2016 Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers - (im)permanence
Snell’s Window Snell's window is a phenomenon similar to a fisheye view by which an underwater spectator sees an ultra-wide hemispherical scene of what is beyond the surface of the water. Snell's window opens onto a mythological space in which we have built our body of work as an autonomous practice. The work in this portfolio uses Snell's window as a device by which to portray the impermanence of architecture. The series of renderings contained within are fragments of timeless pieces of architecture, which can only be assembled by the viewer of these selected moments. These moments collected and catalogued are stills in a flip book animating what is a seemingly static physical structure into a kaleidoscopic experience, a temporary, virtual condition. Snell's window, as a liquid medium, embodies the merging of the virtual and the actual, thus this work is always in a fluctuating, impermanent state. Each project's aperture is framed within an historical context, which serves as the ground to produce the factors required for the amalgamation of architectural silhouettes. The silhouettes are distorted to an extreme to reflect viewpoints lasting as long as one's attention span in today's society. This portfolio is not an essay in distraction, but one with a cadence bending light as a fleeting device portraying time's nature of passing without notice. Each project within will only last as long as Snell's window is open to capture the light seen in a world beneath the sea of the endlessly transitory.
NOTE : All works in the portfolio are competition projects.
Competitions
Negro Building Remembrance
Atlanta, Georgia
2015 Burnham Prize
Chicago, Illinois
2012 Chicago Prize
Chicago, Illinois
Designing for Free Speech
New York, New York
Hello Nature
Omne Mountain, Sweden
Reimagine the Astrodome
Houston, Texas
Dear Architecture
New York, New York
Changing the Face
Warsaw, Poland
2014 Chicago Prize
Chicago, Illinois
Triangle Fire Memorial
New York, New York
2012-2016
The Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers: (im)permanence
Stream of Glass Negro Building Remembrance
Atlanta, Georgia
Paul Laurence Dunbar has been called the poet of his people. The themes of his poems use the words dream, sympathy and mask, evoking the great facades of the Afro-American experience, all of which were concealed. These facades were concealed because they disguised the true worlds of nineteenth century Afro-Americans and their factual lives. The Stream of Glass monument constructs a physical portal that symbolically spans the one hundred twenty years since the Cotton States and International Exposition, acting as an unmasking of the tactile portraits of Dunbar’s people. One hundred twenty years ago, and just thirty years after the Civil War, a building stood in Atlanta representing the Afro-American people for a mere lifespan of just three months. Our remembrance of the Negro Building will construct variations of its structure acting as a time- based monument on its historic ground from 1895. The accumulation of these variations will memorialize the moment in time from 1895 as a series of symbolic vaults for current and future global generations struggling for civil rights daily, in order to express free speech, just as Paul Laurence Dunbar did during his lifetime. The concept of tranquility is the antithesis of Afro-American endeavors embodied in the writings of Dunbar. The physical structure of the monument represents the three months of time that the Negro Building stood at the Cotton States and International Exposition. The monument encases reflecting pools in which islands of light are floating within Dunbar’s so-called Stream of Glass, as mentioned in his poem Sympathy. The sitting areas around the reflecting pools are open to each and every individual visiting and inhabiting the Stream of Glass. The Stream of Glass is one of tranquility and is timeless just as are the poems of Dunbar. Within the Stream of Glass the islands of light are inscribed with the words of Dunbar’s poem Sympathy. These words are mirrored into the reflecting pool creating an animate monument in remembrance of the Negro Building. Site The site of the Stream of Glass monument surrounds the exact location of the Negro Building from 1895. The former building’s footprint is reconstructed as reflecting pools depicting the Stream of Glass. Directly above the Stream of Glass reflecting pools are a series of levitating vault systems representing the Negro Building’s roof structure. The literal location of these elements on the site preserves the Negro Building in a present day monument representing 1895. Materials The following ephemeral materials will assemble into the Stream of Glass monument, all of which will resonate long after visitors have inhabited the monument. Light, both natural and artificial will illuminate the monument’s allegorical faces, displaying the dynamic and ever-changing nature of the Stream of Glass. Sound, of water and voices, fill the Stream of Glass with murmurs of 1895 and 2015 simultaneously within the monument’s reflecting pools. Vision, reflections from past, present and future generations condense into the Stream of Glass as constructed in the monument’s tubular structure.
