Why the Van Leer Institute’s New Building is a Pleasant Surprise

King Van Leer: The Jerusalem Institute’s New Building is an Architectural Gem

The unassuming and pastoral academic campus in Talbieh, which also includes

the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, is one of the most special

places in the capital. How was it possible to build a new addition for young

scholars without masking the existing triumph? Architects Bracha and Michael

Chyutin seem to have succeeded at the task. A first look.

Naama Riba (XNET June 6, 2014)

The Polonsky Academy is the new building on the Talbieh campus of the Van

Leer Institute. Its cost, covered by a donation from Dr. Leonard Polonsky, is

estimated at NIS 106 million. (Photo: Aviad Bar-Ness)

The sloping lot permits entrance to the building on two levels. The wooden

louvers, which shade the building’s occupants, are actually made of steel

covered with a crushed veneer. (Photo: Aviad Bar-Ness)

The large open spaces on both floors offer a breathtaking view of the green

courtyard—originally designed by the landscape architecture firm Zur-

Yahalom—especially for those seated in the red easy chairs. (Photo: Aviad Bar-

Ness)

This is an energy-saving building, thanks to a geothermal system that includes

underground pipes to regulate the temperature. The cost of the system is

expected to be recouped within five years. (Photo: Aviad Bar-Ness)

The auditorium. The building is meant for postdoctoral fellows. Every year, 30

will receive Foundation fellowships to continue their research. (Photo: Aviad

Bar-Ness)

The courtyards where fellows and staff can take a breather are enclosed by a

material developed specially for this project—prefabricated concrete units

placed one on top the other and faced in stone. (Photo: Aviad Bar-Ness)

The Polonsky Academy. Its full height is visible only along its southern façade,

from the direction of the Jerusalem Theater. The missed opportunity is that the

two complexes are not linked but are separated by a rather plain fence. (Design:

Chyutin Architects)

The old Van Leer Institute building, planned by Reznik and Pevsner, is

dominated by horizontal lines broken by a truncated cone. Did they influence

Niemeyer, or vice versa? (Photo: David Rubinger)

Jerusalem architecture has been

suffering from poor public

relations recently. The conviction

of former prime minister Ehud

Olmert cast the spotlight on the

dubious architectural qualities of

the Holyland complex. Hadassah

Hospital‘s debts have been

ascribed, in part, to the

construction of the extravagant

new hospital tower. And the new

Cinema City, with its strident

design and attempt to rival the

Supreme Court, raises chuckles—

at best.

Better news comes from Talbieh. A

new and impressive building was

recently dedicated on the Van Leer

Institute campus, a pastoral and

serene academic complex tucked

between the Jerusalem Theater and

the President‘s Residence. When it

was dedicated in the 1960s, the

compound‘s modesty was

described by Nili Friedlander in

Maariv, ―The ‗principle of

surprise,‘ which architects Shmuel

Pevsner and David Reznik wanted

It started as an empty 28-dunam lot. (Photo: David

Rubinger)

to maintain in this set of buildings,

works from the very start. The

rectangular building comes into

view as you climb the hill.‖ This

same principle of surprise was

maintained by the architects of the

newest building dedicated here—

the Polonsky Academy, designed

by Bracha and Michael Chyutin—

as a fourth wing whose excellence

is concealed from the eyes of the

casual passerby. You have to

penetrate the recesses of the

complex to uncover it.

What to Buy her for her Birthday

The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute

was founded in the 1950s at the

initiative of Bernard and Polly Van

Leer, Dutch Jewish philanthropists.

The Institute‘s current director,

Prof. Gabriel Motzkin, explains

that the 28-dunam lot once

belonged to the Greek Orthodox

Church, as did the adjacent lot

where the President‘s Residence

now stands. In 1939, the British

authorities purchased the land for

₤1 million, with the idea of

building a new Government House

on the site.‖ Like many other

parcels held by the Mandate

government, this land, too, came

into the possession of the State of

Israel at independence.

