The Cultural Center building (competition 1st prize) is to be constructed in the old civic center of the city of Ra’anana, replacing several improvised public structures currently scattered throughout the area. Today, this area is crisscrossed by motorized streets, above-ground parking lots, and buildings that exist in disconnection with each other, as well as with the neighboring streets and the adjacent Gan HaMeginim Park.
Project Name: Ra’anana Cultural Center
Studio Name: Chyutin Architects
The construction of the new building presents an opportunity to bring about an environmental transformation of the urban fabric, creating a coherent, sustainable, pedestrian-oriented urban space that enhances urban greenery and its interactions with the surrounding buildings. The planned environmental transformation is based on creating a pedestrian street (instead of the existing motorized road) that connects the historic buildings, the new structure, and the park, and on burying the surface parking lots underground to free up space for the public to engage in various outdoor activities.
The new horizontal structure extends along the rising topography of the pedestrian walkway, leading to Gan HaMeginim Park. Its design facilitates the creation of two entrances at different levels of the building. The lower entrance leads to a synagogue and a separate cultural activity wing, which includes classrooms, workshops, and an auditorium that opens onto an outdoor sunken activity courtyard. The upper, park-adjacent entrance provides access to the municipal library situated above the cultural activity wing, which is embedded in the site’s topography.
The Cultural Center serves as a focal point for cultural and community life, facilitating significant interactions among its diverse users gathered across its independent yet interconnected sections. The structure features a flexible spatial plan that allows for future adjustments in response to changing needs, particularly in the library area. This space includes a youth library and an adult library, situated next to each other yet separated by different building levels. Together, they occupy a two-tiered area with soundproof service rooms available for both employees and visitors. The area is defined by a wall of books, two stories high, which serves as a connective tissue between the two libraries, articulating two large, open, and flexible spaces for study and borrowing. These spaces feature open bookshelves, various study and work stations, and seating arrangements along the transparent façade that overlooks the adjacent park and pedestrian walkway. The library’s transparent envelope combines north-facing clear glass panels with south-facing opaque metal panels, effectively regulating sun exposure within its spaces.
The cultural center’s design creates a knowledge-rich environment within an open, flexible, transparent, and accessible structure that integrates into its urban surroundings with sensitivity and restraint while entering into fruitful dialogue with Ra’anana’s older public buildings.
