Israel: Public Architecture: Secular, Modern, Stateliness (and the policies/politics of renovation)

The renovations in the auditorium are not a large part of the funding 
obtained, and will leave it looking almost as now (the upholstery will 
remain red, even on the new chairs). Far more substantial changes will 
come with the implementation of the ICC's ambitious program, at an as 
yet unknown date, "to realize the dream of transforming Jerusalem into a 
world center for international congresses," says Altman.
....
As times changed and there was erosion in favor of stateliness and 
nationalism, Binyanei Ha'uma's star faded, perhaps from the competition 
with the Jerusalem Theater, inaugurated in 1971, or because it was cut 
off from any urban fabric and did not manage to become "the natural 
center of the expanding city," as envisioned by the architects who 
designed the area in those early years.

In light of the decline in the building's physical condition and in its 
image, the Jewish Agency decided in the 1980s to transform the failing 
Binyanei Ha'uma into a productive "International Convention Center."

In 1988, the Jerusalem firm of Spector-Amishar was appointed to oversee 
the adaptation to the building's new role and the design of additions, 
new wings and auditoriums that doubled its size. The distance between 
the Israeli architecture and culture of Zeev Rechter's era and that of 
Spector-Amishar is faithfully reflected in the building.

The secular modernism of the original building was enclosed in a choke 
hold of playful post-modernist nouveau-Jerusalem architecture and its 
image practically drowns in a sea of hewn stone - a shadow in the 
sanctuary of the architecture of the period. There was considerable 
erosion of the original building's sharp defining lines; after the 
momentum of expansion and additions, the place today is a conglomerate 
of 27 halls of varying size and other related services. It is sprawling 
in all directions.

cont'd...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/730206.html