University of Pennsylvania
"FORGETTING DOES NOT ERASE THE BITTER PAST. A HEALED MEMORY IS NOT A DELETED MEMORY... WE CHANGE THE MEMORY OF OUR PAST INTO A HOPE FOR OUR FUTURE" LEWIS B. SMEDES
View of the memorial park
176 PLACE OF MEMORY & REFLECTION
As with many natural disasters that occur, memory of a disaster is often short-lived in terms of reconstruction and change of development habits. In order to remind residents of the dangers of earthquakes and how destructive earthquakes can be on buildings that are non-compliant, we wanted to create a place of memory and reflection. The memorial looks out over the estuary, with the same type of stakes that are used to elevate the homes above the water in a grid that follows the average interval of the original home dimensions. The visual connection between the estuary and the stilts are a reminder of the connection that the houses and the people residing in them have to the estuary, but also infers that one must respect the power of natural forces.
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