News: architect Daniel Libeskind has been chosen to design a Holocaust memorial in the state capital of Ohio, USA.
A specially appointed selection committee this week approved Libeskind’s proposal for a five-metre-high memorial outside the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus.
The proposed design comprises two brushed stainless steel panels with cutouts that together form the outline of a six-pointed Star of David.
A walled limestone path would lead up to the memorial and provide seating, while both the walls and the panel would be inscribed with text.
The $2 million project will largely be privately funded, but the state will pay for site preparation costs.
Richard H. Finan, chairman of the advisory board that will make the final decision on the design, warned that the inclusion of a Jewish religious symbol in the design could invite legal challenges against the publicly funded portion of the project due to the separation of church and state in the US.
“If we get sued, it will be five years until this gets going,” he told the Columbus Dispatch, adding that Libeskind’s design would not fit in with the Civil War-era government building.
The shortlist for the project included Columbus-based artist Ann Hamilton, who proposed a limestone plinth designed to amplify sounds, and Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, who put forward a nine-metre-high sculpture of bronze leaves.
Elsewhere in the US, architect Frank Gehry’s proposed Washington D.C. memorial honouring President Eisenhower has lately faced a barrage of criticism over the project’s cost and controversial design.
In New York, Louis Kahn’s Four Freedoms Park commemorating President Roosevelt finally opened to the public last autumn, almost 40 years after it was designed. See all memorials on Dezeen.
Top image shows model of Libeskind’s proposed design.
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Holocaust memorial appeared first on Dezeen.
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