program: interpretive center, museum, auditorium and landscaped parking for 750 vehicles.
client: American Battle Monuments Commission
client representative: Méthodes et Pilotage
lead architect: SmithGroup
associate architect: Nicolas Kelemen Architecture
landscape designer: MVLA | D.Paysage
size: 16,469 sq. ft.
construction cost: 16,800,000.00 €
delivery: May 2007

The Interpretive Center at the Normandy American Cemetery is intended to broaden and complete the experience of visitors to the historic site of Omaha Beach. The project reinforces the historic importance of June 6 1944 D-Day while paying tribute to the values embodied by the sacrifice of American and allied soldiers.

Reinforcing the link between the historic events and the site is a guiding principal of the project. Set to the East of the cemetery in a wooded zone bordering land belonging to the French seaside land-management conservatory, the center opens sweeping perspectives onto the beaches and the Normandy landscape, thereby renewing the relationship between the cemetery and its landscape.