The Shoah Memorial
"Binario 21". Place of Memory
2012 - 2021

Lighting design:  Ferrara Palladino Lightscape with Marco Miglioli.

Client:  Fondazione Memoriale della Shoah di Milano ONLUS.      Architectural design:  Morpurgo de Curtis Architetti Associati.     Scientific consultant for the restorations:  Gian Paolo Treccani.     Acoustics design:  Cesare Trebeschi.: 
multimedia:  Kooa.     Construction of the metal elements:  Bagatti Bronzisti.     Photographs:  Andrea Martiradonna, La Presse, Morpurgo de Curtis and Marco Miglioli.     
Awards:  IN/Architettura 2020 National Award,  IN/Architettura 2020 Regional Award, Gold Medal for Italian Architecture 5th ed.

MILAN | ITALY

The Shoah Memorial arises in the right place from which the trains headed to the concentration camps left, the only “death train” departure station left untouched in all of Europe.

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     Entrance hall and Wall of Indifference

The experience of the visit begins in the large entrance hall, where a wall, bearing the words “indifference”, hides the interior of the building from view. INDIFFERENCE refers to the indifference that begins in 1938, when the racial laws were enacted.
In the atrium of the Memorial, artificial light mixes with daylight that penetrates through the large glass walls.
A space still lighted by the sun, by life, by everyday routine, while beyond the Wall the space becomes darker and the visitor immerses himself in the tragic memory of the past.

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Deportation platform and livestock cars. The warm, amber colour of the light was created with a blend of seven different LEDs to simulate an old sodium lamp

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Deportation platform and livestock cars. In the background, in the dim light, is the Place of Reflection

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Wall of the Names. In the background a cascade of light floods the old wagon lift, access to the open air

The noise of the train is the soundtrack of this environment.

The light, which illuminates the cars of the same era and model as those used for deportations, varies in intensity in relation to the vibrations of the current trains passing above the ceiling.
The new project for a place of deep symbolic value, having to bear witness to the desperation of many people reduced to bodies deprived of history and dignity, wants to make the body resonate through sound and light vibrations.

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Central corridor between the “Rooms of Testimony” and the “Deportations Platform”

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Exhibition hall during an exposition

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Information desk, Memorial ticket office and entrance to the exhibition hall

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Exhibition hall during an exposition

Beyond the Wall of Indifference there are two long spaces: the exhibition hall and the central corridor. The latter is illuminated with a non-homogeneous light, at first glance not conventionally correct and with strong transitions between light and dark, but necessary to convey a sensation of anguish and fear when entering the darkness.

The most eclectic place is the exhibition hall where the light initially sharp and disturbing is tamed from time to time, modified and directed onto the works and artifacts shown.

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Interior of a Room of Testimony

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Interior of a Room of Testimony

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Exterior wall of a Room of Testimony

The Rooms of Testimony act as a filter between these two environments, a series of cubes with broken sides inside which, in dim light, it is possible to listen and relive through video projections the testimonies of those who personally experienced those dramatic moments.

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Access ramp to the Place of Reflection

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Place of Reflection

The “Memory” journey ends with the Place of Reflection, a space of reflection which is accessed via a spiral walkway between two corten steel walls, apparently unstable, which generates a feeling of annoyance and discomfort in the visitor.
Likewise, low light creates clear areas of light and shadow, conveying a sense of precariousness in proceeding, and invites you to focus your attention on your steps.
Inside the Place of Reflection, an opening in the ceiling allows a ray of light to penetrate, piercing the darkness: it seems to lead towards hope.

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Atrium of the basement

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Entrance to the “Joseph and Jeanne Nissim” auditorium

In the basement, in addition to some archives, an auditorium and an agora have also been created. Events of various kinds take place here (concerts, conferences, commemorations). The light, as one inside the library, is functional, while maintaining an intensity and distribution in line with the spirit of the Memorial.

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Façade of the library overlooking the agora

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Interior of the library

Inside the Memorial there is also a library, where light takes on a mainly functional role and is designed to highlight the enormous abundance of the books and facilitate the search for texts. Along the walkways to access the volumes, a special system of metal bars has been built into which light sources with different optics are inserted, so that the light illuminates the shelves in an appropriate and homogeneous way.

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A Milanese collection