Architectural Culture in British-Mandate Jerusalem, 1917-1948 - Paperback

by Inbal Ben-Asher Gitler (Author)

Four major communities, four buildings constructing their identities in the contested urban space of Jerusalem.

This book examines a fascinating and critical epoch in the architectural history of Jerusalem. It proposes a fresh and analytical discussion of British Mandate-era architecture by studying four buildings that have had a lasting impact on Jerusalem's built environment. Applying relational history methodology, the book reveals how these building projects evolved as an outcome of cross-cultural influences and relations among the British, American, Jewish-Zionist and Muslim-Palestinian communities. Further, the building and design processes behind these structures give new perspectives on the adaptation of modern architecture in the Middle East and the negotiation of historicism and vernacular architecture during the first half of the 20th century.

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How architecture constructs communal identities in the contested urban space of Jerusalem Examining a fascinating and critical epoch in the architectural history of Jerusalem, this book presents a fresh and analytical discussion of British Mandate-era architecture through an exploration of 4 buildings that have had a lasting impact on the city's built environment. The author reveals how these building projects evolved as an outcome of cross-cultural influences and relations between the British, American, Jewish-Zionist and Muslim-Palestinian communities. And she shows how the building and design processes behind these structures give new perspectives on the adaptation of modern architecture in the Middle East and the negotiation of historicism and vernacular architecture during the first half of the 20th century. Key Features  Focuses on 4 case studies: the Muslim Palestinian Palace Hotel; the Jewish-Zionist Zionist Executive Buildings; the British Palestine Archaeological Museum (the Rockefeller Museum); and the American Jerusalem YMCA Building  Shows the major role that architecture and architectural culture had in constructing communal and national identities in Jerusalem and in Mandate Palestine  Increases our understanding of the interaction between cultural forces in the Middle East and the emergence of 20th-century architectural culture in Israel/Palestine  Includes 50 colour and 74 black-and-white illustrations Inbal Ben-Asher Gitler is a Senior Lecturer of Architecture and Visual Culture at Sapir Academic College, and an adjunct lecturer at Ben Gurion University of the Negev. She is co-editor of Israel As a Modern Architectural Laboratory, 1948-1978 (2019).

Author Biography

Senior Lecturer (tenure-track) at Sapir Academic College / Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. She is co-editor (with Yael Allweil, Dana Gordon and Eran Tamir) of Timely Teaching: Educational Idealism and Modern Architecture (Architects House Gallery (Israel Association of United Architects), 2017) and (with Anat Geva) of Israel as A Modern Architectural Experimental Lab (forthcoming, published in association with the Society of Architectural Historians of the USA by Intellect Books). She is editor of Monuments and Site-Specific Sculpture in Urban and Rural Space (Cambridge Scholars Publishers, 2017).