The 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition was held at the current Piedmont Park in Atlanta, Georgia. Nearly 800,000 visitors attended the event. The exposition was designed to promote the region to the world and showcase products and new technologies as well as to encourage trade with Latin America. The Cotton States and International Exposition featured exhibits from several states including various innovations in agriculture and technology. President Grover Cleveland presided over the opening of the exposition. But the event is best remembered for the both hailed and criticized "Atlanta compromise" speech given by Booker T. Washington on September 18, promoting racial cooperation. The Exposition was open for 100 days, beginning on September 18, 1895 and ending December 31, 1895, attracted visitors from the U.S. and 13 countries. Over $2,000,000 was spent on the transformation of Piedmont Park. The government allocated $250,000 for the construction of a government building and many states and countries such as Argentina also had their own buildings. Also constructed for the fair were the Tropical gardens, now known as the Atlanta Botanical Garden, and Lake Clara Meer which was originally a pond but was expanded to 11.5 acres (47,000 m2) for the event. Today, the stone balustrades scattered around the park are the only part of the enormous main building. The park remains largely as Joseph Forsyth Johnson designed it for the exposition. The supervising architect for the entire fair was Bradford Gilbert. The exposition included many exhibits in the categories of Minerals and Forestry, Agriculture, Food and Accessories, Machinery and Appliances, Horticulture, Machinery, Manufactures, Electricity, Fine Arts, Painting and Sculpture, Liberal Arts, Education and Literature. About six thousand exhibits were examined and beautifully designed medals were awarded. The Awards Committee awarded a total of 1,573 medals: 634 gold medals, 444 silver medals, and 495 bronze medals. In late September Charles Francis Jenkins demonstrated an early movie projector called the "Phantoscope." The great American band master John Philip Sousa composed his famous march, King Cotton, for the exposition, and dedicated it to the people of the state of Georgia.
Continuous Skyscraper 2015 Burnham Prize
Chicago, Illinois
The Lucas Museum will symbolically act as an analogy of a labyrinth. The recurring themes of George Lucas’s work directly coincides with the labyrinth in the form of a monomyth. The dual experience of both inner and outer paths of the labyrinth will complete themselves as visitors return home from the Lucas Museum with the gift of the hero’s journey. This gift contains an understanding similar to any personal journey, and what is required and sacrificed to complete it. Both the risk and the reward of Lucas’s heroes are now physically represented as an iconic architectural symbol in the museum which bears his name, exhibits his collections and furthermore educates new generations of storytellers. “A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.” The Hero with a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell Journey : Individual or group visitors will experience a cyclical two part journey throughout the museum. The two parts are an inner and outer journey depending upon the sequence selected to view the four programmatic elements. Part one of the journey begins at the entry court of each program, acting as its’ directional center. Visitors will spiral inward to the museum, revealing Lucas’s life work and bliss. The inward journey is organized chronologically, in order to understand the events as they occurred. The outward return journey for visitors represents a process of renewal. The outward journey of renewal is a lesson of achieving personal growth. The overall labyrinth-like structures of the museum reinforce this lesson externally as a highly symbolic architectural icon for Chicago. Education : The educational center of the museum operates independently of its’ working collections. The center will award Lucas fellows the opportunity to conduct film and animation research in the museum’s archive. School children’s field trips will involve hand’s on workshops in the center’s digital and analog classrooms. The educational center’s role expands the museum’s mission of continuing the development of new storytelling methodologies beyond the physical boundaries of museum. Expansion : The four labyrinth-like structures of the campus also contain a built-in option for future expansion of the Lucas Museum. The opportunity of future expansion is available via two construction methods. First, the initial small site footprint for the museum complex leaves a great deal of the lakefront property open for landscaping and continued public recreational use. Second, the stacking inverted arch forms will structurally expand outward as needed and horizontally connecting to other parts of the museum. The two construction methods work in unison to stabilize the overall evolving form of this dynamic growing entity of a modern day museum.
Architecture is in a critical state. With digital software erasing its history, architecture needs a radical new city of preservation. With this being said, the state of architecture lies in building types that do not yet exist. Architects have selective memories about the history of architecture, and therefore cannot perceive beyond their own legacies. Thus architecture finds itself in an era of so-called digital expansion, but it is really in a state of constant repetition. The digital expansion of software and its ability to rapidly generate diversity is a direction that architects have blindly embraced. But rather than embracing the digital realm, architects should be including precedents of historically analogous structures into the process of design, producing a state of architecture in which traditions of building can evolve forward into possible types of cities for the future. Starting with building traditions and their physical, rather than digital, presence will ensure the continued development of lessons for today and future generations as new technologies are introduced and old ones become obsolete. In other words, digital invention is a falsehood that could be transformed and rebranded as radical preservation.
Introducing histories past, present, or forgotten will unlock architecture’s digital controls and radicalize all structures for possible long-term preservation. Preserving the history of architecture in a digital condition can also continue physical lessons beyond the university and into working offices. Architecture firms would therefore not develop a singular style, but instead could adapt with an on-going state of architecture. To encapsulate architecture’s contemporary moment is a phenomenal opportunity, and one which requires broad perspective. The notion of radical preservation is timeless; it simultaneously includes the past and future states of architecture. The current state of architecture lies in desperate need of radical preservation to keep our building traditions from being lost through recurring digital nightmares.
