5 minute read
The Architectural Design with Kerstin Thompson Architects
With the construction of the Melbourne Holocaust Museum now complete, we look forward to welcoming visitors next year to appreciate its accomplished architectural design by Kerstin Thompson Architects. Former MHM Communications and Marketing Specialist Tahney Fosdike recently spoke with Kerstin Thompson, Principal of KTA and Adjunct Professor at RMIT and Monash Universities, to gain a deeper understanding of the knowledge, process and passion KTA invested into our new building.
byTahneyFosdike
When did you start working on the new MHM building, and what principles have driven the project from these early days?
We commenced working on the MHM (then JHC) in 2016. Light was always a central driver for the architecture of the MHM. Light is linked to illumination, illumination to knowledge, and given that education is central to the MHM’s purpose, it seemed appropriate to deploy light as a motif in creating welcoming, functional spaces especially for the education, research, and event spaces. It was an early decision to deliberately distinguish MHM from many museums of the Holocaust that feel very closed. From the beginning we strived to create a building that felt open and welcoming to the community while also engendering calmness and safety - gardens were always envisaged for visitor relief.
How does architecture influence a site of memory like a Holocaust museum?
Architecture’s role in a Holocaust museum is fraught. Can or should architecture be deployed to speak of the Holocaust? Some museums have used architecture in figurative and associative ways to render the horror by reproducing forms and materials extracted from notorious sites of trauma; for example, dark brickwork and wire from Auschwitz. We have not chosen this approach because it risks trivializing rather than enabling an understanding of the history and memory of trauma. Instead, we used a decidedly abstract architecture that recognises that the Holocaust remains outside of representation. It is the content – the artefacts and museum programs – and in the case of MHM its people (particularly the survivors and their families), that can attempt to speak of the unspeakable.
How has culture and history been incorporated into the building design?
The façade reinforces MHM’s role as cultural repository by integrating the original heritage building and treating it as an important artefact of the museum. Embedded in the south-eastern corner, the heritage building forms the cornerstone for the future MHM as a bearer of cultural memory. It links the past and future. The distinctive corner turret remains a defining feature of the streetscape, a shadowline reinforcing its silhouette on the new skin; internally, its significance is reinforced through its transformation into a dramatic lightwell illuminating the memorial space. It is the symbolic heart of the museum, in which the lives lost during the Holocaust are remembered. To visually and physically connect the façade and interior with the community and street, the facade is variegated through a combination of clay and solid glass bricks. Why glass bricks? The November Pogrom of 1938
We also extend our deepest thanks to the following KTA team for their work on our new building:
Martin Allen Anne-Claire Deville Scott Diener Darcy Dunn Lauren Garner Thomas Huntingford Claire Humphreys Paul Lau Kelley Mackay Leonardo Meister Sophie Nicholaou Tamsin O’Reilly Ben Pakulsky Karina Piper Jasmine Placentino Toby Pond Leo Showell Hilary Sleigh Kerstin Thompson became known as Kristallnacht, “night of broken glass”, where the fragility of glazed facades became synonymous with the pogram itself. The incorporation of glazed areas in the façade of the MHM indexes the relative freedom to express cultural identity in Melbourne in 2022 and aligns with MHM’s mission for educational programs which aim to combat antisemitism, racism and prejudice in the community and foster understanding between people.
Can you reflect on a personal favourite space in the realised building?
The central public circulation spine which encompasses the stairs, circulation and breakout areas which links all levels and the MHM’s various activities. This space is designed to provide some relief for visitors more affected by the difficult museum content. At the western end are views towards either the courtyard, garden terraces or the bay. At the eastern end the beautiful play of light through the glass brick screen and birch trees. These views out combined with the skylights, the use of mirror in them, and other reveals, reflect the world – the sky, clouds, rooftops of nearby house - outside to remind visitors of their location, in time and place, situate them here in contemporary Melbourne. Together, these devices bring outside in to help bring people back from the difficult worlds and histories they have encountered and engaged with in the museum spaces.
How will this building stand out in Melbourne’s cultural landscape?
MHM will act as a beacon of hope. Within Elsternwick, it will be a valued community asset and place of gathering, and on Selwyn Street, especially at night, it will glow from within celebrating life. Strong and delicate, secure and open, the new MHM is built of substantial and enduring materials appropriate to the significance of this museum within Melbourne’s cultural landscape.
About Kerstin Thompson
Kerstin Thompson is an Australian architect, born in Melbourne in 1965. Thompson is a committed design educator and regularly lectures and runs studios at various schools across Australia and New Zealand. Thompson was elevated to Life Fellow by the Australian Institute of Architects in 2017 and awarded member of the Order of Australia in the 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honors. She plays an active role promoting quality design within the profession, and the wider community, through her position as Panel Member on the Office of the Victorian Government Architect’s Design Review Panel and Board Member for Melbourne Housing Expo, a research group led by the University of Melbourne. A passionate defender of civic space and advocate for extracting new life from our built heritage KTA’s redevelopment of the Broadmeadows Town Hall won the 2020 Victorian Architecture Medal.
