The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s new David and Fela Shapell Family Collections and Conservation Center has broken ground at an undisclosed location. The 100,000-sf building is designed by SmithGroupJJR.
The new Shapell Center will provide the archival-quality environments to support the preservation of artifacts documenting the Holocaust, ensuring that the evidence of the genocide will not be lost to future generations. With planned expansion space, the Shapell Center will provide a home for the growing collection.
The facility is designed to balance collections and non-collections. The building is organized in two halves: a “clean” side accommodates collections-related activities that includes a reading room; artifact storage; conservations labs for the treatment objects, textiles, paper and photographs; and a collections processing suite with a photo studio for digitizing the collection. A “dirty” side provides standard conditioning for non-collections storage; isolated wood, metal and paint shops for exhibit design and production; and staff office space.
Construction of the Shapell Center is expected to be completed in early 2017. SmithGroupJJR’s design services include architecture, MEP engineering, lighting design, landscape architecture and interior design. SmithGroupJJR leads the broader design team which includes Weidlinger Associates, Inc., The Sextant Group, Inc. and Rummel Klepper & Kahl. DPR Construction is serving as the construction manager.
Related Stories
| May 2, 2013
First look: UC-Davis art museum by SO-IL and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
 The University of California, Davis has selected emerging New York-based practice SO-IL to design a new campus’ art museum, which is envisioned to be a “regional center of experimentation, participation and learning.” Â
| Apr 30, 2013
Tips for designing with fire rated glass - AIA/CES course
Kate Steel of Steel Consulting Services offers tips and advice for choosing the correct code-compliant glazing product for every fire-rated application. This BD+C University class is worth 1.0 AIA LU/HSW.
| Apr 26, 2013
Documentary shows 'starchitects' competing for museum project
"The Competition," a new documentary produced by Angel Borrego Cuberto of Madrid, focuses on the efforts of five 'starchitects' to capture the design contract for the new National Museum of Art of Andorra: a small country in the Pyrenees between Spain and France.
| Apr 24, 2013
Los Angeles may add cool roofs to its building code
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants cool roofs added to the city’s building code. He is also asking the Department of Water and Power (LADWP) to create incentives that make it financially attractive for homeowners to install cool roofs.
| Apr 23, 2013
Architects to MoMA: Don't destroy Williams/Tsien project
Richard Meier, Thom Mayne, Steven Holl, Hugh Hardy and Robert A.M. Stern are among the prominent architects who on Monday called for the Museum of Modern Art to reconsider its decision to demolish the former home of the American Folk Art Museum.
| Apr 17, 2013
First look: Renzo Piano's glass-domed motion pictures museum
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences last week released preliminary plans for its $300 million Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences museum in Los Angeles, designed by Renzo Piano and local architect Zoltan Pali.
| Apr 11, 2013
American Folk Art Museum, opened in 2001, to be demolished
Just 12 years old, the museum designed by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien will be taken down to make way for MoMA expansion.
| Apr 2, 2013
6 lobby design tips
If you do hotels, schools, student unions, office buildings, performing arts centers, transportation facilities, or any structure with a lobby, here are six principles from healthcare lobby design that make for happier users—and more satisfied owners.
| Mar 22, 2013
8 cool cultural projects in the works
A soaring opera center in Hong Kong and a multi-tower music center in Calgary are among the latest cultural projects.
| Mar 15, 2013
AIA opposes House bill cutting Eisenhower Memorial funding
AIA opposes House bill cutting Eisenhower Memorial funding.