―Bernard was a wealthy Jew, with

a net worth estimated at the time at

$70 million, who made his fortune

in the 1920s when he adopted a

new oil-drum closure system,

Motzkin continues. ―After he

disinherited his children, he asked

his wife Polly what to do with the

money.‖ Here COO Shimon Alon

jumps in: ―He asked her what she

wanted for her birthday.‖ There are

two versions of her answer. Alon

Modernism, academia, and serenity. The complex

(Photo: Aviad Bar-Ness)

How it all began. The Van Leer Institute, 1963.

(Photo: David Rubinger)

says that Polly wanted to make a

$10 million gift to establish a place

where scholars could meet;

Motzkin asserts she asked for ―a

place where scholars would study

Judaism.‖

One way or the other, Van Leer

decided to donate the money. The

couple was invited to a meeting

with Prime Minister David Ben-

Gurion, President Itzhak Ben-Zvi,

and Minister Abba Eban and

signed a 200-year lease (2

consecutive 99-year leases).

Concurrently, the Knesset passed a

law establishing the Israel Center

for Human Culture, which stated

that ―the goal of the Center is to

seek and embody, in human values,

the achievements of philosophy,

science, research, literature, and the

arts.‖

Architects David Reznik and

Shmuel Pevsner were hired to

design the building which was

dedicated in the early 1960s. But it

remained something of a white

elephant until the arrival of Yehuda

Elkana, then a young man in his

thirties. When he assumed the

directorship of the Institute, it was

decided that it would focus on

conducting research on the history

of scholarship and society in Israel.

―A place that links theory and

practice,‖ is Motzkin‘s rendering of

the change Elkana brought to the

institute he oversaw until 1993.

The Van Leers had two children,

Wim and Oscar. Wim‘s widow is

Lia Van Leer, the founder of the

Jerusalem Cinemathèque and a

stalwart of Israeli cinema. Because

the family has no descendants,

Dutch businessmen manage the

section of the Van Leer Foundation

that supports the Institute.

The formal announcement of the Institute’s

establishment, May 1956. Ben-Gurion, Ben-Zvi,

and Polly Van Leer (Photo: David Rubinger)

The original Van Leer building, designed by

Reznik and Pevsner (Photo: David Rubinger)

“I want to get rid of my money.”

From his previous position as dean

of the Hebrew University,

Motzkin, who was appointed

director of the Institute in 2007,

was friendly with Leonard

Polonsky, an American Jew who

owned a global financial services

company. ―He told me, ‗I am going

to be very rich. I am taking my

company public, I am 80 years old,

and I want to get rid of my

money,‘‖ is how Motzkin

remembers his meeting with the

philanthropist whose name the

building bears. Motzkin proposed

setting up an institute that would be

unusual on the Israeli academic

scene and respond to a critical

need: the post-doctoral years, a

time when outstanding scholars

need to jump around among the

handful of existing fellowships and

make do, without making progress

in the academic track, when what

they really want is to settle down

and establish a family.

―I suggested to Polonsky, ‗Let‘s

give people $40,000 a year—not

just for one year. Let‘s give it to

them for five years,‘‖ Motzkin says

with pride. ―I told him I needed

offices and a building. He asked if

I wanted $50 million, and of course

I said yes.‖ That is how, in his

telling, the new building came

about: a gift of NIS 106 million for

the construction, with the rest of

the money endowing a fund to

provide stipends to 30 post-

doctoral fellows, at least half of

them from abroad. Motzkin

believes that the Foundation will be

able to finance the fellowships over

Formality on the outside… (Photo: Aviad Bar-

Ness)

…echoed on the inside. (Photo: Aviad Bar-Ness)

the long term from the interest on

its investments.

Today, the Van Leer Institute

focuses on research in four areas:

civil society, with an emphasis on

education, economics,

privatization, gender, Arab society,

and social justice; Jewish identity

and culture; the society and culture

of the countries of the

Mediterranean Basin, including

dialogue between Israelis and their

neighbors; and interdisciplinary

and comparative research in the

social sciences and humanities,

while providing a platform for the

exchange of knowledge and

international forums. Alon relates

that the postdoctoral program was

launched several years ago, thanks

to Polonsky‘ gift, but the Institute

is also engaged in other research.

