The Knesset Building at Giva't Ram — Planning and Construction / משכן הכנסת בגבעת רם: תכנון ובנייה

The Knesset building at Giva't Ram was inaugurated on August 30, 1966. The article presents a history of this building, whose style may be described as 'late International Style, with some brutalist influences.' The article traces the following stages: deliberations regarding the construction of a home for the Knesset in Jerusalem; first proposals as to where it should be located within the government compound; the controversial competition held in 1957 and won by architect Joseph Klarwein; successful attempts to change the original plan to something more 'modern'; the various stages of construction, and the involvement of the legendary interior decorator Dora Gad; and finally, the criticism hurled at the building, once its construction was completed. The article draws mostly on original material deposited in the Knesset Archive, the Israel State Archives, and the Central Zionist Archives in Jerusalem, as well as personal interviews with some of the architects, decorators, and artists involved in its planning and construction. It also includes numerous photographs, never before published, of models of the building at the various stages of planning, of other historical buildings throughout the world that the original model and the building as finally constructed resemble, and of the Knesset building itself. The author concludes: 'One fact cannot be ignored, which is that the story of the planning and construction of the Knesset building — a process which took over ten years — is an extremely passionate and Israeli story. Much energy, both positive and negative, was invested in it. Despite everything, the building was erected and completed, and the democratic life of the State of Israel is conducted within it, for better or worse, in a regular and orderly manner.'