Avitecture® at Jerusalem’s New Holocaust History Museum
AVWashington Plays Key Role in Jewish Memorial
STERLING, VA (PRWEB) July 22, 2005
AVWashington, a division of Avitecture, Inc., completed the design and installation of the state-of-the art multimedia systems at the New Yad Vashem Holocaust History Museum in Jerusalem, Israel.
Inaugurated in a solemn ceremony attended by hundreds of heads of state, government officials, intellectuals, Nobel prize winners, and dignitaries from 40 nations, the new museum opened on March 15, 2005. As many as 10,000 visitors a day have toured the museum. Avitecture, Inc. worked under a direct contract with Yad Vashem and teamed with BARKAI Benny Brookstein Ltd.
Yad Vashem is the Jewish people’s memorial to the six million Jews murdered between 1939 and 1945. Containing the world’s largest repository of information on the Holocaust, Yad Vashem is a leader in Shoah (Hebrew for “holocaust”) education, commemoration, research, and documentation. A visit is a powerful, multi-sensory experience.
Designed by Moshe Safdie Associates Ltd., the New Holocaust History Museum was a decade in the making and cost nearly $100,000,000. The museum is a concrete prism, 59-feet high and 660-feet long and occupying over 47,000 square feet, that cuts through the Yad Vashem hillside. A network of eleven, underground galleries, lit by skylights, runs the length of the structure. Avitecture, Inc. integrated audio-video systems with information technology to enable AV displays in each gallery to show film clips, survivorsÂ’ stories, and short documentaries. The Holocaust History Museum is thought to be one of the worldÂ’s most AV-intensive museums. More than 140 flat-panel displays for 130 streams of video are fully integrated into the exhibit. At the entrance to the museum, visitors see Michal RovnerÂ’s video art projected onto an unique, 43-foot high triangular screen. Dozens of projectors are used in the galleries. Control equipment is sited in control rooms with distribution by CAT-5 cabling. The museumÂ’s AV systems are incorporated into Yad VashemÂ’s information technology system.
“Avitecture is honored to have helped in implementing Yad Vashem’s mission,” said Sidney L. Lissner, president of Avitecture, Inc. “Working with Yad Vashem was an enlightening experience.”
Dorit Harel designed the exhibits. Ruhama Hammer was Yad VashemÂ’s AV consultant.
About Avitecture, Inc.
Located in Sterling, Virginia, Avitecture is a leading audio-video systems integrator with design, installation, and support capabilities. Now in its fourth decade, the company has designed and installed hundreds of complex multimedia systems for museums, universities, corporations, and government. Avitecture, Inc. was formerly called Audiovisual - Washington, Inc., and still markets the AVWashington brand. Avitecture® is a registered trademark of Avitecture, Inc. For more information, visit www. avitecture. com.
About BARKAI Benny Brookstein Ltd.
BARKAI Benny Brookstein Ltd. (Ramat Gan, Israel) has been IsraelÂ’s leading AV systems integrator for more than 35 years. The privately held, family-owned company is now managed by the second generation of Brooksteins.
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