Museum of Tolerance
Immersive spaces promote tolerance and inclusion
- Client
- Simon Wiesenthal Center
- Location
- Global Projects
- Status
- Completed and in progress
Our Yazdani Studio has a long, rewarding relationship with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Jewish global human rights organization that confronts anti-Semitism, hate and terrorism while promoting human rights and dignity. Our collaborative efforts span the globe and include remarkably immersive exhibits, public garden spaces and even mobile museums.
The partnership has catalyzed award-winning design work that brings to life the Simon Wiesenthal Center's incredible content and Oscar-winning films. Moreover, the work changes lives and perspectives for the better each day. New people from across the globe experience these spaces annually and carry the messages of inclusion, acceptance and peace forward in their communities and daily lives.
Social Lab
One of our most recent projects is the Claudia and Nelson Peltz Social Lab at the Museum of Tolerance Los Angeles. The immersive 10,000-square-foot space features 15 distinct areas that promote tolerance and inclusion on different scales—starting with individual biases, to local issues, national conflicts and global crises—highlighting the interconnectivity.
In every instance, the new Social Lab cross-pollinates messages and themes from other areas of the museum and modernizes the experience.
Mobile Museum of Tolerance
Elsewhere, the Simon Wiesenthal Center Illinois worked with our team to create a state-of-the-art bus fitted with interactive tech and theater seating to provide one-of-a-kind learning experiences to students and adults alike. The bus travels to schools and communities across Illinois, promoting a more inclusive society.
The bus exterior is adorned with the images of famous human rights leaders throughout history. Inside, programming provides powerful emotive and cognitive stimuli that addresses pressing social issues in ways that complement and supplement existing school and community resources.
Museum of Tolerance Jerusalem
On the other side of the world, our team worked with the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem to design the exhibits and public garden space for its latest museum.
The interior exhibits echo the same wonderful messages of other MOT spaces, and the outdoor garden is elevated to create a clear path to the front door. The garden functions as a key part of the museum, carrying its message of tolerance out across the museum's 13-acre campus. An open-air amphitheater sits at the heart of the site.
The Life of Anne Frank
In 2013, we worked with the Simon Wiesenthal Center to create "Anne," an experiential exhibit that moves visitors through Anne Frank's harrowing journey, starting with her earliest days in Germany and following her onto the streets of Amsterdam as she descends into the nightmare of The Third Reich.
An in-depth introduction to her family at-large gives this exhibit a breadth and perspective never seen before in American Anne Frank exhibitions.