―Every year, we publish a call for

applications and receive 400

proposals; at the end of the

reviewing process, we accept only

10% of them,‖ he says.

The Cone that Symbolizes a Temple of Knowledge

Reznik and Pevsner designed the

Van Leer Institute, which covers

2,400 square meters, with

dominant horizontal lines that are

broken by a truncated cone. The

old building contains a 300-seat

auditorium, a conference hall for

100 people, a library on two floors,

and office space lining the outer

walls. The dense interior design,

which incorporates diagonal lines

and dominant shapes, obstructs the

Thirty postdoctoral fellows in addition to the

Institute staff. (Photo: Aviad Bar-Ness)

Extensive use of wood (Photo: Aviad Bar-Ness)

entry of natural light. Some 13

years ago, the Jerusalem

architecture firm Kolker Kolker

Epstein was asked to plan a general

renovation of the building.

Architect Ovadia Nagari, who

worked at the firm, was placed in

charge of the project; he was later

named architect of the campus and

the donor‘s representative. Nagari

says that that renovation focused

on replacing the furniture, redoing

the paneling, and adding light

fixtures.

Architectural historian Zvi

Elhayani recalls that architects

Joseph Klarwein and Heinz Rau

were also involved in the initial

planning, but dropped out of the

project because of arguments

among the team. ―Those who

remained were the young architects

who were trying to articulate a

Jerusalem-style modernism.

Reznik‘s work here on the Israel

Academy building was the first

attempt to include interior

courtyards, and the cone, too, was

going to be an interior courtyard.

The cone represents a temple of

knowledge, as opposed to a temple

of religion.‖

According to the catalogue of a

2005 exhibit of Reznik‘s work, the

Van Leer Institute building was

influenced by the work of Le

Corbusier, such as the Palace of

Assembly in Chandigarh.

Architecture mavens will see the

similarities between the pointed

beams that enclose the cone and

the Cathedral of Brasília designed

by Oscar Niemeyer, for whom

Reznik worked. Elhayani, who

investigated when the two

buildings were completed,

discovered that the Cathedral was

not finished until 1970—after the

Institute. ―Who influenced whom?‖

Construction of the original cone (Photo: David

Rubinger)

he asks. ―This opens a discussion

of the mutual influence of world

architecture on local architecture

and vice versa, as in the work of

Erich Mendelsohn and others.‖ The

fact that the planning of both

structures began around the same

time (late 1950s) leaves the

question open for now.

Designing an Addition without Overshadowing the Original

Work on the addition to the

campus, the Polonsky Academy,

began after the Chyutins won an

architectural competition in 2008.

They beat out five other firms:

Mann Shinar, Joseph Cory,

Kimmel Eshkolot, Rosenfeld

Arens, and Schwartz Besnosoff.

An international panel of judges,

headed by the curator Prof.

Michael Levin (who originated the

White City exhibit at the Tel Aviv

Museum of Art, which led to the

preservation efforts in that city

1990s), examined the two

submissions required of all the

contestants: a plan for the entire

campus, which includes the Israel

Academy of Sciences and

Humanities (also designed by

Reznik and Pevsner) and the

Council of Higher Education

building, and a plan for the 7,200

square meters of the new structure

that would not overshadow the

historic building.

Unlike most architecture

competitions in Israel, where any

connection between the winning

submission and the final structure

is entirely coincidental, here the

resemblance is striking. ―It was

important to us that the building

The view of the original courtyard through the

faux-wood slats (Photo: Aviad Bar-Ness)

The winning model closely resembles the finished

product. (Design: Chyutin Architects)

conduct a dialogue with the historic

building,‖ Bracha Chyutin

explains. Even though the old

building has only a third of the

floor space of the new structure, it

is hard to discern the difference

when you stand here. The full

height of the new building is

visible only on its southern side

(from the direction of the

Jerusalem Theater); the front-

facing façades—the northern and

western—consist of two wings that

run parallel to a landscaped

courtyard. In addition, the planners

made an effort to retain the open

spaces designed by Yahalom-Zur

landscape architects, in the new

park, conceived by Miller-Blum.

