Hansen | הנסן

Designed by German architect Conrad Schick, Hansen House was first established in 1887 as a leper asylum by the Protestant community of Jerusalem.

In 1950 the site was purchased by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), and served as  a  leprosy treatment center through 2000. In 2009, the Israeli government decided to hand over the building to the municipality of Jerusalem city, for the purpose of converting it into an interdisciplinary cultural center. In 2011, the Jerusalem Development Authority (JDA) started the Hansen House preservation project. By the end of 2013, the impressive historical building was reopened to the public, as a design, media and technology center.

The Hansen House Center for Design, Media and Technology now offers permanent and changing exhibitions, one of which is a historical exhibition depicting the story of the Hansen House and its prior tenants. The Hansen House includes a movie theatre, fabrication laboratory (Hansen Fablab) and a beautiful garden surrounding the building that was conserved and maintained with the rest of the compound. Advanced academic programs are offered by the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design and Residency programs are offered by Mamuta Art & Media Center. Related design and technology research groups and art groups also operate at the Hansen House, including the Film & Television Fund of the Jerusalem Development Authority, the Erev Rav culture and society journal and more. In 2017 the Offaimm Cafe for sustaineble organic agriculture.