Project Description
Category: Bond
Honorable Mention
The new building for the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust by local firm Belzberg Architects is located within L.A.’s Pan Pacific Park, the site of the existing Los Angeles Holocaust Monument. The 32,000-square-foot, LEED Gold museum was designed as an educational institution, which anticipates 40,000 students each year. Much of the building is submerged to integrate it quietly into the park setting, with the landscape extending over the roof. “I think there’s an interesting concept here,” juror Joe Valerio said. “You descend into the earth, into the darkness of the Holocaust, and then you come back from that experience, which is poetic.” A supple shotcrete wall traces the museum’s footprint and announces its presence while minimally disrupting the park’s landscape. Existing park pathways are used as connective elements to integrate the site’s pedestrian flow with new circulation for museum visitors.
For more information on the 2014 AIA Honor Awards, please visit AIA's website.