Cor-Ten Remembrance

Eleni Maria Dourampei stage 02

COR-ten Remembrance Archive: Material Record --> Building: Shell (Memory) --> User: Function of Experience

...within an Arkheion, a domicile or housing and its protection and interpretation by an Arkheion, a magistrate of state law...

Cor-ten Rememberance, is a project combining the nature of Arkheion, war and memory. The word “archive” derives from the greek word αρχείον (Arkheion) which means “ancient”. The archive is an infinite accumulation of time.

My research on what to archive derives when I visited Sheppey in January, where I visited the library in Sheerness and found many articles about war remains found in the sea, coasts and main land mostly from WWII. I decided to look into how war remains like these are treated and stored in war museums and similar archive places.

My site is in Leysdown of Sheppey. I chose this site, because it was the one closest to the sea and it has a lovely view to the Maunsell sea forts that reflect perfectly the atmosphere I want to convey about war in my project. I decided to design an archive building about war remains from the area of Sheppey mostly, but also Kent in general. This archive building has two roles. One is a memorial role, where people-public will be visiting to learn about WWII and especially children. I believe that it is very important for the future generations to be aware of what happened in the past and what their ancestors came through. The second role works as storage place for war remains of different sizes.

Throughout my research, I came trough Paul Virilio’s “Bunker Archaeology” because not only I wanted to know more about the bunker’s nature but also, to relate my ideas with the atmosphere of the sea forts and the fortification they reflect.

Bunkers + Sea Forts -> brutalism of war, fortification.

The building consists of three main parts, sea force building, air force building and ground force building. All three have exhibition spaces and activity areas. Massive, big forms are shaping these structures. Huge pillars that reflect the atmosphere of the bunkers, lead people to the top floors, where they can observe the sea forts in the sea right opposite. In the courtyard, bigger war remains are placed and exhibited. Spaces become charged through materiality, mass and fortification. By the time visitors arrive to the site, there is a circulation they follow, starting from the ground force building, passing the air force one and finishing their tour with the sea force one. The aim of these three different masses is to create strong feelings and change the emotions we have about war. The atmosphere of them having rusty facades, shows the fact that war is something both very sensitive, dangerous but also something that we should all leave behind and improve.

The building itself requires a “new optic” capable of helping a panoptical vision to appear a vision which is dispensable if the “market of the visible” is to be established.

War is something unbeatable, strong, dangerous, no-protective. For me, war has indeed negative nature and is relatively something all people should learn about and how to prevent it and successfully end it from occurring again in the future, or at least try our best, by changing firstly, the way we feel and how we perceive things.

Choosing the archive - research= Archaeology in Sheppey When I was researching in the Sheerness library, I came across many articles about mines, WWII bombs etc., washed ashore. During WWII mines where located along most of the coasts (1948-1949). The isle of Sheppey, played a protective role during WWII, as its location, favored indirectly, the hide out of greater London. The isle of Sheppey was the decoy for the enemies, as back then, they thought that “the swale” was river Thames. This protective role was mostly important during the Dutch evasion at 1667. During the ‘Napoleonic wars”, (1803-1815), the Queen of England orders for the blue town dockyard, to be completed.

Archive- archaeology. In those words there are common meanings, the archive on its own, its something historic, it belongs to the past. The building itself is an archive of its own existence, like replacing the dirt of the building site, with a construct that echoes its own purpose of existence. I believe that the ideas of archiving should be totally linked with the site. Link sets of memories, that attach to places, and then I can choose my archive material, and a program that can become experimental in relation of the memories itself.

Mapping - Choosing Leysdown

Trip to sheppey On the island I spotted exciting looking industrial structures, complex pipes, like metallic entrails. I visited the charity shop, where I found WWI and WWII items like flying helmets, uniforms, hats and belts. At site 3, Leysdown, the seafront is bleak with a pebbled beach and a grey concrete seawall. There are numerous amusement arcades. On our way from Sheerness to Leysdown, we passed blue town, where, I spotted a guardian gnome factory with stone ornaments, roman centurions, scantily clad goddesses etc. this figures, brought me closer to the “archeological” idea. We tried to get closer to prisons, but its restricted access. Same, site 2, isn’t accessible from the road either; you can only access it with a ferry.

Leysdown site analysis and context - Maunsell sea forts

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S 1 view to the Maunsell sea forts

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2 view of site 03 looking south

3 amusements arcades

War museum in Athens, Greece - Index of items in the collection

medals

badges

bombs

steel remains

gunpowder bombs

soil remains-blood

soil

poison

medals

flags

swords

photographs

anchors-ship remains

bullets

armors

newspapers

tanks

shield

letters

aircraft remains

carbines

uniforms

articles

airplanes

Spatial planning - process of the archive The archives center, collects preserves and provides, access to archival documents that complement the center’s exhibitions, research and collecting programs. The center serves as a repository for archival collections, through Sheppey and Kent and acquires additional collections in support for the center’s exhibition, research and collection programs. The collections, will complement the center’s artifact holdings, and will be used for scholarly research, exhibitions, publications, documentary productions, school programs, and other research and educational activities. The collections are particularly rich in archaeological elements, and mostly war remains and fossils.

Some of the collections are acquired by donation. The center’s ability to acquire and care for artifacts and archival materials in all physical formats, and to generate contemporary documentation, gives it a unique capacity to record the complexity and richness of the memorial experience.

The archive center, will be offering opportunities for fall and summer internships. Intern projects; involve processing, (arrangement, description and rehousing archival collections) cataloging and providing reference assistance to on site and remote researchers. All interns will be contributing to the arch center, program by preparing collections for research use, disseminating info about the collections.

The internship focuses on collection, processing and description. We will be depending on volunteers, to process collections respond to injuries, and help with special projects.

