flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Libeskind wins competition to design Canadian National Holocaust Monument

Libeskind wins competition to design Canadian National Holocaust Monument

The plan came out ahead of David Adjaye and four others in the competition.


By BD+C Staff | May 13, 2014
Renderings: courtesy the Department of Canadian Heritage
Renderings: courtesy the Department of Canadian Heritage

A design team featuring Daniel Libeskind and Gail Dexter-Lord has won a competition with its design for the Canadian National Holocaust Monument in Toronto.

The winning design, called "Landscape of Loss, Memory and Survival," is based on the Star of David. It beat out five competing submissions from the likes of David Adjaye, Julian Bonder, and Gilles Saucier.

"We are deeply honoured to be entrusted with designing the monument to Holocaust victims and survivors, and we are committed to creating a place of meaning and value for all Canadians in our country's capital," said Gail Dexter-Lord, Dezeen reports.

The monument is set to open in the autumn of 2015. Check out the original entry below.

Team Lord


 
Team Members
Gail Lord (museum planner)
Daniel Libeskind (architect)
Edward Burtynsky (artist)
Claude Cormier (landscape architect)
Dr. Doris Berger (Holocaust scholar)
 
Essay
The star that the Nazis forced millions of Jews to wear throughout Europe, in ghettos and in camps, to exclude them from humanity and to mark them for extermination, remains the visual symbol of the Holocaust. The Nazis and their collaborators also?used the triangles that comprise the star to label homosexuals, Roma, Sinti, Jehovah’s Witnesses and political and religious prisoners for murder. People with disabilities were the first targets of mass killing. When the Monument is seen from the green roof of the War Museum, the symbol of the star becomes clear.
 
“The Journey Through the Star” as designed by architect Daniel Libeskind is organized with two physical ground planes: the ascending landscape that points to the future and the descending plane into the Memorial.
 
People enter the Monument from Booth Street and descend between two tilted geometric structures: one polished concrete; the other a mesh screen that references incarceration behind fences of often electrified barbed wire through which a landscape is still visible.
 
At the bottom of the descending landscape we arrive at the “Gathering Place” which can accommodate up to 1,000 people for events such as National Holocaust Remembrance Day (in April), International Holocaust Remembrance Day (in January) and Human Rights Day (in December).
 
The space is traversed by a railway track embedded in the ground reminding us of the trains that transported people to their death. Surrounding the Gathering Space are tilted geometric concrete and mesh structures that create six triangular thematic spaces for contemplation and reflection.
 
 

Related Stories

| Aug 15, 2013

Design-build project delivery holds steady at nearly 40% of nonresidential construction: DBIA study

The Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA), the only organization that defines, teaches and promotes best practices in design-build, has released research indicating that design-build project delivery represents nearly 40 percent of total market share in the United States, based on dollar value at the end of 2012. 

| Aug 14, 2013

Five projects receive 2013 Educational Facility Design Excellence Award

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on Architecture for Education (CAE) has selected five educational and cultural facilities for this year’s CAE Educational Facility Design Awards.

| Aug 14, 2013

Sluggish gains in architect compensation due to weakness in construction sector: AIA survey

U.S. architecture firms have experienced modest improvements in business conditions over the last two years that has resulted in very small gains in compensation levels for staffs. 

| Aug 14, 2013

Green Building Report [2013 Giants 300 Report]

Building Design+Construction's rankings of the nation's largest green design and construction firms. 

| Aug 13, 2013

DPR's Phoenix office, designed by SmithGroupJJR, affirmed as world's largest ILFI-certified net-zero facility

The new Phoenix Regional Office of DPR Construction, designed by SmithGroupJJR, has been officially certified as a Net Zero Energy Building by the International Living Future Institute (ILFI).  It’s the largest building in the world to achieve Net Zero Energy Building Certification through the Institute to date.

| Aug 8, 2013

Energy research animates science sector [2013 Giants 300 Report]

After an era of biology-oriented spending—largely driven by Big Pharma and government concerns about bioterrorism—climate change is reshaping priorities in science and technology construction.

| Aug 8, 2013

Top Science and Technology Sector Engineering Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]

Affiliated Engineers, Middough, URS top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest science and technology sector engineering and engineering/architecture firms in the U.S.

| Aug 8, 2013

Top Science and Technology Sector Architecture Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]

HDR, Perkins+Will, HOK top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest science and technology sector architecture and architecture/engineering firms in the U.S.

| Aug 8, 2013

Top Science and Technology Sector Construction Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]

Skanska, DPR, Suffolk top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest science and technology sector contractors and construction management firms in the U.S.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category

Museums

The Tampa Museum of Art will soon undergo a $110 million expansion

In Tampa, Fla., the Tampa Museum of Art will soon undergo a 77,904-sf Centennial Expansion project. The museum plans to reach its $110 million fundraising goal by late 2024 or early 2025 and then break ground. Designed by Weiss/Manfredi, and with construction manager The Beck Group, the expansion will redefine the museum’s surrounding site.



Reconstruction & Renovation

Movement to protect historic buildings raises sharp criticism

While the movement to preserve historic buildings has widespread support, it also has some sharp critics with well-funded opposition groups springing up in recent years. Some opponents are linked to the Stand Together Foundation, founded and bankrolled by the Koch family’s conservative philanthropic organization, according to a column in Governing magazine.


halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021