Remembering the Fallen
Utøya, Norway
In July of 2011, the world was shaken by the news of a terrorist attack in Norway that claimed the lives of 69 people, the deadliest attack on its soil since World War II. Healing from such a tragic event may never be fully realized for some, but for others, closure can be facilitated by the establishment of a memorial that honors the victims and offers a place where the survivors can grieve.
That was part of the intent of the Memorial Sites After 22 July, a competition held by the Norwegian government to create official memorial sites to honor the victims of the massacre in Utøya and the Oslo bombing. The most striking of the winning entries by artist Jonas Dahlberg is titled, Memory Wound, which is characterized by a nearly 12-foot cut or “wound” into the Sørbråten peninsula, which faces the island where an armed gunman opened fire on a Workers’ Youth League summer camp.
In the jury’s remarks, they noted that “by using this landmass to create a temporary memorial pathway between Grubbegata and the Deichmanske Library, a connection is forged between the memorial sites at Sørbråten and the Government Quarter. The names of the victims will be recorded on a wall that runs alongside the pathway.”
Preserving the Afghan Culture
Kabul, Afghanistan
The nation of Afghanistan has been in the throes of war and political unrest for decades, and its people have suffered tremendously as a result of the chronic instability during its recent history. According to BBC News, its economy and infrastructure are in ruins, and many of its people are refugees, threatening their rich culture and history.
Earlier this year, UNESCO announced the winner of an international competition to design a cultural center in Bamiyan as “an opportunity to create a new pattern for architecture, design, and cultural development in Afghanistan,” said Paolo Fontani, director of the UNESCO Office in Afghanistan.
The winning entry, entitled “Descriptive Memory: The Eternal Presence of Absence,” by Argentinean Team Carlos Nahuel Recabarren, Manuel Alberto Martinez Catalan, and Franco Morero, “tries to create not an object-building but rather a meeting place” inspired by “ancient local building traditions,” where communication and exchange will take place with minimal impact on the environment and which will integrate totally into the landscape. The design was endorsed by the Afghani President, H.E. Ashraf Ghani, who voiced his dedication to protect Afghanistan’s cultural heritage.
In making its selection, the jury applied design principles emphasizing innovation, facilitation of community, environmental consciousness, and connection to the natural and cultural landscape of the Bamiyan Valley.
A Voice for Women
Seoul, South Korea
Visitors to the War & Women’s Rights Museum in Seoul, South Korea, might pass right by the building’s understated facade, tucked into a quiet neighborhood in Sungsan-Don. Black bricks serve as the museum’s main building material as well as a symbol of the tragic history of women who were forced into sex slavery for Japanese soldiers during the Pacific War Period.
According to Wise Architects, the exterior brick screen wall “conveys the layered history of old and now as linked to the present. ... Each brick of the facade is suggestive of suffering and plight of women throughout history.”
The museum, which opened in May 2012, is intended to help stop violence against women in areas of armed conflict around the world where many women are forced into the sex slave trade. Built in a renovated home on the foothills of Mt. Seongmi in Seoul’s Mapo district, the museum has two stories and a basement level that encompasses nearly 3,500 square feet.
The overall flow of the museum progresses as a narrative, where the exhibits move through recollection, reflection, recovery, and record.
Rebuilding After the Quake
Christchurch, New Zealand
In 2010 and 2011, New Zealand’s second largest city of Christchurch was struck by earthquakes, the second of which claimed the lives of 181 people and left thousands more homeless. As the community continues in its recovery effort, one bright spot in its future is the upcoming Central Library which will help the city in its goal to become a vibrant place for all people and cultures.
The previous Central Library on Gloucester Street was badly damaged, and according to Schmidt Hammer Larsen Architects (SHLA), the New Central Library (NCL) is one of the anchor projects in the recovery plan for the city of Christchurch.
“The New Central Library will be the flagship of the Christchurch library network, providing an important civic function as a social gathering point in the rebuilt city,” according to SHLA. “It will provide easy access to digital technologies and local heritage collections. There will be exhibition and performance spaces, a learning Centre, spaces to relax—indoors and outdoors—and activities to entertain and educate young people.”
