Ralph Appelbaum Associates

The Education Center at the Holocaust Memorial Miami Beach expands the memorial’s mission through immersive, bilingual educational programming on a compact urban site. Designed for school groups, tourists, and the broader community, the center preserves Holocaust memory through survivor testimony, digital storytelling, and interactive learning.

The building is organized around four cylindrical spaces connected by a central corridor that guides visitors through an emotional and educational journey. A circular lobby introduces visitors through films about the memorial’s founding and Jewish life before the Holocaust, accompanied by an audioscape of music and recordings from the local Jewish community. Two adjacent theaters feature the Dimensions in Testimony experience, developed with the USC Shoah Foundation, allowing visitors to engage in simulated conversations with Holocaust survivors through voice-recognition technology. The connecting corridor presents a chronological history of the Holocaust through archival photography, while the final cylinder serves as a flexible classroom for educational and cultural programming.

RAA provided exhibition design, graphic production, and media production. A bilingual graphic system employs a “darkness to light” gradient that reflects the exhibition’s narrative arc. RAA also produced the introductory films, audioscape, digital signage, and custom updatable content focused on contemporary antisemitism and stories of Jewish resilience.

Rooted in Miami Beach’s Jewish community through locally sourced photographs and stories, the center offers a uniquely local perspective while fulfilling its mission to honor survivors and educate future generations.