Ralph Appelbaum Associates

In June 2019, the Holocaust Museum Houston re-opened after a major expansion of RAA’s 1996 original design, more than doubling its exhibition spaces. This would support a broadened mission as not just a national hub for Holocaust education, but also a international voice for human rights and social justice. It is fully bilingual in English and Spanish.

RAA provided interpretive planning, content development, exhibition design, and media production for the entire 22,000-square-foot permanent exhibition. The new galleries included the Holocaust, Human Rights, and Diaries from the Holocaust and other conflicts. RAA worked closely with the museum’s teams to develop content and design approaches that would enhance their educational programming and objectives.

At the center of the museum is a sculpture—a kaleidoscope of 1,500 butterflies that connects all three floors of the museum in an organically shaped swarm. The butterflies are captured within and juxtaposed against a sharp rectilinear volume created by a matrix of very thin cables. Each butterfly represents 1,000 children, and together, they are a memorial for the 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust.

The new permanent exhibition revitalized the institution and provided a broader human rights and social justice lens through which the diverse residents of the greater Houston region can identify. On the occasion of its 25th anniversary in 2021, the museum seeks to be recognized nationally and internationally for keeping Holocaust memory alive in a post-survivor generation.