(De)Linking with the Past through Memorials (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Future is Open to the Past: Public Memorials in Evolving Urban Landscapes
This paper examines decision-making about the location and design of new public memorials in three major world cities: London, Berlin, and New York. All three cities have remained foci of political and economic power over several centuries. The historical development of each city has been marked by numerous shifts in the spatial distribution of political power and its representation, and the installation of hundreds of memorials to a plethora of subjects throughout their built fabric. Each new memorial in these respective cities must find a place within a complex constellation of existing forms, settings, and values, and each new work also contributes to an ongoing redefinition of priorities regarding collective memory and identity. In each city, commemorative works have to fit within a constantly evolving landscape, potentially undermining their long-term effectiveness as markers of memory. Ongoing demand for new memorials in London, Berlin, and New York has created a need to develop strategies for regulating the themes, sites and designs of future memorial proposals. The paper examines the historical evolution of formal planning strategies and decisions in each city, in relation to the proposals and designs of individual new memorials, and the availability of suitable sites.
2016
The connections between architecture and remembrance are well-known and have several layers of meaning. I would like to express a possible interpretation of this relationship, focusing on some contemporary memorial places in Europe and Budapest, which are strongly based on architectural viewpoints. At the end of the 20 th and the beginning of the 21 st century, some very impressive examples can be recognized that are not narrative, do not have a direct message or ideological atmosphere, but can involve the spectators to participate in the very complicated process of memory (we can mention Peter Eisenmann's well-known Mahnmal-project in Berlin or Gunter Demnig's concept of 'Stolpersteine'.) The topic is extremely complex in Central-Eastern Europe, where the history of the 20 th century caused a lot of traumas. In 2014, I was the leader of a postgraduate architectural school's architect group which won a competition for the World War 2 memorial place of Eötvös Lórá...
The Effects of Public Memorials on Social Memory and Urban Identity
In recent years, instead of paramount monuments and separate or enclosed memory sites, the examples of memorials integrated into cities have been increasing. Representing memories in this way not only reminds people of their social history without visiting a place specially, but also provides a correlation and helps to develop an empathy with citizens and strengthens urban memory. This paper draws attention to the contributions of memory sites to social memory and urban identity, and then points out the effects of designing memorials that are integrated into daily life in cities on societies from a design perspective.
Memorials as Healing Places: A Matrix for Bridging Material Design and Visitor Experience
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Memorials are increasingly used to encourage people to reflect on the past and work through both individual and collective wounds. While much has been written on the history, architectural forms and controversies surrounding memorials, surprisingly little has been done to explore how visitors experience and appropriate them. This paper aims to analyze how different material aspects of memorial design help to create engaging experiences for visitors. It outlines a matrix of ten interconnected dimensions for comparison: (1) use of the vertical and horizontal axis, (2) figurative and abstract representation, (3) spatial immersion and separation, (4) mobility, (5) multisensory qualities, (6) reflective surfaces, (7) names, (8) place of burial, (9) accommodating ritual, and (10) location and surroundings. With this outline, the paper hopes to provide social scientists and practitioners (e.g., architects, planners, curators, facilitators, guides) with a set of key points for reflection on...
Memorial Architecture as the Symbol of Remembrance and Memories
South East European Journal of Architecture and Design, 2016
The aim of this study is to assess memory and remembrance in presenting important concepts that establish construction of space, architecture and memorialization of the Holocaust. Some examples of memorials as the visual arts in the evocations of the Holocaust indicate a change in the ideological image of memory and understanding approach to European heritage after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Architecturally, the memorial spaces created a system of allusions, coding of real space and new findings are part of the implementation and presentation of the architecture of memory.
Designing a memorial place: Continuing care, passage landscapes and future memories
The design and selection of a memorial stone and the site of the grave, both of which represent the deceased, can be a central issue for people bereaved by traffic accidents. This was revealed in an interview survey of recent Swedish roadside memorials and other memorial places. In this article we consider the design and selection of the memorial stone and gravesite as expressions of continuing care for the deceased and as a way to offer comfort to the bereaved. Materiality, representation and presence will be discussed as crucial parts of the link between the living and the dead. Communicative, spatial and physical values are important also in the professional’s design of common public memorial places. Of specific interest for this text are two design practice-based terms, memory object and passage landscape, which may be used by landscape architects when designing memorial places, such as cemeteries and public monuments. Throughout this text, we argue that memorial places like these are capable of bridging the gap between the space of life and the space of death, as well as supporting the regeneration of present memories and the construction of future ones.
Confronting Difficult Memory through Absence : Space in Contemporary Memorial Architecture
2015
Contemporary Western society often strives to confront and cope with loss through projects that commemorate various events, both long past and recent. This is particularly true in cases of the trauma-laden remembrance of modern atrocities. Memorials are perceived as spaces that can provide necessary healing environments for the victims and their relatives, but are also planned to encourage remembrance by future generations. After the Second World War, designers faced with representing the Holocaust delivered radical approaches to spaces of memory, in many cases promoting oblivion or questioning the motives of memorializing in the first place. Contemporary memorials often address the representation of difficult memory with spaces of absence as the most tangible answer to loss and trauma. To understand this approach, this article investigates several memorial spaces responding to recent traumatic events, such as the Atocha 11M Memorial in Madrid, designs for planned memorials in Oslo ...