program: monument, outdoor plaza, and commemorative gallery on the site of the Alsace Moselle Memorial to honor the Alsacians and Mosellians who lost their lives during the Second World War.
client: Région Grand Est
exhibit designer: Presence
building engineer: Trigo
renderings: Damien Laurens
surface: 2,750 sq. ft.
construction cost: 1,100,000€
competition: April 2022

The Alsace-Moselle Memorial has become deeply rooted in the region as a place of tribute and commemoration. The site’s somber silence evokes the dramatic history of Alsace and Moselle from 1870 to the present day.

The project aims to accompany visitors on their personal discovery of the region’s history, with an underlying respect for the qualities and values that the site represents. The monument houses a gallery dedicated to the collective homage of the victims of the Second World War from the region. Clad in reflective panels, this abstract volume framed by Vosges sandstone walls emerges from a water table.

The monument is perceived as a symbolic object on the site, simple and geometric, fitting seamlessly into the continuity of the existing landscape. A place for both the shared and the individual encounter with the stories of those who lost their lives.

The outdoor commemorative plaza is a solemn place that invites pause and reflection. At the heart of the site, the plaza is designed for contemplation and commemoration, framed on one side by the monument’s reflective facade, and on the other by a reflecting pool that draws the viewer’s gaze to the pond below and to the greater landscape beyond.