Monuments and Memorials: The Latest Architecture and News

As part of his series dealing with forgotten monuments from the communist era in Bulgaria, Nikola Mihov has shared with us his story and photos of the many iconic communist era monuments in Bulgaria that were dismantled after the fall of the totalitarian regime in 1989. Nevertheless, more than one hundred important monuments built between 1945 and 1989 remain standing. The majority of these sites are not recognized by the state and they remain ownerless. Their exact number is unknown and it is difficult to find information about their authors and their history. More images and his story after the break.

Australian architects David Neustein and Adi Atic shared with us their proposal for the Atlantic City Holocaust Memorial Competition. See more images and architect’s description after the break.

Architects Ariel Noyman and Ruth Kedar shared with us their proposal for the Atlantic City Holocaust Memorial Competition. More images and architect’s description after the break.

The bicentennial torch, designed by José Pareja Gómez and Jesús Hernández Martínez, is inspired by the mural depicting the social struggle of Mexican independence by Jose Clemente Orozco in which the leader of the independence, Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, leading the insurrection by tightly grasping a flaming torch. The structure manifested from this image by the architect is a 45-meter tall element emphasizing the main entrance into León, Guanajuato, México.

More information and images after the break.

Raphael França and Adrien Mondine have submitted their competition entry for a multicultural cemetery in Järva, Stockholm, Sweden. The challenge and aim of the competition was to develop a place for remembrance and reflection for all on a site already embedded with societal values. The chosen site has an interesting past: an artificial hill was created as a result of the dumping of construction debris from neighboring housing projects in the 70s and 80s, it was then dominated by frisbee players as the one of the most frequented sites in Sweden.

More information on the project and images after the break.

Why would this building be abandoned when at one point it was such a significant symbol for the country? Buildings such as this that have been left to stand alone are calling out for architects to intervene and come up with well thought out solutions while being sensitive to its historical significance. At one time, the Buzludzha Monument, designed by Gueorguy Stoilov, was the most celebrated monument dedicated to the sociopolitical movement of communism. Now, in the mountains of Buzludzha National Park in Central Stara Planina, Bulgaria, stands an abandoned communist concrete structure right in the middle of the country taking on a “flying saucer” in appearance. What should be done with buildings that have been abandoned all over the globe? Now is the time to think critically and discover the possibilities. More images and after the break.

Our friends from NRJA (be sure to view previous NRJA projects on AD, especially their 2009 Building of the Year House) shared their finished competition entry for a cemetery in Järva Common, Stockholm with us. Designing a cemetery is a difficult challenge as it is a place filled with symbolic importance and infused with a commitment to offering hope. The architects decided that this new cemetery will provide a place where the identity of the site is defined not only by the environmental quality of the space and its historical importance, but also by the project’s emphasize on concentration on the memory of the deceased.

More images and more about the project after the break.

Although the field of architecture continually changes with advances in technology and shifts in society and culture, there rest a few names that seem frozen in time, as their ideas will continually influence generations of architects to come. Of them, Louis Kahn has been revered as a master of the 20th century and soon, his memorial park design of the 1970s will finally be completed in New York. The memorial is named after FDR’s Four Freedoms speech from 1941 where he declares that “In the future days,….we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression–everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way–everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want–which, translated into universal terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants–everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear–which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor–anywhere in the world.”

More about Kahn’s design after the break.