14 | JANUARY 18 • 2024 

As the survivor population 
dwindles, the planning group 
started thinking about how 
best to meet the needs of future 
museum visitors. Mayerfeld 
said the planners realized they 
had the ability to present the 
Holocaust story in a new way, 
one that would ensure the 
survivors’ voices were central. 
“The decision to focus 
on Holocaust victims and 
survivors in the renovation 
is a truly unique approach 
for a Holocaust museum,
” 
said Mark Mulder, director of 
curatorial affairs at The HC, 
who played a major role in the 
renovation. Each gallery topic 
encountered incorporates the 
first-person Jewish experiences 
of survivors, thereby adding 
context to visitors’ knowledge 
of the Holocaust. 
“When we opened here 20 

years ago, visitors would have 
met a survivor,
” Mayerfeld said. 
“Your experience was flavored 
by an individual survivor 
telling his or her story.
” 
Now, the museum is 
designed so survivors’ stories 
are reflected in displays and 
through technology. Visitors 
have a new opportunity to 
“understand the history and 
tragedy of the Holocaust on 
a more personal and human 
level,
” said Dr. Charles 
Silow, longtime director of 
the Program for Holocaust 
Survivors and Families, a 
service of Jewish Senior Life.

MAKING IT HAPPEN
The HC hired Ralph 
Appelbaum Associates (RAA) 
of New York City as its design 
partner for a nearly complete 
renovation of the museum’s 

educational component. 
Founded in 1978, RAA is an 
interdisciplinary creative studio 
dedicated to the planning 
and design of narrative 
environments. 
Mayerfeld said RAA is 
renowned for its work at the 
U.S. Holocaust Memorial 
Museum in Washington, D.C., 
and other Holocaust museums, 
such as one in Houston that 
opened in 2019 and another 
museum in the design phase in 
Lithuania. 
“RAA carried out the vision 
for what we were trying to 
accomplish,
” Mayerfeld said. 

The $31 million investment 
in the renovation of the core 
exhibit is part of a larger 
$100 million comprehensive 
campaign to fund the 
center’s operations, grow 
the endowment and expand 

continued from page 13

Other Partners for 
the Project

Neumann/Smith Architects of 
Southfield created the existing 
building design about 20 
years ago. The design has 
“some very powerful spatial 
metaphors,” according to 
James Cathcart, design lead of 
Ralph Appelbaum Associates 
(RAA) of New York City. 
 Part of the redesigning 
challenge for RAA, in working 
with original architect 
Joel Smith, was to find 
opportunities to integrate the 
content of the new exhibition 
to the existing architecture 
— to create powerful 
relationships between the 
space and the story. 
Design and Production 
(D&P) in Virginia built and 
installed the new exhibition. 
Sachse Construction of 
Detroit also worked with The 
HC in renovating the space.

OUR COMMUNITY
COVER STORY

In a main hall, 
information about Jewish 
life is showcased in a 
way that emphasizes the 
dramatic nature of the 
building’s design. 

OWEN KAUFMAN

continued on page 16

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