Brooks + Scarpa releases concept for Holocaust memorial in Florida

LA studio Brooks + Scarpa has released designs for a memorial to the victims of the Holocaust to be constructed outside of the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee.

The firm designed the project to address different aspects of the tragedy in the context of Florida. The state has the highest number of living Holocaust survivors in the US, and five museums and memorials dedicated to the victims.

Brooks + Scarpa's sculpture was recently chosen to be built by the Holocaust Memorial Review Committee, formed by the state government in 2015.

Brooks + Scarpa won a competition to design a Holocaust memorial for the Florida State Capitol

Lawrence Scarpa, who grew up in Florida, says that the design was personal. "Half of my cousins were Bar/Bat mitzvah’d and Jewish culture was always part of my life" he said. "Additionally, many of my direct relatives were killed in the holocaust."

"I feel like by winning the competition and being the designer of a memorial with such a historical significance, that in some way, by being able to design the memorial it also memorializes my own family’s grief, suffering, survival, hope and success," added Scarpa.

Called Passage of the Heart, the memorial will be placed in the Florida State Capitol complex, designed by Edward Durell Stone. The sculpture, composed of triangular stone forms, was designed so that visitors could walk through it.

The sculpture will have a limestone exterior and a bronze interior

The objective of the design is "to become a symbol of the celebration of life, but also a journey of transition and hope, where the visitor travels thru the memorial, back in time while contemplating the future," said Brooks + Scarpa in the description for its submission.

The Florida limestone exterior is meant to symbolise stones placed at the graves of the dead, with the Hebrew word for "stone" carved in the face of the material. At the base will be etchings of the names of all the largest concentration camps.

Randomised numbers cut into the bronze will symbolise the tattoos forced on victims

Inside, a bronze-clad interior will be divided into 22 panels, symbolising the number of countries directly affected by the Holocaust.

On these panels, random numbers akin to those assigned to prisoners at the camps will be cut into the metal surface. The numbers will cover the entirety of the bronze panels to show "the magnitude of the loss of life".

The panels will be backlit at night so that the numbers shine through even in the dark, as a symbol of "enduring life thru tragedy".

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"We want to prompt visitors to think about their moral and ethical responsibilities when they see injustice," said Brooks + Scarpa.

Interactive aspects are also incorporated into the design. Digital projections will be projected on the stone face for educational purposes and small gaps will be left between the walls of the memorial where visitors can leave mementos.

Visitors will be able to walk through the sculpture

In 2018 an additional memorial recognising the victims of American slavery was also approved for the Florida State Capitol Complex, although the current status is "unclear" according to a release on the project.

Memorials for the victims of the Holocaust remain extremely relevant. Last year, Daniel Libeskind, the designer of the Jewish Museum of Berlin as well as the planner of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex, completed a memorial to the Dutch victims of the Holocaust in Amsterdam.

Imagery is courtesy of Brooks + Scarpa.

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Brooks + Scarpa designs 11 NOHO in California to diverge from typical housing block

Architecture firm Brooks + Scarpa has created a North Hollywood apartment building that prioritises social areas over private space and includes units for low-income tenants.

The project, called 11 NOHO, is located in an emerging arts district in North Hollywood. The quarter-hectare site, which stretches along Camarillo Street, was formerly occupied by a small office building.

Brooks + Scarpa designed the 11 NOHO apartment building in North Hollywood

Brooks + Scarpa – which has offices in the Los Angeles area and Florida – wanted to create a building that diverged from the typical, solid apartment block.

The architects ended up conceiving a five-storey, rectangular building that is organised around a central courtyard.

The five-storey, rectangular building is organised around a central courtyard

They carved away parts of the housing block – including a sizable cut in the main facade – to create a sense of openness and to connect the building to its surroundings.

"11 NOHO eschews the typical neighbourhood defensive apartment buildings with solid walls and fences in favour of a carved-out cube – a beacon in the neighbourhood that celebrates social space by de-emphasising private space," the firm said.

Large aspects of 11 NOHO were cut away to open up the design

The building has a white exterior that helps enhance natural light and reduce heat gain – the latter being an important consideration given the area's hot climate.

Exterior walls are wrapped in stucco and corrugated aluminium panels. Open-air corridors and balconies are lined with metal railings.

The white exterior increases natural light

The 110,550-square-foot (10,270-square-metre) building contains 60 rental apartments, including 12 designated for low-income tenants.

By including affordable units, the developer was able to construct a taller and denser building, while also helping address the city's housing crisis.

The design of 11 NOHO is oriented around public space

"This much-needed affordable housing provides poor and disadvantaged populations housing in an affluent area of town, where low-wage workers are critical but unable to afford to live," the architects said.

"It also contributes to much-needed housing stock in short supply in Los Angeles."

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The apartments have either one or two bedrooms and range from 650 to 800 square feet (60 to 74 square metres). Strategically placed windows and exterior circulation help orient the apartments toward the courtyard, and visually connect the units to each other and the street.

The building's social spaces include the courtyard, a community room and an upper-level covered deck. There also is a below-grade parking garage and ground-level retail totalling 4,000 square feet (372 square metres).

The building follows Southern California's tradition of housing around courtyards

The firm noted that 11 NOHO follows the tradition of courtyard apartment buildings in Southern California. Notable examples include the Irving Gill-designed Horatio Court, built in 1918, and the post-Second World War Ambrose Gardens, which was designed in a Spanish Colonial Revival style.

"For people living around the courtyard, the space provides a sense of safety and privacy," the architects said.

The apartments have either one or two bedrooms

"The courtyard is a quasi-public space that mediates between the home and the street," they added. "For the city at large, the courtyard is an urbane housing type that fits well into neighbourhoods."

Brooks + Scarpa is led by Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa, winners of the 2022 AIA Gold Medal. The firm has offices in Hawthorne, which is near Los Angeles, and the Florida city of Fort Lauderdale.

The windows were optimised to receive natural light

Other projects by the studio include a high school with aluminium facades coloured bright yellow, and The Six, a low-cost housing development for displaced veterans.

The photography is byTara Wujcik, Jeff Durkin and Lawrence Scarpa.

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Project credits:

Architect: Brooks + Scarpa

Project team: Lawrence Scarpa (lead designer, prinicipal-in-charge), Angela Brooks, Dionicio Ichillumpa, Jeffrey Huber, Iliya Muzychuk, Fui Srivikorn, Eleftheria Stavridi, Diane Thepkhounphithack, Yimin Wu, Arty Vartanyan

General contractor: Hillock Land Company, Danny Kradjian

Structural engineer: Labib Funk Engineering

MEP engineering: IDS Group

Civil engineering: Barbara Hall

Landscape architect: Brooks + Scarpa with Tina Chee

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