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‘Evidential Landscape’

In our proposal we pursue a memorial intervention instead of a monumental intervention. A memorial has to do with the reconstruction of the memory of the event, whereas a monument has to do with a symbolic representation of the vent.  The first can be multivalent, whereas the second can be only unilateral. As the event is very recent and everyone’s life was more or less affected by it, we wanted to involve the user in the reconstruction of the event according to his perception of the evidence found on site and his own fragments of personal memories from the accident and the days that followed it.  That is why we built our proposal on three main concepts: 1. That the memorial should form a device for documentation of the event on the site,  2. That the memorial should have a polycentric structure, consisting of multiple ‘episodes’ linked to various evidences and views and a compositional ‘narrative’ that would help the visitor create his own memory of the event based on his own experience, and 3. That the memorial should acquire a spontaneous character, by the structure, the processes or even the material chosen,  facilitating the spontaneous reaction of the visitor and his personal offering to the memorial, an involvement that would make the memorial less ‘formal’ and more ‘personal’.

Accordingly to the above, we proposed a memorial that would consist of the following layers:

A grid of markers:  Like in the grid that is used in crime scenes or archaeological sites, the ‘evidential grid’ here is used to mark evidence found on site. On the other hand the grid helps the personal insolvement of visitors in the formation of the site, as the visitors are able to ‘offer’ the planting of bushes and trees chosen from a specific list of plants that would, in time, substitute the ‘markers’.

The ten Episodes: The most important evidences on site, like the debris of the vehicles or the containers, the water tank as well as the 13 personal spaces for the victims, the small church and the observatory, are identified on the site as 10 episodes. These episodes, combined with different views to the landscape and the site of the accident, are marked by specific structures and offer to the visitor a variant aspect to the event of the accident.

The memorial walk: The 10 episodes are combined together by a walk. The walk, as an active involvement of the visitor, helps the visitor to reconstruct the event and create a personal narrative, a memory of the event.  The walk is not always clearly formed but it follows the narrow ridge that is formed where the two slopes meet: the steep slope of the southern side and the gentle slope on the northern side. The walk in this way balances between two ‘worlds’:  on the one hand the ‘terrible world’ of the accident and on the other hand the ‘vivid world’ of the everyday life.

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PROJECT: Architectural Competition for the design of the 11^th July Memorial, Naval Station Mari, Larnaca, CY

Αρχιτεκτονικός-Καλλιτεχνικός Διαγωνισμός για τη Διαμόρφωση Μνημειακού Χώρου στη Βάση στο Μαρί, Λάρνακα, Κύπρος

CLIENT: Ministry of Defence

PLACE/TIME: Larnaca, CY, 2013

BUDGET: 240.000 E

DESIGN TEAM: Christos Papastergiou, Michalis Pirokkas, Christiana Pitsillidou, Andri Papadopoulou

CONSULTANTS: Nikos Kalathas (Structural Eng.), Andreas Dimitriadis (Q/S)

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