To imagine a place that is not virtual, but real. To be dedicated to Peace, is an immensely taxing undertaking of profound ethical significance.
Peace is a spiritual condition, an aspiration: tension and utopia.
The projection of will into the future is also an expression of hope that our children and future generation will live in a better world. Peace cannot be enclosed in wrapping: it’s, rather, a sensation of fullness and serenity that can be communicated through a place, or through architecture.
I have thought of a series of layers, a building that represents TIME and PATIENCE in strata of alternating materials representing places that have suffered heavily. Concrete composed of alternating and superimposed types of sand and aggregate. A stone basement to raise the building, a meeting place from which two long staircase lead to a place of “rest”, whose size and height, full of light from above, helps us to forget the troubles of the world, and fill us with the positive attitude that is needed for our meeting with other men and other women. The outside of the building has alternate layers of concrete and translucent glass. The transparency of the glass will filter the light through to the inside during the day, and by night will send it back outside, entrusting this magical image with the spiritual and concrete message the site will inspire.
Architecture today must set itself as an aid, a hand to help us cope with the difficulties of understanding. This project represents the venue of an encounter, a debate, reasoning and solutions.
The Peres Centre for Peace is a parallelepiped. Obtained by irregularly shaped glass and concrete layers standing on a monolithic base: at one end of the building is the entrance to the car park, at the other the pedestrians entrance. At this point the basement becomes a large plaza, an empty space dissected lengthwise by two symmetrical ramps leading inside. This dark and low-ceilinged area leads to the inside of the well of light that is open for the whole height of the building, where the reception area is situated. From here the alternating light and dark layers are visible; the former, in glass, lit from the outside and the latter, in concrete mixed with other materials and local earth.
The rest of this floor (which totals 550 sqm) is designed to house the reception area and exhibition hall.
The remaining six floors, each covering a space of 600 sqm and a height of 3,4 m. house on the first one, office facilities, a library and cafeteria; on the second floor there is an auditorium to seat 200 people (with a height of 7 m.), the press room and the press conference hall; the members and guest cafeteria is on the third floor with the library and the madiateque, the fourth and fifth floors offices and meeting rooms and the sixth contains ten apartments.
Massimiliano Fuksas (Interior Design)
Michal Schaffer (Site Work Supervisor)
Materials:
Concrete precast elements with green pigment
Glass, stainless steel structure and aluminium frame.
Internal walls - Gypsum, glass and aluminium
Auditorium - Wood, concrete and glass
