The winning design team for Canada’s National Holocaust Monument includes architect Daniel Libeskind, who helped create the Ground Zero Memorial in New York City, the federal government announced Monday.
The Ottawa-based monument will be made of six triangular, concrete figures arranged in the shape of the Star of David, meant to represent the millions of Jews who were forced to wear the insignia as an identifying mark during the Holocaust.
The team is led by Gail Dexter-Lord, president of Lord Cultural Resources, and also includes Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, Quebec-based landscape architect Claude Cormier, and University of Toronto academic Doris Bergen.
Original photographic landscapes of Holocaust sites will be embedded into the monument’s walls; as visitors walk through the installation, they will be transported to death camps, killing fields and forests. The photographs are sensitive to light and movement, allowing them to change with the position of the viewer.
The design plans also show a staircase emerging near the end of path, where the Peace Tower is visible in the distance, with trees surrounding the installation.
The monument will face the Canadian War Museum and will be located at the corner of Booth and Wellington St., about a kilometre from Parliament Hill.
“This new landmark in our nation's capital will encourage people to reflect on the events of the Holocaust, remember the victims and pay tribute to the survivors,” Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, said in a statement. “It will also be a solemn place for reflection and learning, and an unforgettable experience for Canadians and visitors alike.”
The monument is scheduled to be complete by fall of 2015.
