Symbolic design: Holocaust Museum aims to educate and transform the future
by Jonathan McGaha | September 30, 2009 12:00 am
Part of designing and building a museum is taking into consideration more than just what’s on display. The challenge is finding the right balance between the physical elements and the emotions being conveyed by those items. This is especially true when the museum’s aim is to educate visitors about an event few people will ever forget. The new 65,000-square-foot (6,039-m2) Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Skokie, Ill., combines a world-class museum with an innovative education center that is a lasting monument to those lost in the Holocaust during World War II.
Designed by architect Stanley Tigerman of Tigerman McCurry Architects, Chicago, the museum is devoted to teaching the “universal lessons of the Holocaust.”
Sitting on 2.5 acres (1 hectare), the museum was made possible by generous donations from more than 2,200 donors in the private, public and corporate sectors of the community. Construction on the
$45 million museum began in October 2006, which opened on April 19of this year.
Full of Meaning
The museum consists of a three-part building full of symbolism and meaning. Visitors enter the museum through the dark metalclad building, with dark walls and sharp angles that represent the descent into darkness. At the middle section, or hinge, is a Book of Remembrance, a memorial to those who perished in the Holocaust. An authentic early 20th century German rail car sits in the “cleave” formed by the hinge, separating the dark and the light. The final section is a white-clad building that features soft, round edges and rooflines filled with natural light, which symbolizes the ascension into the light and features exhibits that represent the rescue and renewal of Holocaust survivors.
Rick Hirschhaut, executive director of the museum, described the darker building, with no natural light coming in, as having a very industrial feel with the exposed steel beams, exposed duct work and raw finish of the CMU as providing the sense of being in a factory or industrial setting.
“It’s foreboding and a very strong and harsh feeling when you first come in. As you make your way through the permanent exhibit, you ultimately cross over into the lighter building that still has exposed steel, but it is painted white,” Hirschhaut said. “There is natural light that enters through small and large windows, providing much more of a sense of openness and illumination, a softer feel, but still in may ways just as unfinished and raw as when you first enter the building.”
The presence of natural light in the white building makes the space less imposing and not as foreboding as the entrance. This is meant to express the end of the Holocaust and the emergence of the survivors into new lives; the rebuilding and there constructing of their lives, including their journeys to North America and Israel, Hirschhaut explained.
“The introduction of the light is also meant to suggest the personal sense of enlightenment and heightened awareness that we hope the museum visitors will take with them from their experience here,” Hirschhaut said.
As each part of the museum has a very specific meaning, the direction the museum faces also is significant. The museum faces east and is oriented towards Jerusalem as an expression of the continuity and eternal presence of the Jewish people, Hirschhaut explained. The two steel columns that stand in front of the museum are the same height,shape and diameter as the columns that stood in front of Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem.
Dark and Light
Metal Erector Inc., Addison, Ill., fabricated and installed approximately 23,000 square feet (2,137 m2) of Eastman, Ga.-based Alcoa Architectural Products’ Reynobond aluminum composite panels with a fire retardant core. The project utilized 12,000 square feet
(1,115 m2) of Reynobond FR ACM panels in Pewter, 10,000 square feet
(929 m2) in Pure White and 1,000 square feet (93 m2) in Cadet Grey. The panels were installed in a dry joint rainscreen system.
Paying special homage to the 6 million people who lost their lives is the Room of Remembrance, where the names of more than 1,300 victims line the wall. There are six custom skylights that highlight the 25-foot (8-m) space. The skylights,approximately 3-foot (0.9-m) square, feature insulated high-performance glass from LinEl Signature, Mooresville, Ind. Six permanent candles sit on top of the cylinder that holds the skylights and are also symbolic of the lives lost.
Sustainable Features
The museum, aiming for LEED Silver certification, includes a variety of sustainable features. John Katrakis, P.E., LEED AP, of J.T. Katrakis & Associates Inc., Barrington, Ill., was the LEED consultant on the project.
According to Katrakis, the museum is very energy efficient due to a high-efficiency heating system,radiant floor heating, high-efficiency boilers, sensors that can adjust the amount of fresh air in the building accordingly and more. All finishes contain low- or no-VOCs, allowing for a very clean and healthy indoor environment for the staff and visitors.
“The museum’s highly reflective roof helps keep the building cool and minimize the temperature of the roof, reducing the urban heat island effect,” Katrakis said. “Additionally, the insulation in the walls and windows is much higher than what is required by code, helping to increase efficiency.”
The museum also features an efficient lighting system with controls that help minimize indoor and outdoor usage; parking spaces for hybrid or electric vehicles; a green roof with native and adaptive plants; low-flow toilets, faucets and waterless or low-flow urinals. Additionally, 89 percent of construction waste was diverted from landfills.
A Unique Experience
Each year more than 250,000 students and visitors are expected to go through the museum.
“What makes the museum experience so unique and so personal is the involvement of Holocaust survivors in the creation of the museum- using their own voices, recorded testimonies to tell the story, and ultimately the time they spend with the school children every day,” Hirschhaut said. “It is exciting for the children who come through the museum to hear their stories and actually meet the survivors, many of whom are still with us, and are bringing this museum to life.”
Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, Skokie, Ill.
Owner: Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois
Architect: Tigerman McCurry Architects, Chicago
General contractor: Bulley & Andrews LLC, Chicago
LEED consultant: J.T. Katrakis & Associates Inc., Barrington, Ill.
Structural steel subcontractor: Guardian Construction Products Inc., Naperville, Ill.
Metal panel fabricator/installer: Metal Erector Inc., Addison, Ill.
Metal wall panels: Alcoa Architectural Products, Eastman, Ga.
Skylights: LinEl Signature, Mooresville, Ind.
Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/projects/symbolic-design-holocaust-museum-aims-to-educate-and-transform-the-future/