Site Area : 2,400 m2

Building Area : 1,939 m2

Total Area : 3,878 m2

Location : Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States

[Description]

Through a variation in density, I aim to convey the ‘Weight of the Holocaust’. In a confined space, this weight is symbolically represented by a transition ‘from Darkness to Brightness’, ‘from Restraint to Freedom’, and ‘from Past to Future’, using countless wooden hexahedrons as metaphors for the nameless victims. The envisioned space is a type of pavilion featuring circulating stairs. As visitors ascend and descend these stairs, they will experience contrasting emotions of ‘Restraint and Freedom’, ‘Darkness and Brightness’, and ‘Sadness and Hope’, elicited by the varying densities of hexahedrons.

In the stairwell area, the hexahedrons’ surfaces chronicle important historical events, with the narrative unfolding in tandem with the density. For instance, areas with a lower density of hexahedrons represent both the beginning and the end of the Holocaust, whereas the era’s most pivotal moments are depicted through areas of higher density. On the ground floor, around the stairs, the hexahedrons are sized to serve as seats, inviting visitors to rest and reflect.

Additionally, this strategy of expressing various densities is complemented by a spectrum of colors that range from light to dark, further accentuating the emotional journey through the space.

 

Designed by KIM MIN JAE

 This project was also published in the book ‘Memorializing the Holocaust.’