New Jersey Architects Encouraged to Enter Design Competition For an Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial
By Mel Fabrikant Saturday, February 06, 2010, 02:30 PM EST
Memorial To Be Built on Prime Boardwalk Oceanfront Site
The New Jersey chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA-NJ) is encouraging its approximately 2,000 members across the state to participate in an international design competition to design an Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial (ACBHM).
The competition is being sponsored by the Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial Corp., a private, non-profit foundation chartered for the purpose of building the memorial, in conjunction with the City of Atlantic City, which has donated a prime building site on the ocean side of the boardwalk between New York and Kentucky Avenues.
The site, which includes 60 feet of boardwalk frontage, is considered one of the most highly trafficked locations on the East Coast, with the boardwalk's 35 million annual visitors translating into about 10 million unique pedestrians passing by the site annually. A seaside pavilion now occupies the site.
"The opportunity to create a design for a Holocaust memorial on a majestic site at a world-famous resort in our own state is very exciting," said Jason Kliwinski, president of AIA-NJ. "Although this is an international competition, we hope our talented New Jersey architects, whose connection to our landscape runs deeper than that of architects from other states and countries, will be inspired to enter this prestigious competition."
The purpose of the memorial, according to Rabbi Gordon Geller of Temple Emeth Shalom in Margate City, N.J., president of the ACBHM Corp., is "consciousness-raising and inspiration." The structure will serve as a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust; a reminder of recent genocides, including those in Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur; and an admonition to assume responsibility to protect human rights and fight persecution.
The entrants in the design competition are encouraged to contemplate the meaning of the Holocaust and genocide in our lives today, and to invent a fitting original design for this time and place, Geller said.
The ACBHM will enter into negotiations with the winner for a contract to provide the services necessary to realize the memorial. At the same time, the design will undergo review by the city's planning and fine arts boards. In the event the winning design is built, the winner will be awarded a prize of $25,000 in addition to commensurate fees for services. The construction phase is expected to take about a year.
"We urge New Jersey architects to participate," said architect Daniel Scott Mascione, AIA, LEED AP, of Northfield, N.J., a member of the ACBHM design committee. "This competition presents a unique opportunity to design a building that will not only be built, but will be built on a stunning, highly public site in our own state, and that will inspire millions to stand guard against the future repetition of such horrific acts."
The competition is an open, two-stage design competition. In the first stage, entrants will submit their design concepts in digital form. The jurors will select six to 10 finalists who will each be awarded an honorarium of $2,500 to develop a three-dimensional model and fully realized scheme for the site. The early-bird registration deadline is Feb. 15, 2010 (for a discounted registration fee of $100), and the final registration deadline is March 15, 2010 (registration fee $150). First-stage submissions are due on April 1, 2010.
The world-class panel of jurors includes distinguished professionals from a variety of fields, including architects Wendy Evans Joseph, FAIA, who played a significant role in the design of the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.; Richard Meier, FAIA, FRIBA, the winner of the Pritzker Prize for Architecture and the Gold Medals of the AIA and the Royal Institute of British Architects; and Daniel Liebeskind, AIA, the master planner commissioned to rebuild the World Trade Center site.
The final selections will be displayed in various Atlantic City locations in a showcase exhibition to take place during the summer of 2010, at which time the community will also be given the opportunity to provide feedback and vote for their favorites. The winner will be announced in a public ceremony, with plans underway for the announcement to take place at a possible gala fundraising event.
The entire memorial initiative is expected to cost $3 million to $5 million, including estimated start-up funds of $300,000, construction funds of $2.5 to $4 million and an endowment for maintenance and annual operations of about $1 million.
For more information on the design competition or on sponsorship, please visit the ACBHM Web site at www.acbhm.org.
About AIA and AIA New Jersey
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is the professional organization that helps architects serve the public's needs and builds awareness of the role of architects and architecture in American society. The organization, which was founded in 1857, recently celebrated its 150th anniversary. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., its 300 plus local chapters represent 86,000 licensed architects and associated professionals. AIA New Jersey, based in Trenton, is the local chapter of AIA. In 2000, it celebrated its 100th anniversary. AIA New Jersey has about 2,000 members in six regional sections. For more information, please visit www.aia-nj.org.
About the Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial
The Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial (ACBHM) is intended to commemorate the Holocaust in a way that is universal and enduring. The memorial will speak to visitors of diverse races and cultures, seeking to inspire a vivid and continuing awareness of the terrible loss to humanity, history and culture that the Holocaust represents. The ACBHM committee views the location as an unprecedented opportunity to reach out and touch the generally impassive and silent majority, to inspire awareness among both Jewish and non-Jewish society and to encourage deep reflection on the consequences of denying fundamental rights, human hope and common humanity to any group or individual. For more information, visit the Web site at www.acbhm.org.
