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AZ Awards 2026 Finalist in Social Good: The Lost Shtetl Museum

Located on the site where a former Jewish village once stood, the Lost Shtetl Museum pays reverence to the hundreds of townspeople — and thousands of others in nearby communities — who were executed during the Nazi’s reign of terror. As a reclamation of the area’s painful past, the museum’s architecture, designed by Finnish studio Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects, emulates a tranquil, dreamlike shtetl with its cluster of hipped roofs and textured marine aluminum “shingles.” As visitors move through the exhibition, black granite walls close in to convey loss. Then, at the exhibition’s end, vaulted ceilings cascade light into common areas, lifting the atmosphere.

AZ Awards 2026 Finalist in Social Good: The Lost Shtetl Museum

Team: Rainer Mahlamäki with Ilkka Syrjäkari (Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects); Augustas Audėjaitis (Studija 2A); Enzo Enea (Enea Landscape Architecture); Büke Kumyol (Ralph Appelbaum Associates)

Award of Merit: Buildings Over 1,000SqM
The Lost Shtetl Museum
With its cluster of hipped roofs and textured white aluminum shingles, the Lost Shtetl Museum pays tranquil reverence to the area's painful past.

Explore more Award Winners

2015
Award of MeritBuildings Over 1,000SqM
Location
Harbin, China
Firm
MAD Architects
2022
WinnerBuildings Over 1,000SqM
Location
Shaoxing, China
Firm
UAD(ACRC), China
2017
Award of MeritBuildings Over 1,000SqM
Location
Santiago, Chile
Firm
Hariri Pontarini Architects, Canada