The Wonder Cabinet in Bethlehem, Palestine, has just launched, fostering creativity and cultural production in its region. The building, a piece of brutalist architecture in raw concrete, was designed by AAU Anastas, a practice headed creatively by architects Elias and Yousef Anastas. The structure, which is now operation, aims to become a key hub for craft, design and innovation.
Inside The Wonder Cabinet
The Wonder Cabinet's flexible, open spaces are home to the Anastas' own architecture practice, as well as Radio Alhara, a restaurant, a small store, a showroom for Local Industries (the product design studio founded in 2011 by Elias and Yousef Anastas) and a small cinema.
The project, which overlooks a residential area in the Karkafeh valley, was conceived as a 'non-profit and production-driven cultural space. Experimental in nature, it is committed to prioritizing artisanship and physical crafting principles as essential tools of art making. Through its programmes, the Wonder Cabinet brings together art, artisanship, research and education, with an intuitive approach built on knowledge exchange and cooperative labour', says Anastas.
A series of stainless steel letters spelling 'W-O-N-D-E-R C-A-B-I-N-E-T' spins above the main façade. It acts as signage as well as a weather vane, while smartly flagging the building as a beacon for creativity. Upon approach, the building's rough concrete grid and metal detailing made by Local Industries highlight its design-led approach.
Inside, three levels of work and production spaces connect through voids and internal balconies. Meanwhile, a a 'street esplanade' is used for ephemeral set-ups between the various studio spaces.
'The wonder cabinet opening is first and foremost an invitation to explore the building and its surroundings through sound, discussions, objects, experimentations, food and the encountering of disciplines with each other. The opening days are a three day condensed version of what the wonder cabinet is about to unfold into,' Anastas writes.
-
Turner Prize 2023 exhibition unwrappedThe Turner Prize 2023 exhibition has opened inside the colourful Towner Eastbourne; delve into the work of the four nominees
-
Look inside Sixth&Blanco, Herzog & de Meuron’s first project in Texas
Step inside Sixth&Blanco by Herzog & de Meuron, as the Swiss studio reveals interior images of its first ever Texas design, a forward-thinking, sustainable and mixed-use scheme
-
Birkenstock and Tekla offer clogs and pyjamas made to ‘still the mind’
Birkenstock 1774 and Danish lifestyle brand Tekla mine a natural affinity with a collection made for ‘contemplation and comfort’
-
The finest brutalist architecture in London and beyond
For some of the world's finest brutalist architecture in London and beyond, scroll below. Can’t get enough of brutalism? Neither can we.
-
Pa.te.os hotel in Portugal is a concrete love affair with Alentejo
Pa.te.os hotel by Aires Mateus is set in the Alentejo landscape in Portugal and celebrates the blend of concrete and nature
-
Luna House is a concrete Chilean live/work haven by Pezo von Ellrichshausen
Pezo von Ellrichshausen invites us inside Luna, the studio's base, a geometric concrete masterpiece in the Chilean countryside
-
Canberra’s concrete column cluster pavilion by Molonglo and Pezo von Ellrichshausen
Developer Molonglo and architects Pezo von Ellrichshausen are behind the Less pavilion at Dairy Road, Canberra
-
This Portuguese farmhouse takes its cues from its natural surrounds
NaMora House is a Portuguese farmhouse by architects Filipe Pina and David Bilo that opens a dialogue with its leafy surrounds
-
A concrete Melbourne home centred on nature and mindfulness
Canopy House by Powell & Glenn is a Melbourne house built around mindfulness and a passion for open-air, concrete South American architecture
-
Cascading terraces define this concrete apartment building in Basel
A minimalist concrete apartment building in Switzerland features cascading terraces to a design by architects KohlerStraumann
-
Colombian house is Best Retreat at the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2022
Oslo-based architecture studio LCLA Office and architect Clara Arango collaborate on an Andes Mountain retreat in Colombia, uniting sculptural architecture and an expansive green landscape; and the result, Ballen Houses, has just won Best Retreat: Wallpaper* Design Awards 2022
