Architecture is often associated with the idea of sheltering, ever since primitive constructions. However, memorials are among the few types of architecture that are not primarily intended to shelter, but to remember. A space that respectfully aims to keep alive the memory of those who have fallen in heroic acts or have been unfortunate victims of cruel historical events, which can, therefore, be perceived as a monument or a building with the purpose of materializing intangible emotions, creating collective memories that can be remembered through time.
With that in mind, we have selected 8 memorials around the world designed to materialize memories of different historical events. Check out below:
National Memorial for Peace and Justice / MASS Design Group
"Commissioned by the Equal Justice Initiative, the scheme is America’s first memorial dedicated to 'the legacy of enslaved black people, people terrorized by lynching, African Americans humiliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow, and people of color burdened with contemporary presumptions of guilt and police violence.'"
"The memorial was conceived with the goal of creating a sober, meaningful place of reflection for America’s history of racial inequality. Set across a six-acre site, the memorial contains over 800 corten steel monuments: one for every county in the United States which experienced racial terror lynching. Engraved in the columns are the names of lynching victims, symbolizing thousands of people through history who suffered from brutality."
Memorial To Victims Of Violence / Gaeta-Springall Arquitectos
"A memorial is an architectural piece in which we can find the remembrance and the memory of the culture and history; in the particular case of the Memorial of the Victims of the Violence in Mexico, we materialize, in terms of architecture, one of the most important and current issues of Mexican society: violence. This is the big and open wound; in response to this, we propose an open project in the site, open to the city and open to the appropriation by the citizens; a project with a strong relationship with the city and her actors. The recuperation of the public space, as well as the remembrance of the victims of violence, are the essence of the project."
National Holocaust Monument / Studio Libeskind
"The monument is conceived as an experimental environment comprised of six triangular, concrete volumes configured to create the points of a star. The star remains the visual symbol of the Holocaust – a symbol that millions of Jews were forced to wear by the Nazis to identify them as Jews, exclude them from humanity, and mark them for extermination [ . . . ]. The Monument is organized with two physical ground planes that are differentiated by meaning: the ascending plane that points to the future; and the descending plane that leads visitors to the interior spaces that are dedicated to contemplation and memory."
The Memorial Hall of Israel’s Fallen at Mount Herzl / Kimmel Eshkolot Architects
"The memorial sits at Mount Herzl, Israel's National Cemetery, and one of the most important sites in the country. The Memorial is a personal and collective structure that commemorates Israel's fallen soldiers with an undulating funnel-shaped formation of bricks that opens the hall to the sky, flooding the void with natural light."
"Commissioned by the Department of Families, Commemoration, and Heritage at Israel's Ministry of Defense in 2006, the emotionally impactful memorial winds around a 250-meter long continuous 'Wall of Names' that wraps around the central sculptural brick structure. This spiraling wall is comprised of more than 23,000 concrete bricks each individually engraved with the name of a fallen soldier and their date of decease, which becomes illuminated by incandescent lights on each respective anniversary. Inside the tubular structure sits the memorial's central light funnel."
Irish Hunger Memorial / 1100 Architect
"Located in Battery Park City on a site adjacent to the Hudson River, the memorial is a contemplative space where visitors explore the famine and its connections to world hunger today. On a base of Irish limestone and illuminated glass, the team re-created a rugged landscape that comprises abandoned potato fields, various species of native Irish plants, and walls made of stones from each of Ireland’s 32 counties. The monument’s base is inscribed with text that recounts the history of the Great Irish Hunger and that frames the tragedy within the wider context of hunger worldwide."
Steilneset Memorial / Peter Zumthor and Louise Bourgeois
"In memory of those persecuted in the seventeenth-century Finnmark Witchcraft Trials, the Steilneset Memorial rests along the jagged coastline of the Barents Sea in Vardø, Norway [ . . . ]. The pine scaffolding supports a suspended silk cocoon. Within the cocoon, visitors walk along a 400-foot long oak-floored corridor. A hanging light bulb floats behind each of the 91 windows, illuminating them in memory of the 91 individuals who were convicted of sorcery and burnt at the stake. Each window is accompanied by a plaque that reveals the story of each individual."
Memory, Peace and Reconciliation Center / Juan Pablo Ortiz Arquitectos
"The Center was built in the middle of the current internal conflict, unlike other similar projects that have been built after the conflict has ended. In the city, this building makes evident the remembrance of more than six million victims of the Colombian internal conflict. It is also a Bicentennial memorial where values capable of achieving sustainable social development based on the respect of life, no violence, truth, justice, and reconciliation are extolled."
San Alberto Hurtado's Memorial / Undurraga Devés Arquitectos
"The Solidarity Memorial, erected to honor the work of Father Hurtado, a Chilean saint who devoted his life to the most underprivileged in society, is a small concrete building to the east of this park and from where one can still glimpse a splendid view of the magnificent Andes mountains in the background. In this sector, the most open inside the small park and where geography prevails over and above the urban surrounds, this new edifice goes no higher than the preexisting buildings around the perimeter."
