06 Jun 2013
Einstein Museum planned for Jerusalem
BY Miguel deSousa
Albert Einstein's life and work, as well as his connections to Judaism and Zionism, are to be honoured by a museum in Jerusalem.
The museum will be located at The Hebrew University on Mount Scopus, a site which has drawn some controversy as it lies outside Israel's pre-1967 borders.
A design concept, by Foster + Partners, in collaboration with local Israeli firm, Baer, Shiftman-Nathan Architects, has been commissioned by the various stakeholders in the project. They include the President's Office, the Prime Minister's Office, the Jerusalem Development Authority, the Jerusalem Municipality and The Hebrew University. It will house the physicist's personal papers and literary estate which was bequeathed to the university.
The museum's design will consist of a spherical building with an amphitheatre at its centre which is focussed on a bed of gyroscopic mirrors.
The mirrors rotate and reflect sunlight onto a dark screen producing light shows and the effect of a natural light star above the museum. The sphere will be visible from most parts of the city.
Foster + Partners says construction is expected to begin in 2015, with a completion date of 2017.
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