Solar-powered glass cafe overlooks a “green lung” in Jerusalem | Inhabitat – Green Design, Innovation, Architecture, Green Building

Sacher Park, the largest public park in the center of Jerusalem, Israel, has recently gained a new cafe that embraces its green surroundings with walls of glass and an environmentally sensitive design. Israeli design studio Yaniv Pardo Architects created the Sacher Park Cafe, a coffee shop that’s powered entirely with solar energy. Completed in September 2018, the coffee shop is the first phase of a larger scheme to revitalize Sacher Park.

Spanning an area of 250 square meters, the Sacher Park Cafe was developed as part of the Jerusalem Development Authority’s ‘Design Competition of the Jerusalem Open Space and Governmental Area’, which Yaniv Pardo Architects won in 2008. “Our project does not deal with planning a defined structure,” the architects explain. “It aims to study, expose and understand the issues of planning in the Sacker Park site, focusing on the question of what kind of intervention would be suitable for this site in order to turn it into a lively point in city life. The open space defined by this project creates a landscape system that allows the masses, locals and tourists, to enjoy its beauty.”

Built with walls of glass and slim white pillars that support a thin curvaceous roof, the coffee shop and promenade draw inspiration from Jerusalem’s wadis and the park’s natural topography. Pockets of greenery punctuate the interior of the café. Nestled into the hill next to the coffee shop is an open-air amphitheater for public events.

The project was also created to follow green building principles. All the energy required for operating the coffee shop is drawn from renewable solar energy. The coffee shop, promenade and amphitheater are all part of a larger vision to rebrand Sacher Park as a “modern and active urban space.”