James Ingo Freed, of I.M. Pei and Partner, has been selected as the design architect for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, it was announced here by Arthur Rosenblatt, the museum’s director.
Freed, 56, was the principal design architect for the newly completed Jacob Javits Exposition and Convention Center in New York City. Born in Essen, Germany, he and his family came to the U.S. in 1940.
“The Holocaust in its enormity defies language and art, yet both must be used to tell the tale, the tale that must be told,” Elie Wiesel, chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, said. “In James Freed we have found an architect who can master this unique challenge.”
The Memorial Council is conducting a $100 million fundraising campaign for the museum which will be located on government property adjoining the National Mall. The museum will house a Hall of Witness, telling the story of the Holocaust; a memorial Hall of Remembrance, exhibition halls, a Holocaust library and archives, a Learning Center and two theaters. Rosenblatt said that plans now call for the museum to be completed in 1989.
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