ANOHA — Almost Ready

Children's programs in the Jewish Museum Berlin have to respond to the emotional weight of German-Jewish history. With ANOHA children's world, the popular museum gives its youngest guests space. The exhibits stimulate the children's imaginations and instincts for play.

The architectural competition for the design of the visitor center in 2016 received more than a hundred entries, with Seattle's Olson Kundig emerging as the winner. Under design principal Alan Maskin, the firm inserted a circular wooden "ark" — seven meters tall, 28 meters in diameter — inside the former flower market across the street from Daniel Libeskind's masterpiece. This round construction was inspired by two sources: a Sumerian text discovered a decade ago that describes a circular ark, and the “space station V” from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Ceiling fans and windows allow air from the ring to be exchanged with the hall. Louvers in the roof, controlled by sensors, allow for natural ventilation. The concrete roof directs daylight into the interior of the ark. Although the completion of ANOHA happened back in May 2020, the pandemic pushed back the opening to the middle of 2021.