Most of the trees, including pines

and olives, were preserved, and

peek through the northern

windows.

One wing of the building rises one

story above the escarpment and

contains the main entrance from

the west. Another wing includes

the northern façade and rises two

stories, with the entrance from the

north. The wings are covered with

faux-wood louvers (a durable

material known as comprising steel

beams covered with a crushed

veneer), which are inspired by the

brises-soleil that were so popular in

Israeli construction some decades

ago (following Le Corbusier, who

first used them at the Convent of

Sainte-Marie de La Tourette). The

louvers are employed in a variation

that takes the local climate into

account—offset from the glass

windows in order to shade the

building and permit passage for

cleaning and maintenance. The

series of internal courtyards in the

new building was inspired by the

adjacent buildings designed by

Reznik and Pevsner, and while the

southern façade is covered in

Hebron limestone, the courtyards

are faced in a material developed

specially for this project—

prefabricated concrete units placed

one on top the other and covered

by stone.

The building is divided into two

areas. The main entrance open into

an upper lobby that leads to some

of the executive offices, seminar

rooms, and 30 offices for

postdoctoral fellows, each about 20

square meters. The rooms are

arranged in clusters around small

common areas. ―We wanted to

provide as many spaces as possible

that would permit interactions;

otherwise people might as well

work in a hotel,‖ Chyutin explains.

The offices are at the level of the

Theater‘s roof. In order to prevent

a view dominated by utility

systems and to limit the number of

openings in the southern façade,

the architects placed the windows

over the inner courtyards, which

have yet to be equipped with tables

and chairs.

The southern façade. The lot is on a slope. (Photo:

Aviad Bar-Ness)

The fourth side of the complex, the Polonsky

Academy. (Photo: Aviad Bar-Ness)

The lower section contains the functional areas shared by all the academy‘s personnel: a

cafeteria that looks out on the garden, a library, a conference room with elongated windows

like the external stone tiles, and a 140-seat auditorium in which the walls and ceiling are

covered by wood strips to dampen echoes and improve the acoustics. The public spaces are

lined with grey tiles. The interior spaces employ much wood in the furniture, floors, and

walls. The open spaces feature red armchairs that sparkle in the double-glazed cavity that

unites all the floors of the building and (almost) permits a view from every level to the other

levels.

The donor asked for a ―green building,‖ and the administration is currently in the process of

attaining Israeli certification. Nagari is proud of the geothermal system, which employs

buried water pipes to moderate the sun‘s heat by means of the underground temperature.

Installation of the system required drilling 46 holes to a depth of 135 meters, at a cost of

NIS 1.4 million. The result: ―We used to spend more than NIS 350,000 a year—NIS 300,000

on climate control and another NIS 60,000–70,000 on electricity. Our bill for the six months

since the system became operational is only NIS 25,000.‖ Nagari estimates that the system

will pay for itself within only five years.

An obvious missed opportunity is the improvised fence erected between the new structure

and the Jerusalem Theater (planned by Nadler, Nadler, Bixon, Gil) and the parking lot dug

under the cliff for the benefit of theatergoers. The Institute and Theater are connected by a

gated path, which permits access only towards the Theater. Returning to the Institute requires

a taxing detour around the President‘s Residence. Instead of celebrating the beauty of the two

structures and creating a shared park for the people of Jerusalem, who are pining for open

spaces, the two structures turn their backs on each other.

―The grey stone buildings sprout from the ground and blend with the Jerusalem skyline, as

only a few new buildings have managed to do. … It appears, however, that Jerusalem is not

capable of receiving a nicer gift,‖ is how Friedlander concluded her 1965 article. That

conclusion is relevant to the new building, as well.

http://www.xnet.co.il/architecture/articles/0,14710,L-3106008,00.html