The New Jersey chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA-NJ) is encouraging its approximately 2,000 members across the state to participate in an international design competition to design an Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial (ACBHM).
The competition is being sponsored by the Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial Corp., a private, non-profit foundation chartered for the purpose of building the memorial, in conjunction with the City of Atlantic City, which has donated a prime building site on the ocean side of the boardwalk between New York and Kentucky Avenues.
The site, which includes 60 feet of boardwalk frontage, is considered one of the most highly trafficked locations on the East Coast, with the boardwalk's 35 million annual visitors translating into about 10 million unique pedestrians passing by the site annually. A seaside pavilion now occupies the site.
"The opportunity to create a design for a Holocaust memorial on a majestic site at a world-famous resort in our own state is very exciting," said Jason Kliwinski, president of AIA-NJ. "Although this is an international competition, we hope our talented New Jersey architects, whose connection to our landscape runs deeper than that of architects from other states and countries, will be inspired to enter this prestigious competition."
The purpose of the memorial, according to Rabbi Gordon Geller of Temple Emeth Shalom in Margate City, N.J., president of the ACBHM Corp., is "consciousness-raising and inspiration." The structure will serve as a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust; a reminder of recent genocides, including those in Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur; and an admonition to assume responsibility to protect human rights and fight persecution.
The entrants in the design competition are encouraged to contemplate the meaning of the Holocaust and genocide in our lives today, and to invent a fitting original design for this time and place, Geller said.
The ACBHM will enter into negotiations with the winner for a contract to provide the services necessary to realize the memorial. At the same time, the design will undergo review by the city's planning and fine arts boards. In the event the winning design is built, the winner will be awarded a prize of $25,000 in addition to commensurate fees for services. The construction phase is expected to take about a year.
"We urge New Jersey architects to participate," said architect Daniel Scott Mascione, AIA, LEED AP, of Northfield, N.J., a member of the ACBHM design committee. "This competition presents a unique opportunity to design a building that will not only be built, but will be built on a stunning, highly public site in our own state, and that will inspire millions to stand guard against the future repetition of such horrific acts."
The competition is an open, two-stage design competition. In the first stage, entrants will submit their design concepts in digital form. The jurors will select six to 10 finalists who will each be awarded an honorarium of $2,500 to develop a three-dimensional model and fully realized scheme for the site. The early-bird registration deadline is Feb. 15, 2010 (for a discounted registration fee of $100), and the final registration deadline is March 15, 2010 (registration fee $150). First-stage submissions are due on April 1, 2010.
The world-class panel of jurors includes distinguished professionals from a variety of fields, including architects Wendy Evans Joseph, FAIA, who played a significant role in the design of the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.; Richard Meier, FAIA, FRIBA, the winner of the Pritzker Prize for Architecture and the Gold Medals of the AIA and the Royal Institute of British Architects; and Daniel Liebeskind, AIA, the master planner commissioned to rebuild the World Trade Center site.
The final selections will be displayed in various Atlantic City locations in a showcase exhibition to take place during the summer of 2010, at which time the community will also be given the opportunity to provide feedback and vote for their favorites. The winner will be announced in a public ceremony, with plans underway for the announcement to take place at a possible gala fundraising event.
The entire memorial initiative is expected to cost $3 million to $5 million, including estimated start-up funds of $300,000, construction funds of $2.5 to $4 million and an endowment for maintenance and annual operations of about $1 million.
For more information on the design competition or on sponsorship, please visit the ACBHM Web site at www.acbhm.org.
About AIA and AIA New Jersey
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is the professional organization that helps architects serve the public's needs and builds awareness of the role of architects and architecture in American society. The organization, which was founded in 1857, recently celebrated its 150th anniversary. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., its 300 plus local chapters represent 86,000 licensed architects and associated professionals. AIA New Jersey, based in Trenton, is the local chapter of AIA. In 2000, it celebrated its 100th anniversary. AIA New Jersey has about 2,000 members in six regional sections. For more information, please visit www.aia-nj.org.
About the Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial
The Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial (ACBHM) is intended to commemorate the Holocaust in a way that is universal and enduring. The memorial will speak to visitors of diverse races and cultures, seeking to inspire a vivid and continuing awareness of the terrible loss to humanity, history and culture that the Holocaust represents. The ACBHM committee views the location as an unprecedented opportunity to reach out and touch the generally impassive and silent majority, to inspire awareness among both Jewish and non-Jewish society and to encourage deep reflection on the consequences of denying fundamental rights, human hope and common humanity to any group or individual. For more information, visit the Web site at www.acbhm.org.
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