Olson Kundig Honored with AIA Seattle Design Award
2021/11/09
On November 8, ANOHA—The Children’s World of the Jewish Museum Berlin (led by principal/owner Alan Maskin) was recognized with an Award of Merit by the 2021 AIA Seattle Honor Awards for Washington Architecture. This annual awards program recognizes architectural design excellence in projects from firms across Washington State.
Constructed as a modern structure within an historic one, ANOHA—The Children’s World of the Jewish Museum Berlin features a circular wooden ark, standing almost 23 feet tall with a 92-foot base diameter. Inspired by the pioneering vision of Noah’s Ark at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, which underscores the importance of diversity, community, and second chances, ANOHA uses ancient flood narratives as an allegory for contemporary issues related to climate change and rising tides. More than 150 sculptural animals, each created from found objects by a team of 18 German artists, populate the ark. This approach encourages children to consider the importance of recycling and adaptive re-use, while supporting ANOHA’s core philosophy of creativity and imagination. ANOHA opened to the public in June 2021.
As a firm deeply rooted in the Pacific Northwest, we are honored to have our work recognized by this program, and thankful to the valued clients and project partners we had the opportunity to work with throughout ANOHA’s design, exhibit fabrication, construction and public opening.
ANOHA—The Children’s World of the Jewish Museum Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Design Principal: Alan Maskin
Project Manager: Stephen Yamada-Heidner, AIA, LEED® AP
Project Architect: Martina Bendel
Architectural Staff: Jerome Tryon and Ryan Botts
Design Competition Team: Alan Maskin, Jerome Tryon, Juan Ferreira, Stephen Yamada-Heidner, Katie Miller, Laura Bartunek and Martina Bendel
Local Site Manager: Labs von Helmolt
Local Architect: Architekturbüro Engelbrecht
Local Exhibit Designer: IGLHAUT + von GROTE
Owner’s Representative: IBPM GmbH – Projektsteuerung
Structural Engineer: EiSat GmbH
Mechanical and Plumbing Engineer: Rentschler und Riedesser GmbH
Electrical Engineer: Ingenieurbüro für Elektrotechnik (IfE) Grothe GmbH
Lighting Design: Blieske Architects Lighting Designers
Natural Ventilation Concept / Climate Engineer: Transsolar KlimaEngineering
Animal Construction: Kubix GmbH
Artists: Arie van Riet (artistic x-ray images of various animals in the security area); Dieter Braun (large illustrations throughout the museum); Andrea Übelacker (“world puzzle” art project, produced in collaboration with elementary school children grades 1-3); Gunilla Jähnichen and Tine Steen (collaborative Noah’s Ark film project in the foyer); Wolfram Spyra (sound artist for installations in the foyer and Rain Room, sound artist and developer of the sound islands in the Flood Room); Martin Böttger (water animation in the Flood Room); Anne Metzen, Agnes Kelm, Andreas Edelblut, Annika Statkowski, Armin Benz, Beate Kelm, Conny Helm, Falk Starke, Franz Rodvalt, Gisbert Barmann, Gunnar Zimmer, Heiko Helm, Jan Schroeder, Jens Prockat, Jochen Müller, Jörg Hilbert, Maria Bahra, Matthias Garff, Myriel Kohrs, Nina Schrader and Thomas Raditschnig (animals)