Upon entering the museum, visitors are directed to the topmost floor, where most of the exhibitions are located. Yes, it changes and evolves, but it continues to persevere.” Visually separated by a recessed light cove, the museum’s brick and copper planes never quite meet, creating the sense that the copper crown is floating. Here’s this material that can withstand almost anything. “It started to symbolize this idea of perseverance. Jason O'Rear The copper cladding continues into the museum at the courtyard, creating continuity between the exterior and interior.įrom the beginning, copper was central to the building’s design, Holsinger says. But the building’s most eye-catching exterior feature is its faceted crown of copper panels, which tops expansive elevations of foreboding gray brick with punched windows. The three-story, 52,300-square-foot, U-shaped building’s height, massing, and earthy coloration echo those of nearby brick structures while reinterpreting individual elements to create something contemporary and monumental. At the same time, this is a museum for civil rights and human rights, and there was this idea that this building wanted to be a beacon.” “This is an important district in Dallas, and the client wasn’t interested in disturbing that fabric.
“We were trying to find a balance,” Holsinger says. “Everyone sensed the importance of getting this building right.”īecause the building falls within Dallas’s West End Historic District, it is subject to a city ordinance that dictates everything from primary façade material (fired brick) to the arrangement of fenestration (vertical and horizontal repetition). “Any time there was an incident”-such as the 2018 fatal shooting of 11 people at a Jewish synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pa.-“it reinvigorated the team,” he says. Mark Holsinger, a principal at Dallas-based Omniplan who led the design of the museum, says working in this context added a sense of urgency to the project.
And yet, the number of anti-Semitic hate crimes was reaching record highs in the United States. When the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum opened in 2019, nearly 75 years had elapsed since the fall of the Third Reich. With an emphasis on people places, the firm’s portfolio ranges from office, retail, multifamily, higher education and places of community and worship.įor more information please visit or contact Amanda Buckley at or O'Rear Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum This user-centric design approach gives the team a unique understanding of each project integrating planning, architecture and interior design. A focus on the public spaces encourages researchers to meet and gather outside of their labs.įounded in 1956, OMNIPLAN is an award-winning practice focused on holistic design that creates engaging experiences for all.
The facility’s large windows and open space provides natural lighting and scenic views of an adjacent wooded ravine. The building’s new adaptive design allows the laboratories to quickly and easily be reconfigured to meet the needs of varied science teams with movable casework, ease of access to service equipment, and mobile workstations. The design breaks down silos and creates spaces that allows researchers from different disciplines to come together to learn from each other and push medical research forward,” said Jeff Slajer, AIA, OMNIPLAN Associate Principal and project manager. The MREB II building re-imagines the traditional laboratory experience and encourages maximum interaction between diverse user groups. “We are proud to have been selected by Texas A&M University to design a laboratory focused on the future. The design more than doubles the Health Science Center’s research space on the Bryan campus. The project includes a 48,200-square-foot vertical expansion to the existing Medical Research and Education Building and a new 122,800-square-foot addition. Working in collaboration with FLAD Architects, OMNIPLAN designed the MREB II facility to provide better collaboration and efficiencies across various health science research teams. The facility will house state-of-the-art laboratories for the College of Medicine and College of Nursing. BRYAN, Texas-( BUSINESS WIRE)-Dallas-based architecture and design firm, OMNIPLAN, in partnership with Texas A&M University Health Science Center is pleased to announce the grand opening of the Texas A&M Medical Research and Education Building II (MREB II).