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Safdie describes the new museum as a geometrically complex post-tension structure. The building is 575 feet (175 meters) long, and its triangular shape disappears underground, with only the uppermost edge protruding through the mountain ridge. The complexity is compounded by the way the prism-like structure changes in width throughout its length and has a constantly changing curvature.

As a hall for explaining history, its form is both functional and symbolic. The almost entirely underground structure signifies the long dark days of the Holocaust, and the narrative unfolds chronologically along its length. Several skylights provide daylight along the way. At the widened exit, visitors step out to an open space with a panoramic vista of Jerusalem below, symbolizing hope and rebirth.

Being completed in stages, the new museum complex also includes exhibits of original art from the Holocaust. This is the world's largest collection of art created in ghettoes, hideouts, concentration camps, and in forests by survivors on the run. Thousands of such works survived against all odds.

The new, larger museum complex was needed, say Yad Vashem officials, because the scope of Holocaust research, knowledge, and archival material has greatly increased in recent years. At the same time, heightened awareness of this history has brought more visitors, and multimedia technology has dramatically changed the way museums communicate their message.

One of the most impressive and emotionally charged structures at Yad Vashem is Safdie's Children's Holocaust Memorial. The visitor enters a subterranean octagonal room lined with mirrors. In the room is a triangular shaft that holds four burning candles. The effect is of a million reflecting flames floating in space, symbolizing the number of lost children.

Above ground, an amphitheater lined with seven double rows of cypress trees echoes the octagonal space below. Monolithic pillars in different sizes symbolize the abrupt ending of the young lives. In designing these buildings, Safdie was careful to preserve the natural beauty of the Memorial Hill landscape, dotted by evergreen trees, wild flowers, and the adjacent Mt. Herzl cemetery for national heroes.

Hebrew Union Complex

Another outstanding Safdie design is the Hebrew Union Complex, located just outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City. The complex includes a major library, museum, youth center and hostel, classroom facilities, and an archaeological research institute.

The complex is organized around a series of inner courts which vary in size and architecture. These courtyards are designed as extensions of the surrounding buildings, serving as outdoor teaching and study rooms.

Internal walkways are two-level trellised arcades which visually unify the entire Hebrew Union Complex. Contemporary materials juxtaposed with the rough golden Jerusalem stone provide a rich balance between the modern and the traditional. This facility represented Israel at the 1991 Venice Biennial.

Although he concentrates on public buildings, Safdie has also designed the private Van Leer Residence in a historic section of Jerusalem. The house consists of two structures separated by a large rock. When the rock was excavated to create a spiral stone staircase to connect the two levels, two cisterns were unearthed. One was converted into a swimming pool, the other into the kitchen.

Outside Jerusalem

In the 1980s the Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing asked Safdie to develop a master plan for a new city, conceived as an alternative to the existing urban centers. Named Modi'in after the city of the historic Maccabees, the new city includes a cultural and civic center, an industrial, research, and development park, and residential neighborhoods inhabited mainly by young couples.

Tel Aviv, too, has Safdie monuments, among them a community center in a depressed neighborhood and the School of Economics and student dormitories for Bar Ilan University. Under construction is the Rabin Institute.

Safdie also has designed housing, both urban and rural. One kibbutz in the Galilee was strongly influenced by the mountainous topography. The result is stacked dwellings, again reminiscent of Habitat '67 and David's Village. The lower units are equipped with patios, while the upper units have roof gardens.

An upcoming project to receive his touch will be the Ben Gurion Airside Terminal near the town of Lod. The terminal will cover an area of 2.5 million square feet (230,000 square meters) and serve 7 million passenger a year. Its three concourses with 24 gates will radiate from a central concessions rotunda. With the familiar Safdie stair-stepping signature, terraced gardens will reflect Israel's natural landscape.

Lili Eylon is a freelance writer based in Jerusalem and a contributing editor to ArchitectureWeek.

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A pedestrian passageway through a residential area of David's Village by Moshe Safdie. Photo: Michal Ronnen Safdie A model of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, with new structures by Moshe Safdie due for completion late 2002. Photo: Ardon Bar-Hana Model of a new Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. Photo: Ardon Bar-Hana Site plan, Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum. Image: Moshe Safdie and Associates The Children's Holocaust Memorial by Moshe Safdie. Photo: Michal Ronnen Safdie Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem by Moshe Safdie. Photo: Michal Ronnen Safdie Plan, Hebrew Union College. Image: Moshe Safdie and Associates Housing zones of the new city of Modi'in by Moshe Safdie. Image: Moshe Safdie and Associates   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.