a hotel.
We started work on the project in 2017 and within a few months we already” reached the final scheme and submitted the first application for the permit. Once there is a scheme then there is time to deal with the design.”
corner of the hall
There are two places in the building from which you can look out over the surroundings and remember where you really are in the world: one is in the rounded glass tower that faces the main road of the industrial area. The second is a rectangular and framed opening that is at the end of the central square and leads to a balcony, the purpose of which is not clear to me yet. Compared to the built landscape seen from the glass tower, here a beautiful piece of desert is framed in which the soft lines of nature stand out.
The ambitions in establishing the large and complex project are unusual for commercial ventures established in Israel. The size is a significant element in the project. Unlike normal malls that are based on a variety of products and mainly on fashion, here the approach is different and is based on a narrower and more focused audience. And yet, even compared to large shopping malls in Israel, this is one of the largest original shopping areas you will find. For comparison: “The Big Mall” in Petah Tikva covers 80,000 square meters of built-up area (including parking areas, service areas, passages, etc.), of which 30,000 square meters are commercial. “Malha Mall” has 36,000 square meters of commercial space and “Azrieli Haifa” has 30,000 square meters of commercial space. While here the area is 100,000 square meters of built-up area of which 50,000 square meters is commercial.
At this stage, the builders are mainly busy paving and painting the inner facades of the streets. The commercial areas are still empty and waiting to be populated by shops and then also by visitors. The amount of workers running around in every corner is enormous, and it seems that the intention is to meet the schedules and not postpone the opening.
And from here continue to the street that surrounds the building with commercial areas on both sides
Construction is underway and the place is in the final stages because the opening is three months away
pavers
coloring
The passages are open to the sky. In Ma'ale Adumim the level of precipitation is relatively low so that there will be no problem in winter and dry summer and the street is shaded
The contractor is Israeli
In the center there is another square
The side of the square
And at the end of the square there are stairs
The canopy is about to be lifted into place
Front
Soon the cranes will be dismantled and the place will be opened to the public
The central square in the building is open to the sky and at its end is a single opening from which you can look out to the Judean Desert
Speak
Style
Lamp
You will soon open a store here
Another hall is covered by a large dome
The square will remain open
A formal staircase leads to the next floor
Street
Painted gable
A restaurant and lamp shops are expected to open in the rounded part at the end of the building facing the entrance and the Maale Adumim town houses
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