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The Central Garden at Ben-Gurion International Airport was completed in conjunction with the construction of Terminal 3 of the Ben-Gurion International Airport, located just outside of Tel Aviv, Israel, and was designed by Shlomo Aronson Landscape Architects, Town Planners, and Architects.

Project History and Intent
Originally, the design of the airport included one parking garage but at the suggestion of local lead architect Ram Karmi, the garage was split in two structures in order to provide a space for the Central Garden. Because of its location, the garden is meant to be experienced from “particular elevated vantage points as a portrait” rather than by movement though it. The placement of the garden also provides a view out to the surrounding landscape as opposed to a view of the facade of the parking structure. The garden is meant to provide an abstract interpretation of the regional landscape from ocean to mountains.

Composition and Materials
The overall concept was for the design, which includes a larger 65-acre site that includes a road and an interchange in addition to the 5-acre Central Garden, was for it to relate strongly to the surrounding landscape. Plants common to the area were selected based on their regional presence. The gradual elevation change (approximately 15 feet or 5 meters ) within the garden is meant to symbolize the ascent from Tel Aviv from Jerusalem while also accommodating the practical requirement of the connecting various elevations of the parking garages with adjacent roads. Aronson symbolizes the Mediterranean coastline through the formal arrangement of materials like stone (a local limestone) and stainless steel. Gravel is used to represent the beaches of the western border of Israel, and a grid of palm trees recalls the seaside promenades that are growing in popularity within Israel. The grid arrangement also references the agricultural plantings of palm trees in the region. With the shift in elevation through the site comes a change from paved surface to planted areas of wheat fields, grasses, and orange groves. Small channels of water run through the garden, using a traditional technique for areas prone to rapid evaporation and indicating the need for human intervention in hydrating the arid landscape. The uppermost terrace contains a grove of olive trees, a tree common to the Judean Mountains around Jerusalem and the highest elevations within the country. Shlomo Aronson and project architect Barbara Aronson intended for the garden to be an abstraction of the region that allows visitors to gain a “deeper feeling of place” regardless of religious or political affiliations.

Context
Aronson points out that the Central Garden is actually the first project in a series of designs that articulate the journey from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He describes the sequence as a “connecting experience” characterized by repetition and the agrarian landscape along the route to Jerusalem, composed of citrus orchards, agricultural fields, olive groves, and stone terraces.

Awards
The Ben-Gurion Airport Central Garden won an Award of Honor in the Professional General Design Category from the American Society of Landscape Architects in 2005.