When the museum initially opened in 1993, it was intended to be a permanent, four-story exhibition space located near the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Though it was not intended as a collecting museum, the institution soon became perceived as a repository for photographs, mementos, and other artifacts of the Holocaust. Survivors and their descendants began sending artifacts to the museum for safekeeping. After consulting with their in-house architect, Spacesaver Interiors provided shelving, cold storage and art racks to adequately store these indispensable artifacts.