01 Aug 2014
Palestine Museum on schedule despite ongoing Gaza conflict
BY Tom Anstey
Plans for a museum to be built in Palestine remains on schedule to open in 2016 – despite the major escalating conflict in the region.
Designed by Irish architectural firm Heneghan Peng, the US$18.5m (€13.9m, £11m) project, being constructed north of Ramallah, is continuing despite violent attacks in the not-too-distant Gaza Strip.
The 13,500sq m (145,312sq ft) LEED-certified facility is located around 80km (49.7m) from the main area of conflict, though fighting is spread across the state of Palestine.
The most recent conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas group started on 8 July and has seen more than 1,360 Palestinians – mostly civilians – and 55 Israelis killed through direct fighting and targeted shelling.
Speaking to the Architects Journal, Project architect Connor Streenan spoke of how she could hear rocket attacks while travelling to the site but insisted that construction work on the project remains “business as usual.”
Work started on the site in April 2013 – some 15 years after the project was first proposed – with an expected completion date of September 2015 and a soft opening planned for early 2016.
The museum will be devoted to preserving, celebrating and exhibiting the history, culture and society of modern and contemporary Palestine dating back 10,000 years.
Once the first phase of construction is completed in 2016, a second phase is planned to expand with more gallery space for temporary and permanent exhibitions, an auditorium, classrooms and a library.
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