Landscape of Recitation
While the tragedy of the tsunami defies memorialization, commemorative practice offers solace in the face of loss, succor amidst chaos. We intentionally propose a gentle recasting of memorial conventions: discrete sites of contemplation modestly submit to +the power of the land itself . A path to intimately scaled outdoor rooms, randomly dispersed in the densely forested topography, leads circuitously to the proposed educational center/museum building. In contrast to the magnitude and monumentality of the catastrophe, the proposal seeks a humble state of recognition. Through direct empirical discovery of the self in nature, the path reveals both the horrors of natural catastrophe and the immeasurable humanitarian effort in the aftermath. Architecture frames nature and human nature in its dialectic of destruction and renewal. The design intends to embrace the nature of existing site conditions both at programmatic and physical level. Programmatically, the design proposes new development of park trails as major elements of the memorial. These trails are provided as public network system within the National Park for its access and use as recreational site as well as alternative route connecting the highway to the Andaman Sea. Presently, the site is rarely used by general public because of the lack of generous park trails. Along the path, the landscape conjures up the experience of moving through the verdant foliage, among rubber plantations and bamboo groves carefully cultivated as climatic screens, and visual foils to the recitation rooms. These rooms are constructed of translucent concrete embedded with matrices of optical fibers. These pixilated light patterns create a text recording the date and time of the catastrophe in thirty-eight languages spoken by people whose lives were affected by this disaster and who joined together in the humanitarian effort. Together they form a path that connects the land to the Andaman Sea.
Location:
Khao Lak, Krabi Province,
Thailand
Year:
Finalist, Tsunami Memorial and Museum International Design Competition 2006
Design Team:
Raveevarn Choksombatchai, Andrew Shanken (historian); Will Oren, Sudthida Cheunkarndee, Dong Suh
Honors and
Exhibitions:
Tsunami Memorial and Museum Stage II Design Competition Finalists Exhibition, Bangkok 05.3-7.06
Tsunami Memorial and Museum Stage II Design Competition Finalists Exhibition, Phangnga 05.6-9.06
Tsunami Memorial and Museum Public Exhibition, Central Park, Bangkok 06.1-7.06
