The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, July 29, 1993-Page 3
World
s new
JERUSALEM (JPFS) - Toronto architect Jack Diamond scanned the plaza outside the new City Hall herb as music drifted out from the still-unfinished lobby of the building. He had slipped out of the party he was •throwing for those involved in the City Hall project in order to conjure up for a guest those parts of his architectural vision that most visitors will never sec;
"It's like a good movie," he said. "It can be experienced at the pictorial level or at the plot level or, if you're really well-versed in the signals, you can read the metaphors and inner meanings."
The night before, the plaza had held thousands of people in a ceremony mairking the formal dedication of the new City Hall complex, still months away from completion. There had been fireworks, an orchestra and chorus, speeches by the president, prime minister and mayor.
The signals had been essentially political - an affirmation of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Jack Diamond's signals were subtler, but no less weighty.
"There are three metaphors here. One is the replication of the experience of the Old City." Visitors arriving from IDF Square will enter through a gateway, an echo of the Jaffa Gate in the distance, pass through a high-ceilinged arcade like the Old
City's Cotton Market and traverse other intimate spaces before emerging onto City Hall Plaza - "like the platform of the Temple Mount."
The second metaphor lies in the contrast between the geometric formality of the paved plaza and the leafy, informal space to be developed alongside it with cafes, running water and tree-dappled shade. "This is an absolute metaphor for the contrast between the walls of the Old City, with their hard masonry, and the Kidron and Hinnom valleys alongside."
The third metaphor derives from the stand of tall palms marking the entrance to the plaza from Jaffa Road.
From a pool in this oasis-like setting, an Archimedes' screw will lift water into a small aqueduct from • where it will Cascade past the cafes at table level before running, Alhajtibra-like, in floor-level trenches to a pool on IDF Square. "This is a metaphor for a city of peace, an oasis."
The massed palms frame the plaza at its southern end'while providing a permeable pa.ssage for pedestrians from Jaffa Road. They deliberately do not screen put a view of the Bank Leumi building designed in the 1930s by Eric Mendelsohn, one of the greatest architects to have worked in . the country. "I doff my hat to him and bring him into the composition," Diamond said.
The open plaza, with a capacity for 15,000 people, is destined to play a major role in the life of the city in the coming decades as avenue for both outdoor performances arid for demonstrations. During choral renditions at the dedication ceremony, the acoustics proved superb. A stage has been constructed at one end of the plaza and chairs for the public will be set up for performances.
Of the 12 buildings that had existed on the site of the complex between the old City Hall and the Russian Compound, 11 have been preserved and renovated, providing a warm link to the past. They are profuse with arches which Diamond deliberately avoided in the new City Hall itself. "It's not the technology of our time.''
He did not hesitaite, however, to borrow from the Mamelukes by us^ ing alternating layers of rose and ocher-colored stones to break the scale of the facade.
The large metal sunscreens lining the colonnaded walkway at the fool of the building niay take some getting used to. Unlike the old City Hall, which was exclusively an administrative centre, the new com-' plex promises to be a magnet for the public - and a major contributor to the dynamics of the city center at the critical pomt where the old and new, east and west, meet.
Students of the Dvir Hotel School, which is affiliated with the Hadassah College of Technology, made a 2-metre long, 8-kilo cake in honor of the opening of the new Jei-usalem City Hall. The cake was made in three sections and took a week to prepare; [IPPA photo]
ointmg meeting
ByPAULLUNGEN
TORONTO — A delegation from B'naiBrith Canada that met recently with Justice Minister Pierre Blais came away "disappointed" with an appare;nt lack of political will to puish ahead with more cases against suspected Nazi war criminals.
The mood of the BB delegation was in marked contrast to that last November after a meeting with then Justice Minister Kim Campbell, said Ian Kagedan, director of government relations for B'nai Brith (BB). Unlike Campbell, Blais gave no indic?tior. that there was much will to push ahead with fijrther cases, he said.
There was also litUe response to a brief presented by BB last November which urged ftideniLprosecutors to pursue denaturalization and deix)r ition of war crimes suspects, Blais.seemed to indicatcu that when a choice was available, prosecutors would opT Tor criminal charges, which are much harder to prove, Kagedan said.
"In place of an adequate response to our detailed-critique of the government's performance, we got a reiteration of existing policy," said Brian Morris, chair of BB's Institute for International Affais. "We have serious concerns about the effort's ftiture."
CANAPIAN JEVyiSH NEW? OFnCE? Toronto: 10 Gateway Blvd. Suite 420, Don Mills, OntM3C 3Al Tel: 416-422-2331, Advertising Fax: 416-422-3790 Editorial Fax: 416-424-1886 Montreah D4corD^ne, Suite 341, 6900 boul Decarie, Montreal, Que H3X 2T8, Tel: 514- 735-2612, Fax: 514- 735-9090
CIRCVLATION
Average circulation per Issue: 51,402 copies. * Average net paid circulatk>n per issue: 48,891 copies Publisher's sworn statement December 19,1991.
SUBSCRIPTION?
Canada: $26.75,1 year, including GST. U.S.A.: $50 U.S.. 1 year. All other countries: $60 U. S., 1 year
Postmaster Please return 29Bs and changes of address to Toronto office.
Postage PaJd at Toronto PublicaJioRS Mail Registration Number 1683
The new $100-million Jerusalem City Hall complex covers 83,000 square metres and has parking for 800 cars. The complex will bring together under one roof 2,000 city workers who at present are located in 36 buildings around the city. [IPPA
photo]
GOME BANK WITH^U
WE PROVIDE A FRIENDLY ATMOSPHERE COMPARE OUR C.$ TERM DEPOSIT RATES*
'^.AMOUNT TERM $30,000 + $60,000 + $100,000 +
30 DAYS 3.75% 3.90% 4.00%
90 DAYS 3.85% 4.00% 4.10%
180 DAYS 4.00% 4.15% 4.25%
1YEAR 4.35% 4.50% 4.60%
m
UP TO 2.25% P.A. ON DAILY SAVINGS*
Competitive *U.S. $ Rates Also Available
Israel Discount Bank of Canada
150 Bloor Street West, Suite Ml00 Toronto, Ontario M5S 2Y5 . (416) 926-7200 '
Subsidiary ol ISRAEL DISCOUNT. BANK LIMITED
•■ REPRESENTHIVE OmCES: Toronto; ISO Bloor Street V\fest (416) 926-7220 ' _ ■ • Montreal: 2000 Ffeel Street ■{514)-849.,1237 ' —■
' Member: Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation
, Term Deposit Interest is calculated on'a per annum'Basis and payable at maturity" . .
"Rates correct as of Monday, July 26/93 and subject to chanqe withoijt notice"