National Holocaust Monument, Messaging Components

In partnership with Stewart Bailey of Intu Design

In 2017 we had the privilege of designing two prominent components for the National Holocaust Monument, the dedication and donors plaques. The monument design team already had a concept with respect to preferred locations and material choice. We were brought on board to assess the concept with respect to content and human factors. Following initial exploration and adjustments, we continued to detail all aspects of the plaque design, including material and graphic reproduction methods. We researched fabricators, produced a tender ready package, and final design intent drawings for fabrication and installation.

The monument build was overseen by the National Capital Commission
The monument design team: Lord Cultural Resources, Studio Daniel Libeskind, ClaudeCormier + Associés, Edward Burtynsky, Doris Bergen.

This project required frequent preparation of visual communication material to facilitate the many approvals amongst all project team members and stakeholders.

Material prototypes and full-scale paper mock-ups were also prepared for review by the team prior to fabrication. The onsite visit was a good opportunity to confirm that the plaque shape aligned with the final as-built wall geometry.

Using string, duct tape and a measuring tape to map out the plaque shape with respect to the as-built walls. As you can see certain edges of the plaque (in this case the bottom right) needed adjustment to run parallel with the wall edges.

Early on in the project our task was to validate the scale and placement of the plaques with respect to the content requirements and monument construction plans. It was concluded that the initial placement of the plaques was not ideal. The wall on which the plaques were placed was fairly low (in height), pushing the plaques close to the forward slanting title wall (residing in it's shadow). It also made it difficult to imagine expanding the donor recognition plaque in the future.

Below photos of the overall site by Doublespace