The building: Yad Layeled Children’s Museum
Location: Kibbutz Lochamei hagetaot
Building Year: 1995
Architecture: Ram Karmi
Structural Engineers: Chaim Bagon
Yad Layeled, which is located next to the central museum in Kibbutz Lochamei Hagetaot, is designed for a young audience, and tells the story of Jewish children during
the Holocaust from their point of view and in their voices. The building’s exterior hints at the design of its interior. The entrance to the building leads to a spiral ramp lined
with the stories of children who died during the Holocaust or survived it. The ramp gradually descends deep into the earth, and the exhibition space that surrounds it grows increasingly darker. The exhibition hall at the bottom of the ramp is plunged into darkness; from this hall, visitors exit through a short corridor which opens suddenly into a high, brightly lit space. This space is illuminated by a cylinder of glass bricks, which encloses an elevator that ascends back to the ground floor.
