Or Akiva Cultural Centre won won the first prize in an open public competition in 1997, again won the Beautiful Israel prize in 2003 when it was completed.
Strategically located, the complex bridges the city’s older and newer neighborhoods and link it to its historical roots in nearby Caesarea.
The urban dialog that relates between the southern and northern parts of the town (“old city” – “orot”) and the west-east axis (Or Akiva – Caesarea) by its arrangement creates the new modern heart of the town.
The natural circulation tracks, both pedestrian and vehicular, create a sort of whirlpool that attracts and stimulates simultaneously each and every one of the peripheries. This is a solution that creates a relationship between the edifice and the site and between the plot and its surrounding social and cultural environment.
The north-south axis passes through the whirlpool along the pedestrian pathway and builds the hierarchy by classifying the plaza and the main edifices, which develop along its course, the cultural center from the east and the municipal library from the west.
