-
July 16, 2018Memorials for Unsuspecting Victims: 15 years after the 9-11 competition
Laser light veil - "A Letter to Our Future". Image: David Marlatt.On July 25, the Cultural Facilities Committee will present a lecture and discussion reflecting on how designers create memorials in the wake of the 9/11 Memorial competition. The last fifteen years have been marked by numerous tragic events (mass violence, terrorism, hate crimes, etc.) and the discussion of memorials to remember these events. The design of these memorials has generated a complex dialogue in the design community about how we memorialize the victims. Our program will reflect on the ideas expressed in the 9/11 Memorial competition and consider methods to promote better design and construction of memorials today. Lester Levine will provide a retrospective on the competition by presenting examples from a variety of entrants to highlight the important characteristics that formed the zeitgeist of this seminal competition. The presented approaches will represent the confluence of previous tendencies in memorial design, as well as innovative ideas and precursors to contemporary trends. This presentation will be followed by a panel and audience discussion to reflect on the trends explored in the 9-11 competition and drive a wider dialogue about what we should be doing as a society and design community to memorialize tragic events.
Cultural Facilities
The Cultural Facilities Committee is a forum for people interested in cultural spaces and how they shape our environment. Through a variety of programming the committee examines ideas related to the design and planning of cultural buildings, as well as their impact on the communities they serve. The vision of the committee is to enrich and broaden the insight of practitioners in the design field, foster an understanding among professionals working within cultural facilities, and demystify the development process for the public.