Location: Jerusalem, Israel.

Architect: Kimmel Eshkolot + Kalush Chechick architects.

The Har Herzl Memorial Hall is a unique commemorative space for fallen soldiers in Israel. The hall is set in a calm biblical scenery, isolated and quiet, and excavated in the mountain to form an intimate space for both personal and collective experiences of commemoration. The design of the hall is focused on sustainability, with no air-conditioning or electrical ventilation systems. Natural air flow creates excellent temperature conditions using the funnel shape to expel hot air out of the upper end of the roof through spaced stone slabs, thus creating air flow that ventilates the place. The structure’s thermal-mass, integrated within the earth, keeps a steady temperature. The exterior topography was cladded with light-coloured Jerusalem stone, which protects the building from radiation. Using local materials such as the Jerusalem-stone was a key element in the design process both for budget constraints and for sustainability reasons, aiming to integrate the building with the surrounding city of Jerusalem. The Memorial was planned as a monument, and as such, the design focused on creating a non-building that can function almost without any mechanical systems and be close to entirely sustainable. The names of the fallen soldiers are engraved on stone bricks, forming a long Wall of Names, which wraps around the funnel of light. The design development of the funnel was done in consultation with the research team R.O.B. at the ETH, Zurich. It is constructed of uniform extruded aluminium bricks, each CNC’d and marked to get its specific joints’ locations, to allow for the assembly on site of the irregular, unique structure. The Har Herzl Memorial Hall is intended to be unimposing from the exterior, and to echo the texture of the adjacent mountains and cemetery.

Photo credit: Amit Geron.