| The Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum overlooks Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem valley. The design by Moshe Safdie took ten years to culminate and finally opened in 2005. The campus of six buildings is linked by paths and bridges through the traditionally landscaped site.The grey hard concrete conveys the coldness of the holocaust but also fits in the rocky terrain.
Much of the struture is under the earth, but the spine portrudes out in a triangle with only a tiny skylight at the top. Video displays and rivers of books only slightly fill this constraining volume. The cantilever stretches out in a gesture toward the Jewish sacred city.The Hall of Names rises as a cone with names and photos of the victims. The bottom reaches all the way down to the ground water. The emptiness and inhuman quality of this architecture establishes an atmosphere for the museum’s overall moral. |
(rictulio– flickr/creative commons license)
(Albert Ter Harmsel.– flickr/creative commons license)
(Jörg Weingrill– flickr/creative commons license)
(Jörg Weingrill– flickr/creative commons license)
(Jörg Weingrill– flickr/creative commons license)
(hoyasmeg– flickr/creative commons license)
(hoyasmeg– flickr/creative commons license)