Idea of the rusty facade - cor-ten

The archive center makes its collections, both physically and intellectually accessible. Because not all collections, are fully processed and described, our catalogue, will be provided for each collection found.

Once the material arrives in the collection repository, the first step is to check for mold, creepy crawling and anything else you would rather wasn’t there. If the collections do not require any treatment, then the cataloging process can begin in earnest with a thorough look through the collection.

Archivists need to have a good knowledge, of all collection material, to understand the potential significance, of what they find but as the first person to look at the papers, u are also often seeing previously unknown elements of their life. Archives often contain documentation of projects that either never quite got off the ground or were never seen to fruition.

Although everything has a potential research value, this has to be weighted against the cost of preserving it forever, bearing in mind the financial and environmental burden of a climate – controlled strong room. Archives continue to accumulate and every year their require more space.

There are some things in the collection that are just never going to be looks at by anyone, and so there is no point in keeping them. A good archivist would never dispose of something just because they did not know what it is; but you have to consider whether it really evidences or demonstrates anything.

SEA FORCE BUILDING All items in a collection, appear to have been, carefully selected, when actually is just that they weren’t thrown away.

Is it more important to the collector to remember and document the past or to lay in a stock for the future? Or is it always about both…?

AIR FORCE BUILDING

GROUND FORCE BUILDING program diagram

Precedents

Haus der Essener Geschichte - Scheidt Kasprusch

João Luís Carrilho da Graça - Archaeological museum at the Castle of São Jorge, Lisbon 2010

Caixa Forum, Madrid, Herzog de Meuron

History Museum in Berlin facade

Design development - plans

Maunsell sea forts During the WWII there were many secret projects carried out by civilians often in odd locations and places. On completion, the civilian work force was usually dispersed and their function having been fulfilled, the project passed into obscurity.

In 1956 the Army, decided the forts could serve no further use and with the aid of an admiralty crane from Chatham dockyard, removed all of the heavy guns and equipment from the 3 forts. The exterior of all the forts was given three coats of bituminous paint, the last coat being camouflaged. The interior walls were painted paled green and cream. Towers took about 8 weeks to construct and were completed about 2 every 2 weeks. There were built at this pace since they could only be sighted in high spring tides, which occur once a fortnight. The towers, were constructed in a definite order, the first hour to be sunken in any group had to be the beau-fort tower, as it was able to defend itself until other towers arrive and it also contained the cooking messing facilities for the crew. The other towers then, had to follow in correct oÂŹrder, to avoid difficulties in maneuvering them into position.

The Bunker Archaeology

Bunker Towers -> worked as look out points reflection of brutalism in materials fortification have a protective nature strong and solid, subtle aesthetic nature Bunkers are appealing as a case of intuition and also as a coverage between the realityof the structure and the fact of its implantation alongside the ocean.

These solid inclined masses of concrete, manage to martial interest only as a vestige of the WWII, only as an illustration for a story, the story of total war. there is protection behind the Bunkers.

A complete series of cultural memories came to mind as this piece of artillery fortification, could be identified as a funeral ceremony. These littoral boundary stones, were to teach us much about the specific era.

The objective is solely archaeological (relation with the archive nature). Those grey forms, would transmit part of their mystery. There is an interesting analogy between the funeral archetype and the military architecture.

When someone observes the sea, it seems endless and melancholic.

Concrete-> war Sea -> nature, relaxation.. Two different ideas that support one another.

Military structures: A homogenizing process is under way in the contemorary military structure, even inside the three arms specifications: ground, sea and air is diminishing in the wake of an aeronautical coalescence which clearly reduces the specificity of the land forces.

Design development - plans

Initial idea of interior - atmospheric collage

Atmospheric collage

Geology of the cliffs The cliffs between minster and warden bay, are like large parts of the isle, composed of London clay, and over-consolidated clay, which gradually looses strength under the stresses, which are imposed by the slope of the cliffs. Within the cliff “strata� (over 400ft thick) there are, near the upper surface, and just below the surface loam, thin layers of gravel, known as Head Gravel, and Bagshott beds. These are, a composition of thin sand, and pebbles. There are minor sand and gravel layers but they have little or no affect on the over riding problems presented by the London clay itself.

Atmospheric collage

Development models - experimenting

Development models

Model - scale 1:200 close views

Atmospheric view - dramatic nature - relation with the Jewish Museum in Berlin, Germany

Site plan - scale 1:2000 Environmental Aspects

wind 2-9 m/s 52 % of days, 956 mm per year -5 to 27 degrees 4.2 range

Site model - scale 1:500

Basement - plan 01 scale 1:200

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Ground floor - Plan 02 scale 1:200

First floor - Plan 03 scale :1:200

view to basement from ground floor.

Second floor - plan 04 scale 1:200

sea force areas air force toilets ground force

Terrace - Plan 05 scale 1:200

public areas

Section AA scale 1:200

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Elevation

Making of the final model - scale !:100 Materials: concrete, sand, steel

3D perspectives

3D perspectives

3D perspectives

Close-up pictures of 1:1 prototype - Cor-ten architecture facade - intelligent skin

Interior view - bullet exhibition

Interior view #02

Precedents for the intelligent skin This cor-ten rusty facade, conveys the atmosphere of fortification and brutality of war. war remains remind me of something that has been abandoned for years and has been rusted and left behind untreated. nine sixteen meter high facade plates are located at the north part of the center creating a rusty facade. they are placed in such way (45 degrees) when someone is facing the buildings directly from north to south, he cannot have a complete view of what is happening inside the courtyard. this attracts people that are passing around the buildings to go and visit and explore the interior and also exterior places. 0-

Szatmary Palace

Video snaps

I would like to thank Ibi, Bari, Zigiant, Venia and Jake for helping me with this short video..