A new performing arts center, designed by the Paris-based architecture firm Manuelle Gautrand Architecture, aims to become the new architectural icon for the city of Ashkelon. According to Gautrand, the aim was to create a festive and lively place. A large open space was positioned at the top of the building. It will facilitate exhibitions and temporary installations. This informal space will also offer dazzling views of the sea and the surrounding area, revealing the overall design concept- integration with the city.

The exterior of the structure resembles a collection of boxes, covered with perforated metallic sheeting that will lend the building the aura of an unusual sculpture. Gautrand chose to build the classrooms and workshops on top of each other, and imbue the spaces with a feeling of volume that is visible from the outside.

Ashkelon’s future arts center is the latest in a long line of public and private projects currently being planned in the country by foreign architects, among them the new Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design’s campus in Jerusalem, a residential tower on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv and the Safra Center for Brain Sciences building at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Givat Ram campus.

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