Atlantic City Holocaust Memorial Competition proposal / David Neustein and Adi Atic

Courtesy of David Neustein and Adi Atic

Australian architects David Neustein and Adi Atic shared with us their proposal for the Atlantic City Holocaust Memorial Competition. See more images and architect’s description after the break.

Courtesy of David Neustein and Adi Atic

Speaking in Absence
We will soon reach a time in which there are no more survivors to bear witness to the horrors of the Holocaust. Who will speak in their absence?

Our proposed memorial comprises two parts situated above and below the boardwalk’s conceptual datum.
Above, visitors are encouraged to contemplate the link between isolation and persecution. Bisected by six coreten “blades”, a gathering area is divided into narrow channels which admit a solitary occupant, and which terminate in views of the Atlantic. The angles of the outermost blades locate the memorial at a political and geographic hinge between the Declaration of Independence and the “Final Solution”.

Courtesy of David Neustein and Adi Atic

Beneath is a space dedicated to transmitting survivor’s stories to future generations. A lead floor, imprinted with survivors’ testimonies, descends into the sand. Shifting the sand as they walk, visitors must choose whether to reveal or conceal, remember or forget, the words at their feet.