Block 38 is one of several parcels located in the once destroyed Jewish quarter, overlooking the Western Wall precinct, forming the outer edge of Jerusalem's Old City. Moshe Safdie was retained to plan the restoration and reconstruction of 7 buildings to be made suitable for 37 modern apartments totaling 6,144 square metres. Characteristic architectural details included large arched windows, terraced enclosures and roof gardens covered by convertible domes. The domes were partially opaque, partially transparent, and rotated on a track which slid open to form roofless terraces, or closed to form greenhouse solariums.

The Dung Gate project represents Moshe Safdie's extensive work in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. The gate, linking the old and the new cities of Jerusalem, was in urgent need of restoration to increase headroom and the construction of a "service" building adjacent to the wall intended to re-activate the area surrounding the gate. The site was steeply sloped and therefore the roof of the proposed structure was designed as a pedestrian pathway joining the existing Roman Cardo to a series of stepped landscaped terraces and a piazza on the roof of the service building.