A true platform for Jerusalem culture

Thursday, December 20 was officially the last day of Jerusalem Design Week — an event sponsored by the Jerusalem Center for Design, a non-profit organization dedicated to putting Jerusalem on the international design map — but several ongoing exhibits, events and locations will complete the week of talks, viewings and tours, and will remain open to the public through the end of the month.

Held within in the framework of the Hamshushalaim events taking place around the city throughout the month of December, most of the design events took place in and around the Old Train Station Compound, the under-renovation complex that is due to open this spring. Planned as part of Jerusalem’s ‘cultural mile,’ a stretch of institutions including the Jerusalem Theater, the Hansen compound, the Khan Theater, the Cinematheque and the Sherover Cultural Center under construction in nearby Abu Tor, the historic train station — opened in 1882, closed in 1998 — is being remade into a restaurant complex with mostly non-kosher eateries that will be open on Shabbat, according to the developers.

A glimpse of what it will all look like can be seen until December 29 at “Side Effects,” an exhibit at the Old Train Station Compound of projects from the Design Lab.

The final event of Design Week was being held on Thursday night: The grand reopening of the Nocturno Cafe at the Meatzvim BaIr (Designers in the City), a collective compound in downtown Jerusalem, featuring a special sale of the designers’ works, all of whom work out of studios in the two-floor space.

Nocturno Cafe at Meatzivm BaIr, Thursday, from 8 pm, 7 Bezalel Street, Jerusalem.

“Side Effects” at the Old Train Station Compound (David Remez Square, across from the Khan Theater), Jerusalem. Open Monday – Thursday, 5 pm – 11 pm; Friday, 9 am – 2 pm; Saturday evening, 6:30 pm – 11 pm. Closing date: December 29.