Video shows pop-up synagogue in Ukraine unfolding like a book

This short film by photographer Iwan Baan shows the Babyn Yar Synagogue designed by Swiss studio Manuel Herz Architects opening and closing.

Located at Babyn Yar, the pop-up synagogue comprises a pair of 11-metre-high walls that unfold using a manual winch to reveal its decorative and detailed interiors.

As the building opens out, a roof pops up to shelter a wooden balcony and seating area inside that drop down from within its walls.

Babyn Yar Synagogue was designed by Manuel Herz Architects to mark the 80th anniversary of a massacre that took place at the site during the Holocaust.

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Manuel Herz Architects creates synagogue that opens like a pop-up book

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The studio's founder Manuel Herz said he did not want to create a sombre memorial and instead opted for a building that "creates a feeling of wonder and awe".

"The pop-up book, when transformed into a building, with its transformative quality, and the collective ritual of opening and closing it, seemed to be the perfect leitmotif for the Babyn Yar Synagogue," he told Dezeen.

The project is shortlisted for the cultural building of the year in the Dezeen Awards 2021 and was also recently named the public vote winner for the same category.

Find out more about the Babyn Yar Synagogue here ›

The video is byIwan Baan.

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Manuel Herz encloses curvilinear hospital in Senegal with lattice brickwork

Swiss studio Manuel Herz Architects has unveiled the curvilinear Maternity and Paediatric Hospital in Tambacounda, Senegal, which is defined by its lattice-like brickwork.

Built as an extension to a hospital in the town of Tambacounda in eastern Senegal, the building, commissioned by the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and local charity Le Korsa, contains paediatrics and maternity clinics.

The block's distinctive S-shape was informed both by the region's climate, which can see temperatures rise to 45 degrees Celsius, and the rounded forms of the existing hospital buildings.

Manuel Herz Architects designed an S-shaped extension to the Senegal hospital

"I developed a design for a building in a curvilinear shape that is as long as possible and as thin as possible," explained Manuel Herz Architects founder Manuel Herz.

"The building's curvilinear shape is a direct reaction to the existing circular hospital buildings," he told Dezeen. "It embraces them, curves around them, creating several new exterior courtyards."

The hospital is enclosed with lattice-like walls

The two-storey building, which has the maternity wards on the ground floor and the paediatric wards above, contains a total of 150 beds, several incubators, two operation blocks and intensive care units.

A corridor with rooms on only one side runs along the length of the building. It is enclosed by a brick lattice structure that was informed by screens used to enclose mashrabiyas in traditional Arabic architecture and designed so that air can freely flow into it.

Air can flow into corridors

"The thinness is in direct response to the climate," said Herz. "I intended to create a building that does not need air-conditioning – apart from the operation block and the intensive care units."

"The brise-soleil keeps the sun and rain out and lets the air move laterally across and through the building."

The corridor includes seating areas

This sheltered corridor combined with latticework bricks used to break the walls of the wards encourages air to flow through the building.

"My intention was to develop a building that shades its interior, keeps sun and rain out while allowing wind to pass through," continued Herz.

"The temperature differences between slightly hotter cooler and more shaded cooler areas create air movement. The building is, therefore, its own climate machine, creating a local micro-climate that is more temperate than its surrounding."

Lattice bricks allow air into the wards

As Herz and his studio did not have an in-depth knowledge of the Senegalese climate, he developed the design in close collaboration with local doctors, engineers, contractors, and craftsmen and women.

"When I was approached to participate in the competition for the new hospital, I was initially sceptical," he explained. "How can I, as an architect based in Basel, develop a design proposal, and hence suggest a 'solution' for a region that I have never visited for a climate that I have not experienced?"

"Rather than handing in a definitive 'solution', I instead proposed a process to approach the project, that is embedded in research about the local condition, and that relies on collaboration with local partners," he continued.

"We developed an architectural response that tries to work with the climate and not against it. In this way, the building is much more responsive to the local condition and resilient to power outages, or the need for technical maintenance."

The hospital was built using locally sourced materials

Along with designing the block as a response to the Senegalese climate, the studio aimed to ensure the hospital was built using local resources and materials sourced largely from the Tambacounda region.

"The only equipment that was imported were the medical arms for the operation rooms and some of the other medical technical equipment," said Herz.

"This ensures that virtually the complete financial investment remains in the region, and benefits the local community. It also ensures that the building is seen as coming from within the community, and not imported from outside."

As part of the development process, the studio and local contractor Magueye Ba created a small school in a nearby village from one of the hospital's test facades. Alongside the hospital's new wing a small playground and staff housing are also under construction.

"The project cannot be just reduced to the new hospital, but is thoroughly embedded in a local context on a cultural, social and economic level through many additional smaller and larger interventions," added Herz.

"This ensures that neither myself, nor the hospital building, are seen as foreign 'aliens', but are well immersed in a local setting."

Photography is by Iwan Baan.

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#all #architecture #health #hospitals #manuelherzarchitects #senegal

"The whole thing feels quite magical" says commenter

In this week's comments update, readers are enchanted by a pop-up synagogue in Ukraine and sharing their views on other top stories.

Manuel Herz Architects has created the Babyn Yar Synagogue in Ukraine to mark the 80th anniversary of a massacre that took place during the Holocaust.

The synagogue was built near Kyiv at the site of the Babyn Yar massacre, where around 34,000 Jews from the city were killed by the Nazi party in 1941.

The structure consists of two large walls that can be manually opened and closed like a pop-up book.

"A hopeful response"

Readers are in awe. "Thank you for showing this excellent project," said Sheldon Peskin.

