Published on: June 10, 2009

LichtVision has sent us their award winning project – Information Center of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

The Information Center describes the context and impact of the Holocaust and is designed as a guided tour through exhibition tours.

More information by LichtVision follows:

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The first exhibition room addresses the European dimension of the Holocaust. On the floor, the ceiling grid is reflected by backlit display cases utilizing electroluminescent foils. These floor displays, presenting personal quotes taken from letters and diaries, are the only light source in the space. The resulting dramatic light from below draws attention to the exhibit’s personal contents.

The second exhibition room is dedicated to various families’ fates. Here, the aboveground stelae seem to penetrate the ceiling, extending down to 70 cm above floor level. These exhibition stelae display family stories in backlit cutouts using high color rendering fluorescent lamps. Halogen spotlights are integrated underneath each stelae, marking its location on the ground. General illumination is provided by dimmed, ceiling-recessed halogen downlights.

This room is free of display objects, containing only three benches. The essential information, short biographies of murdered Jews, is communicated acoustically. Names and dates of birth and death are projected onto all four walls, creating a somber atmosphere. Illumination is reduced to dimmed central downlights and accent lighting for a printed text on the wall.

In the fourth room, the exhibition stelae are repeated but project from the wall, with cutouts displaying backlit photographs and geographic short films. Audio stations, replaying last messages of the murdered, are located in niches and marked with surface-mounted luminaires that create a distinctive pool of light. As the only fittings not integrated within the exhibition architecture, these spotlights stand out to visually accent the audible information. Dimmed central downlights provide a low ambient light level.

In the Foyer, wall-recessed monitors relay information from the Yad Vashem database. Illumination is provided by dimmed, low-brightness downlights.