Architecture Speaks

By Shawna Hammon
Lecture - "Berlin"

Death no longer belongs to an individual.  Acts of war and terrorism such as Hiroshima and 9/11 along with natural disasters like earth quakes and tsunamis have made mass deaths more common.  A single tombstone could never fully express the scope of terror inflicted on the victims of these tragedies.  Architects are challenged to find another way for their designs to speak.  Enter Peter Eisenman and Daniel Libeskind – two architects whose architecture attempts to communicate the terrible nature of the Holocaust to the public.

  

Peter Eisenman explains that “the enormity and horror of the Holocaust are such that any attempt to represent it by traditional means is inevitably inadequate.”  It was along these lines that he designed his Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (aka Holocaust Memorial) with 2,711 slabs on a grid pattern on a sloping field.  The slabs, which are 2.38m x .95m, vary in height from .2 to 4.8m making each slab dimensionally unique.  Eisenman intentionally created an uneasy and confusing atmosphere so that visitors of the memorial could relate to the Jews at the time of WWII.

Similarly, Daniel Libeskind’s Jewish Museum of Berlin endeavors to capture the emotional journey of the Jewish population in Germany during World War II.  The Garden of Exile is connected to the museum proper through the second tunnel which represents the mass emigration of Jews from Germany.  The garden consists of 49 tall pillars with Russian olive trees growing on top.  Similar to Eisenman’s design, the grid is on a tilted foundation which is meant to disorient visitors and make them feel instable. 

Libeskind noted, “In my view, architecture is a communicative medium. To me, it's a storytelling medium. And I attempted to create a building that told that complex story in many different ways… It's a cultural medium. It has to be able to communicate.”  Archdaily describes Libeskind’s building as “less of a museum but an experience depicting what most cannot understand,” he “translated human experience into an architectural composition.” 

Both works are meant to leave visitors feeling lost and confused like the Jewish people so long ago who were uprooted and forced to leave their homes or stay to die.  Amongst the pillars and slabs of both projects you can look up to the open sky and feel exalted – there is still hope.

Eisenman avoided using symbols in his project.  His field of slabs represents tombs for victims of the mass genocide like a meadow of nameless tombstones.  Libeskind’s Jewish Museum commissioned Israeli artist, Menashe Kadishman, to exhibit Fallen Leaves in the Memory Void of the museum, the only occupiable voided space.  The exhibit consists of 10,000 punched metal faces that he encouraged visitors to walk on in order to hear the sounds created by the metal sheets clanging, rattling and scraping together, an eerie, disturbing sound that would echo in the voided space 20 meters tall and cause shivers down your spine.  Libeskind pointed out that Fallen Leaves represents “that which can never be exhibited when it comes to Jewish Berlin history: Humanity reduced to ashes.”  

Clearly, both projects bring visitors on an emotional journey through their spaces.  The architecture speaks to us about a tragedy that very few of us could otherwise understand or identify with.

 

Citations:

Eisenman, Peter. "Germany's Memorial: Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin." Frontline. PBS, 31 May 2005. Web. 31 Aug. 2012. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/germans/memorial/eisenman.html>.

Kroll , Andrew . "AD Classics: Jewish Museum, Berlin / Daniel Libeskind" 25 Nov 2010. ArchDaily. Accessed 31 Aug 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/91273>.

Libeskind, Daniel, and Daniel Greene, perf. "Daniel Libeskind - architect." Voices on Antisemitism. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 13 Sep 2007. Accessed 1 Sep 2012. <http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/antisemitism/voices/transcript/?content=20070913>.