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Architects: TJAD Atelier L+
- Area: 178 m²
- Year: 2020
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Photographs:ZY Architectural Photography
Project background
Zunyi Memorial to the Body and Organ Donors aims to provide a quiet public place for the general public, the families of donors and young people and other social groups to mourn and remember the donors of human organs (human body, corneal tissue, etc.) for their selfless spirit, and pay respect for their loving dedication. The architect was commissioned by the owner to intervene in this semi-public welfare design related to life.
The project site is located in a public leisure and fitness plaza at the southwest corner of the mountainside of Phoenix Mountain. The base is adjacent to the entrance of the Phoenix Mountain Tunnel, close to the foot of the mountain, and is easily connected to the city's transportation. The public can walk directly from the foot of the mountain along the steps to visit. The project respects the original site and its natural environment texture, only removes part of the fitness equipment, and fully retains the square’s rest pavilions and other facilities and its original basic layout to maximize adaptability to the surrounding environment; at the same time, the new building is made as much as possible presenting a simple and low-key posture, maintaining a humble and open interaction with the local natural scene and the humanistic spirit of contemporary society.
The monument is conceived as a public space open to citizens: a quiet place that is open, passable, and daily, but with unique space and construction quality.
Design Concept
Architecture praises life: Those who volunteer their bodies or organs before the end of their lives must have an optimistic and brilliant life. The design is based on the concept of "Light/Englightment": the light of life, strong or weak, but spread out to illuminate a corner, beautiful and calm! This is the original prototype of the monument.
Poetic: The design of Zunyi's remains and organ donation monument is an open proposition, and the limitation of function is vague. It also happens to give the first chance to consider spiritual and poetic considerations. "The building itself is never poetic" (Peter Zumthor), and the architect is the link between the material and the spirit, the spiritual giver of the material.
Empty: "Empty" is a consistent strategy for architects to face monumental demands. The resistance to the centrality of "things" makes architects use place thinking instead of signs of objects from the beginning, making the process of commemoration a kind of Quiet and contemplative space experience process. "Empty" constructs a center of light, the wall radiates, and is cleverly embedded in the high and low site at the foot of the mountain. This is a moment of shaping and inspiration of the design. The design activates this ordinary and boring site, which is also called " Enlightenment”.
Site system and material construction
The monument becomes a miniature daily place system, all made of white concrete pouring, like a chime stone, embedded in the natural forest and terrain at the foot of the mountain. The materials of the building are pure and heavy, connecting and echoing, as if growing out of the earth.
Different terraces and steps are formed along the radiation line, providing a place to sit and meditate, and the route up the platform forms a path of turning and seeing. Monuments, memorial walls and benches surround a circular site with a core. A small commemorative venue for fifty or sixty people.
Above the flower stand, looking back, you can see the bustling lights of the city, and you can feel the beauty of life between contemplation and reflection; the white marble stone slab is used to carve the name of each donor, and the carving of each batch of names becomes a commemoration ceremony. Tall ginkgo is planted in the middle of the site. You can imagine the yellow leaves on the white concrete platform in autumn. Life can pass away, but there is a glorious moment!
