Design Museum Holon – Israel’s first museum dedicated to Design – harbours the dynamic play between a series of internal, box-like gallery spaces on different levels, and six ribbons of Cor-Ten steel. These both support and flow around them, and the circulation routes and outdoor public spaces they encompass.
The notion of creating and exploiting the tension between an internal arrangement of efficient box-like spaces, and the dynamic and curvaceous external envelope, is the guiding design principle for the entire museum. The greater part of the museum is shrouded by five distinct bands of Weathering Steel (Cor-Ten) structure which undulate and meander their way in, out and around the museum’s internal volumes, at times in unison, at others apart; at times enclosing space, and at times notionally defining it. The bands act as a spine for the building - both supporting large parts of it structurally and dictating its posture in relation to its surroundings.
The topographic horizontality of the bands is emphasised further by a gradation of treated patinas and the subsequent weathering of the steel over the lifetime of the building, both of which echo the familiar geological striations of the Israeli desert. The bands are never entirely obscured from the visitor’s sight, and act as a visual thread running through the museum.
The Museum’s two prime galleries provide a polar and diverse canvas for curatorial activity – the main 500m² gallery harnesses Israel’s consistent natural lighting potential and is lit via a layered “corduroy” of light reflectors in the ceiling. The more intimate 200m² second gallery provides a 'black box' – allowing additional flexibility.
Since opening, the museum has benefited from wide international acclaim both as a recognisable and iconic addition to the country’s expanding cultural and architectural landscape, and as a successful engine for local development.