"This is an excellent project," agreed Jacob Volanski. "A much more hopeful response than the typical monumental, expressionless structures that are often built to mark the site of a tragedy. How do we fight injustice and cruelty? By banding together, engaging in our world, and transforming it into a more just and beautiful version of itself."

Charlie Bing agreed: "The whole thing feels quite magical – the community has to come together to open the space."

"Amazing work!" concluded Ethan Lewis.

Are you as delighted by Babyn Yar Synagogue? Join the discussion ›

MAD completes amorphous concrete library in China

"Hobbit modernism" says reader

Commenters are intrigued by MAD's design for a library on the coast of the Chinese island of Hainan. Cloudscape of Haikou is cast in seamless white concrete.

"Hobbit modernism," said Heywood Floyd.

"Reminds me of interiors in The Neverhood game," continued Bruno Bru.

"You can't just simply walk past this building without doing a double take!" added BSL. "It's so uncanny it could be whatever one wants to make of it."

What do you think of the library? Join the discussion ›

Snarkitecture adds Nike Air Max chandelier to Kith streetwear store in Parisian mansion

"Luxurious yet tacky" says commenter

Readers are divided over the interiors of Parisian mansion Pershing Hall, the new flagship store for streetwear brand Kith. The 19th-century building was reimagined by Snarkitecture and features a chandelier of Nike sneakers.

"Luxurious yet tacky," said Corporate Overlords.

"Hard not to screw up a big budget retail interior inside a beautiful 19th-century building," replied Lek. "But there's still some very nice interior flourishes here. I'm on board with the sneaker vault and the sneaker chandelier."

"Head explodes!" concluded Apsco Radiales. "Mansion indeed. Gorgeous."

What do you think of Pershing Hall? Join the disc ussion ›

ZJJZ Atelier references Chinese folktale to create The Mushroom guesthouse

"All architecture should be magical" says reader

Commenters are discussing The Mushroom guesthouse, which ZJJZ Atelier has built in a pine forest in Jiangxi, China. It features a conical roof covered in shingles caps.

"I think all architecture should be magical," said Ash Sangamneheri. "This certainly is magical. Well done to the team."

BGSA agreed: "Beautiful detailing and material choices."

"I find this to be a unique, beautiful and very appropriate response," added Archi. "Everything except how the columns meet the ground at those boxes."

Are you impressed by The Mushroom guesthouse? Join the discussion ›

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Dezeen is the world's most commented architecture and design magazine, receiving thousands of comments each month from readers. Keep up to date on the latest discussions on our comments page.

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Manuel Herz Architects creates synagogue that opens like a pop-up book

Swiss studio Manuel Herz Architects has created a pop-up synagogue at Babyn Yar in Ukraine to mark the 80th anniversary of a massacre that took place during the Holocaust.

Named the Babyn Yar Synagogue, the place of worship consists of two large walls that can be manually opened and closed like a pop-up book.

The synagogue opens like a pop-up book

The synagogue was built near Kyiv at the site of the Babyn Yar massacre, where around 34,000 Jews from the city were killed by the Nazi party over two days in 1941 – one of the largest mass killings during the Holocaust.

Manuel Herz Architects founder Manuel Herz designed the building to mark the 80th anniversary of the massacre. However, he did not want to create a sombre memorial.

Its roof pops up and a balcony and seating drop down

"One might think that the appropriate response to this almost unbelievably inhumane massacre should be an architecture that is sombre, minimalist, and monumental," Herz told Dezeen.

"The architectural history of holocaust memorials is full of these. But I wanted to approach the project in a very different way."

It was built near the site of the Babyn Yar massacre

Instead of creating a monumental building, Herz designed a structure that has movement and was informed by both historic wooden churches in Ukraine and pop-up books.

"I strongly believe that a monumental, and static approach would be wrong," said Herz. "We will never match the monumental suffering of the massacre, through monumental architecture."

"The conclusive, definitive and absolute message that a monumental and static building would suggest, stands at odds with the tens of thousands of distinctive voices that perished in Babyn Yar," he continued.

"Hence, the idea was borne to design an architecture that has a performative and transformative quality, that creates a new collective ritual, that is commemorative, just as it also creates a feeling of wonder and awe."

From the rear, the building looks like an open book

The building consists of a pair of 11-metre-high and eight-metre wide walls that were constructed from steel and clad in oak.

One of the walls is set on a track so that it can be moved using a manual winch. When unfolded the two walls are positioned together, but when unfolded a three-dimensional synagogue is created with a roof that pops up and a balcony and seating that folds down.

It has a decorative roof

"I believe no one can resist the temptation of opening up a pop-up book and seeing how a new world unfolds," said Herz.

"We can get lost in this new world, which is exactly what happens, when we come together, to pray in a synagogue – we open a book together," he continued.

"A world of stories, of histories, of morals, and of wisdom. The pop-up book, when transformed into a building, with its transformative quality, and the collective ritual of opening and closing it, seemed to be the perfect leitmotiv for the Babyn Yar Synagogue."

It was built from oak

The synagogue stands on a wooden platform and has walls decorated with prayers and blessings.

Its ceiling is painted with the star constellation that would have been visible over Kyiv, on the date of the massacre in 1941 along with symbols and iconography referencing interiors of the historic synagogues of Ukraine from the 17th and 18th century.

The Babyn Yar Synagogue is the first of several buildings that are planned to commemorate the Babyn Yar massacre on the site, with a museum to commemorate the Holocaust, a memorial depicting the names of the victims and a spiritual centre set to be built.

Led by Herz, Manuel Herz Architects is an architecture studio that has offices in Switzerland and Germany. It has previously completed a housing block in Zurich with dynamic facades that transform into balconies and is building a hospital in Senegal.

Images courtesy of Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center.

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