The wall: different approaches

Still talking about the wall, doing my research I found out different and original ways to treat of menaging the topic. So now I'm going to desplay some of the most interesting projects I found out.

The first one is the Women's Monument in Memory - Female Victims of Political Repression in Santiago, Chile. The project is by Oficina De Arquitectura – Emilio Marín + Nicolás Norero, done for the Prize in 2004 and built in 2006-2007.

This is a totally different approach to the memorial topic, full of meanings and strong in its concept. The wall is transparent to look both to the past and future. The material chosen makes everything lighter, not only talking about the design but also as the experience that parents and people that know the victims can feel. I think that this monument is also a way to help people to face a pain like this.

<<A transparent wall that does not divide the lives, that at any time and from any place, allows us to watch towards the past and the future, through the absent faces in the posters that the relatives of the victims of repression take tight to the heart.>>

Sandra Palestro, Award Presentation Speech Memorial Memory Woman, Santiago, September 27, 2004

SOURCE: http://plusmood.com/2008/10/womens-monument-in-memory-oficina-de-arquitectura/

SOURCE: http://plusmood.com/2008/10/womens-monument-in-memory-oficina-de-arquitectura/

SOURCE: http://plusmood.com/2008/10/womens-monument-in-memory-oficina-de-arquitectura/

SOURCE: http://plusmood.com/2008/10/womens-monument-in-memory-oficina-de-arquitectura/

SOURCE: http://plusmood.com/2008/10/womens-monument-in-memory-oficina-de-arquitectura/

SOURCE: http://plusmood.com/2008/10/womens-monument-in-memory-oficina-de-arquitectura/

The wall

From the beginning of my research I know that the wall will be a very important part of the columbarium. When I say wall I'm talking about that wall/element that will house the ashes or just the memorial paques. That wall is the main element of the columbarium because it's the place where you are going to find the name of a dear person, the place where you are going to stop to cry, pray, think... It's also the place where people put flowers or other stuff beside to their dear person plaque. So it must be an elemnt well designed because it is going to carry the love of lots of people.

Talking about the wall, I thin about the project  "Memory and light" by Daniel Libeskind, in Padova, Italy.
This projet is a memorial design for the victims of the 9/11 attacks on New York City.

SOURCE: http://daniel-libeskind.com/projects/memoria-e-luce-911-memorial/images
Photo by Bitter Bredt

As you can see from the first picture we can find again the element of water, in fact the project is nearby Piovego river. The design is composed by this big book open in the direction of the Statue of Liberty in New York. So we can find a kind of a historical relationship between the region Veneto and New York due to the emigration of italians in America, in the past.
The light is the main character of the design that we can find both in the "book" and on the wall. The shape of the wall accompany visitors towards the main memorial element where we can find a piece of a beam from the World Trade Centre attack. When it's dark this wall becomes illuminated and acquires a new strenght full of meanings.

SOURCE: http://daniel-libeskind.com/projects/memoria-e-luce-911-memorial/images
Photo by Bitter Bredt

SOURCE: http://daniel-libeskind.com/projects/memoria-e-luce-911-memorial/images
Photo by Bitter Bredt

SOURCE: http://daniel-libeskind.com/projects/memoria-e-luce-911-memorial/images
Photo by Bitter Bredt

Elements: water

Through my research I found out that when we talk about death, the element of water is often used.
For example in the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri a river is used both to carry dead people to the hell and to the purgatory. So it's an element that accompany any soul. 

SOURCE: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pur_02_dore.jpg

A river, when crossed, optically divides and makes recognize two different kinds of spaces and I would like to use this elemento to mark the border as it happens in this project at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis: a Urban Columbarium and Courtyards by Coen + Partners Studio.

The main key element of the project is the permeable wall but, for me, the artificial river is a good and important element too. In this case, this is a urban design project and this explains the material chosen for the wall and also the necessity of the noise of the water to cover the one from the street. I also like the use of the wall to divide the urban area from a more intimate space and, at the same time, the continuity due to the presence of the same kinds of trees.

SOURCE: http://archinect.com/features/article/89230/showcase-westminster-presbyterian-church-urban-columbarium-and-courtyards

Photo by Paul Crosby

SOURCE: http://archinect.com/features/article/89230/showcase-westminster-presbyterian-church-urban-columbarium-and-courtyards

Photo by Paul Crosby

SOURCE: http://archinect.com/features/article/89230/showcase-westminster-presbyterian-church-urban-columbarium-and-courtyards

Photo by Paul Crosby

Columbarium in Wollaton Park

The next project is the design of a Columbariun in Wollaton Park, in Nottingham.
I already started my research trying to understand better how it works when someone dies in my country.

When someone dies in Italy, the corpse is generally brought in what I could translate as "ardent room", that is a room in which the family can stand around the coffin and pray. This room is called "ardent room" because they use to put a lot of candles, when the room was used. After this, generally, for religious people, there is a religiuos funeral that in most of the cases is in a christian catholic church, since it is the main religion in Italy.

After that the the corpse was usually buried into the ground but, since there is no space anymore, they started to use burial recesses, that are like walls in which the coffins are inserted.
We have also spaces called ossuaries that they began to use due to the lack of space in cemeteries. Generally there aren't so many columbariums because people prefer to scatter tha ashes than keeping them at home or in these memorial spaces.

After this first analysis of my culural background I'm going to start my research to understand and find elements that I could use in the design process.

SOURCE: http://news.experiencenottinghamshire.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Wollaton-Park-2-Gerry-Molumby.jpg