Our friends from WORD shared their proposal for the Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial. The competition, which attracted over 700 submissions, asked participants to use the existing seaside pavilion at Atlantic City, New Jersey to create a kind of public space that commemorates the Holocaust and continues to bring awareness to the horrific happenings. “Its purpose is to fix our collective memory, to bear witness, to embrace the ineffable sense of loss,” explained the competition brief. For the Harrow, WORD creates two drastically different environments offering a strong visual to understand the happenings of the Holocaust and a place to calmly reflect.
More images and more about the proposal after the break.
On the exterior, the jagged form pierces through the dunes, acting as “an apparatus which inscribes in our memory the history of the Holocaust.” Yet, once entered, the tone of the memorial completely changes. What once appeared chaotic and destructive has become subdued into a calm and luminous space.
In terms of the form’s geometric composition, the continuous shell of undulating triangular peaks and valleys relate to the plan’s triangular logic. The undulation is “reminiscent of the passage of time and the ever changing swell of emotions that great tragedies impart upon civilization.” Conceptual, the undulating peaks were conceived as an endless construct that simply sheared off at the site boundary.
A platform branches off the existing boardwalk and brings visitors meandering across the plan’s Magen David form. A traditional dome is subtracted from the whole, further revealing the order of the memorial and its ceremonial potential.
Principal: Christopher Warren
Project Team: Hana Ogita
