April 21, 2019

Architects In Our Communities: Atlantic City Holocaust Memorial

Day one of National Architecture Week 2019 celebrates the ways architects design public spaces that positively impact our lives. Our featured project is the proposed Atlantic City Holocaust Memorial. 

The Atlantic City Holocaust Memorial is finally moving forward towards realization. After many years of debate over the proper location for the memorial, the Atlantic City Council and Stockton University have now mutually approved a site at Albany and the Boardwalk in the center of the new Stockton University Gateway Project. The logic of this site is significant due to the high annual public traffic on the boardwalk, estimated at over 10 million, and the Holocaust studies offered at Stockton University, including their Holocaust Center, Master of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies as well as a coordinating minor, making it one of the most preeminent in the United States. 

This illustration of the proposed design provided by the Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial Committee shows a brutalistic, architectural interpretation of the holocaust with imprisoned stones representing the many communities once inhabited by Jews across Europe restrained by the steel and concrete grip of the Nazis. Over time, the salt air will erode the steel and concrete elements, showing how totalitarian regimes will always fail.

Local architect, and past president of AIA South Jersey, Dan Mascione, AIA, is a member of the Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial Building and Design Team, and an integral part of the larger effort to bring this long debated project to life. The original discussion of a Holocaust Memorial in Atlantic City began over 25 years ago. Today’s team of volunteers started their efforts over 10 years ago. With site approvals in place and $500,000 reserved by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority in the form of a challenge grant, the committee sees the possibility of a ribbon cutting in as little as two years. 

To learn more about the project and to donate towards the fundraising challenge, click here. 

To read the most recent press release by the Press of Atlantic City on the progress of the project, click here.

To learn more about the Holocaust studies at Stockton University, click here. 

By Stacey Ruhle Kliesch, AIA, AIA NJ Advocacy Consultant | Posted in AIA South Jersey, Architecture in NJ | Tagged: #AC, #AIANJ, #aianjcommunications, #AIASouthJersey, #archselfie, #archselfienj, #Archweek19, #AtlanticCity, #BlueprintforBetter, #DanMascioneAIA, #NewJersey | Comments (0)