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The resulting building consists of a transparent box-like glass structure, penetrated by six massive stone blocks, each bearing a different pattern. A wall-like element of hewn Jerusalem stone creates the main axis of the building, protruding at points through the glass reception area and the roof. This wall begins outside the building and is initially very low. It constitutes the axis along which the interior corridors extend and accompanies all who enter.

Planning for Site and Symbol

Prior to site selection, it was decided that the building should be in full view from the street, not concealed behind high walls. A relatively large site was chosen to enable the entire building to be visible.

On the property was a mansion built as a private residence in the 1930s. The neo-classical structure is on Berlin's historic preservation list. Initial plans were that the mansion, expanded with two new wings, would serve as the embassy. A new, smaller house at the back of the site would serve as the ambassador's residence.

However, says architect Giladi, "In view of the sentimental and moral complexity with the establishment of this particular embassy building, I realized that a mansion built in the Germany of the early 1930s, as attractive as it may be, cannot serve as the facade of the building in question."

Instead, she suggested that a new building be designed for the embassy and that the existing mansion become the ambassador's residence. "In this way," she explains, "the historic part was separated from the new."

A Matter of Materials

The symbolic interplay of historic and contemporary is also manifested in the choice of external building materials: the facade of the embassy consists of the same stone used in the mansion, but in a modern, more elaborate form.

The six stone masses were clad with German limestone and the roof was covered with green copper, despite the fact that the geometry chosen for the roof differs from that of traditional roofs and constitutes an echo of the "sail" made from Jerusalem stone.

The architects applied transparent materials wherever possible, thus conserving the open and green character of the site and the surrounding neighborhood.

The glass box of the building opens like a funnel in the direction of the garden on the interior part of the site. A wedge-like structure shoots into the large glass opening — the main wing of the embassy which houses the ambassador's office and the large reception and meeting room.

When entering the building through the main entrance, the visitor passes through the third stone mass and into the glass box which forms a concave reception area leading to an entrance space: a four-level high atrium facing the stone wall.

Flanked by this wall, the visitor enters the embassy proper, designed entirely around another central atrium. The stone on one side of the second atrium is "perforated"; the other side is a transparent wall. A formal staircase rising along the stone wall leads the visitor to the "political" level.

The facade of the Embassy faces the Augusta Victoria Street, and slants slightly, invitingly, towards the garden. The building stands at an angle relative to the historic mansion so as to establish an interrelationship between the two structures and justify a common entrance piazza for both.

This angular position was intended to "pay homage" to the historic building rather than let it be dominated by the new one. While the embassy is significantly larger, both buildings are of the same height.

Inside the Residence

Interior designer Esther Bacharach of Tel Aviv, who furnished Israel's embassies in Japan, Myanmar, and China, also applied her hand to the Berlin residence. Italian furniture and cherry wood lives there with Persian rugs, dark gold curtains, and paintings by Israeli artists such as Moshe Kastel and Moshe Gershuni and the Druze artist Asi Asad.   >>>

Six symbolic pillars mark the facade of the new Israeli Embassy in Berlin, Germany. Photo: Guenther Schneider From a central atrium, a stair leads the visitor to the "political" level. Photo: Guenther Schneider The new embassy sits adjacent to a historic mansion, now the ambassador's residence. Photo: Guenther Schneider Site plan. Image: Orit Willenberg-Giladi Section through reception area. Image: Orit Willenberg-Giladi Section through atrium. Image: Orit Willenberg-Giladi An angled wall cuts through the glass box. Photo: Guenther Schneider The ambassador's residence, a 1930s mansion. Photo: Guenther Schneider   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.