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Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum Complex

Jerusalem, Israel
Moshe Safdie and Associates

Moshe Safdie offers a memorial journey through the depths of a Jerusalem hillside with his Yad Vashem history museum


Photo © Timohty Hursley
   

By Andrea Oppenheimer Dean

Only in Jerusalem. Place plays a central role in the new Holocaust History Museum at Yad Vashem, Israel’s National Memorial to the Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust. The building, by Moshe Safdie, FAIA, expresses in eloquent architectural shorthand the nation’s raison d’être. As Chaim Weizman, Israel’s first president, described it, the Nazi years divided the world into two kinds of countries: those where Jews could not stay and those to which they could not escape. Had it not been for Palestine, later Israel, six and a half million, instead of six million, Jews would have perished in the Holocaust.

On the Mount of Remembrance, a verdant hillside dotted with evergreens and wild flowers overlooking Jerusalem’s western outskirts, Safdie’s new history museum crowns Yad Vashem’s recently revitalized 45-acre campus. The recent master plan includes a bridge to the history museum, linking it to the existing complex, which includes a 1986 children’s memorial by Safdie, as well as a Holocaust art museum, synagogue, and visitors’ center. The history building’s program called for more than 40,000 square feet of exhibition space. Because the architect did not want to build on “this fragile lovely landscape,” he explains, he tunneled a 575-foot-long, triangular concrete volume into it. On opposing sides of the hill, the museum’s entrance and exit emerge from the earth in dramatic cantilevered platforms.

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the People

Owner
Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority

Architect
Moshe Safdie and Associates
100 Properzi Way
Somerville, MA 02143
Tel: 617.629.2100
Fax: 617.629.2406
www.msafdie.com

Moshe Safdie Architects
7 Shlomo Hamelech
Jerusalem, 94182
Israel
Tel: 972-2-625-1471
Fax: 972-2-625-4679

Design Principal:
Moshe Safdie, FAIA

Project Architect & Manager:
Irit Kohavi, Principal

Project Architect:
Gene Dyer

Project Team:
Paul Gross, Hugh Phillips, Leon Weizman, Dudi Tolkovsky, Aliya Avery

Interior designer
Moshe Safdie and Associates, Inc. www.msafdie.com

Exhibit Design
Dorit Harel Designers Ltd. www.hareldesigners.com

Engineer(s)
Structural Engineering:
S. Ben Abraham Engineers Ltd.
Y. Gordon Engineers Ltd.

Mechanical:
B. Schor Consulting Engineers Ltd

Electrical:
Etkin-Blum Electrical Engineers Ltd; Karl Valant

Sanitary:
A. Yosha Consulting Engineers Ltd.

Consultant(s)
Lighting:
Lam Partners Inc. www.lampartners.com

Museum Exhibit Lighting:
Topaz Electrical & Lighting Engineering Ltd.

Aluminum Consultant:
Landman Aluminum Ltd.

Safety:
Aldaag Engineers Consultants

Landscape:
Shlomo Aronson Landscape Architects www.s-aronson.co.il

Acoustical:
M.G. Acoustical Consultants

Elevators:
ESL – Simcha Lustig www.esl.org.il

General contractor:
Minrav Eng. & Building Ltd.

Project and Construction Manager:
Tafnit Wind Ltd. www.tafnit-wind.co.il

Photographer(s)
Timohty Hursley
1911 West Markham
Little Rock, Arkansas 72205
Tel (501) 372-0640
Fax (501) 372-3366
tharkoff@sbcglobal.net

CAD system
AutoCAD r12, r14 by AutoDESK www.autodesk.com, and Rhinoceros

the Products

Structural System
Post tensioned Exposed Architectural cast In Place concrete for the Museum prism (40% white cement); Cast in place Architectural (40% white cement) concrete by Minrav

Exterior Cladding
Aluminum/glass facades:
– Museum – Frameless custom-made skylight system by Minrav
– Entry Pavilion – facades - Horisontal supported curtain wall system by Shuko/Weber

Roofing
Built-up roofing:
– Museum – Lead Coated cupper / – Frameless custom-made skylight system by Minrav
– Entry Pavilion roof - Double sloped skylight / glass roof by Shuko/Weber

Glazing
Glass:
Fritted Insulated laminated Glass, Viracon www.viracon.com

Interior Finishes
Cabinetwork and custom woodwork:
Beach or Oak veneer wood , painted wood, laminated wood by Beit Alfa, Pitaro www.pitaro.co.il

Flooring:
Cast on place Architectural concrete by Minrav
 
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