The SZMC Cancer Centre is now fully operational. As seen in the sectional perspective, of the ‘butterfly’ cancer centre showing the layered top lit public and garden space throughout the building. The typology resembles traditional courtyard houses and neighborhoods of Jerusalem and the region.
A typical private house might have a small garden and fountain at its centre, surrounded by ceremonial and private rooms. In other cases, individuals and families shared their private living quarters with other families around a common courtyard space.
Similarly, late nineteenth and early twentieth century Jewish courtyard neighbourhoods were built in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem that created housing for extended families and close but unrelated community members.
Individual apartments were generally modest in size, with the large courtyard housing communal components, such as sitting areas, gardens, a neighbourhood cistern, laundry, and a large oven for Shabbat meals.