Prentice & the Pauper 2012 Chicago Prize
Chicago, Illinois
Goldberg Storytelling Center Storytelling is a form of talk therapy. As in Mark Twain's well known story, the newly constructed tale of the Prentice & the Pauper physically links two unacquainted characters. The relationship between the Prentice & the Pauper reveals a cyclical life lesson applied in the present day context of Chicago. Can the engineering marvel of the Prentice and its historic position be retold to a new generation by the Pauper; via the introduction of a common architectural element? In this new tale, the Prentice plays herself, and the role of the Pauper is performed by a civil servant known as Staircase. The life lesson of the Prentice & the Pauper is a simple one... A city is a story, & every story is a city. Everyone has a story. Stories adapt & change over time as a direct link to the storyteller. Storytelling is a disappearing art form. The FUTURE PRENTICE will elevate everyone to tell their stories. The Goldberg Storytelling Center provides a platform for expression. A staircase elevates everyone. FUTURE PRENTICE design process builds FOUR Storeys of Matter. Solid Storey = Static condition Ground plane lacking any space for public use. Podium building conceals poured in place concrete marvel. Liquid Storey = Non-equilibrium condition Remove Podium building’s curtain wall & floor slabs. Bed tower made into a one storey auditorium spaces. Gas Storey = Equilibrium condition Water basin is symbolic storytelling archive. Staircase creates cantilevered landscape. Plasma Storey = Public condition Atrium delivers natural light to all four storeys. FUTURE PRENTICE creates a platform for people to gather.
Whispers to Washington Designing for Free Speech
New York, New York
Conceptual ground the WHY. The 1st Amendment is a living thing, growing and changing everyday. The 5.2 million tress of New York City symbolize both the freedoms of the 1st amendment and its’ citizens. Before New York City was settled by the Dutch, five trees in the boroughs were mere saplings, waiting to grow along with the city and the country. These five trees, one in each borough, are the oldest and tallest living things in New York City. Three of the five trees have even been named the following by the city : The Dinosaur, The Clove Park Colossus and The Queens Giant. Our project will assemble five tree-like canopies, representing each of the oldest trees as a haven for the 1st amendment in Washington Square Park. The tree canopies of New York City shade roughly one-quarter of the city. Shade is the space of the 1st amendment, acting as a protective arbor, a roof formed by trees, allowing all citizens of America a place to gather and express their 1st amendment rights. The five newly constructed canopies will each be built to the exact heights of the five oldest living trees in New York City. The shade the new canopies produces will acoustically whisper to millions. The shade under any living tree in America will come to be known as the space of the 1st amendment. Everyday citizens will relax in the shade and their voices will whisper the timeless volumes of freedom.
Reclaimed ground the HOW. George Washington found comfort in the shade of the tree known as “The Dinosaur” during the Revolutionary War. The Dinosaur is estimated to be at least 300 years old and is a 110 foot tall English Elm at the corner of 163rd Street & Saint Nicholas Avenue. In the New York City park named after him, citizens will express the freedoms of the 1st Amendment in the shade of five new canopies. The new canopies will encircle the area around the Washington Square fountain forming an arbor about which free speech will revolve. Washington Square Park’s history was transformed in the late 1950s and early 1960s by an act of free speech. A group of Greenwich Village residents lead by Jane Jacobs protested Robert Moses’s extension of 5th Avenue through the park. “Save the Square” campaign lead to the preservation of the park and the removal of all vehicular traffic from its boundaries. The free speech of “Save the Square” is a touchstone event for the citizens of New York City and created the opportunity to gather freely under the protection of the 1st Amendment. The 1st Amendment allowed citizens to present their own proposal for Washington Square Park and therefore reclaiming former streets as new public space for the city. This reclaimed ground is where the 1st Amendment will be symbolically planted to establish a space of shade where voices at the level of a whisper will be heard by all. Whispers to Washington - ( sheltered ground ) .
Sheltered ground the WHAT. The five new canopies that represent the oldest living trees in the five boroughs will come to rest in Washington Square Park. The five canopies will be actors in the play of free speech encircling the park’s fountain. The role of the lead actor is played by The Queens Giant, a 134 foot tall Tulip Popular with a circumference of 19 feet. Standing just 20 feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty, she will be a living beacon for the 1st Amendment. The Queens Giant, along with The Dinosaur, The Clove Park Colossus and a pair of Oak trees will be recreated in sculpted canopy forms. The sculpted canopy forms will be at five different heights according to the particular trees. The shaded space under the canopies is the sum of individual voices sharing a collective experience. The universal themes of the 1st Amendment will be defined on this sheltered ground in Washington Square Park. The ever changing conditions of shade created here will be a physical reminder echoing the sounds of past, present and future acts of free speech. Each day and night The Queens Giant will whisper her anthem, spreading the 1st Amendment into the aura of New York City’s atmosphere. The Queens Giant, along with her four other actors, are guardians of the 1st Amendment, never sleeping, yet always embracing the new whispers of free speech in the park saved by one of its’ freedoms.
Hello Nature - Hello Yggdrasil Hello Nature
Omne Mountain, Sweden
An ash I know there stands, Yggdrasill is its name, a tall tree, showered with shining loam. From there come the dews that drop in the valleys. It stands forever green over Urðr's well. (Poetic Edda, stanza 19) Yggdrasil is the World Tree, whose mighty trunk is the spine of the cosmos, acting as the path between the Nine Worlds/Planets, with roots that dig deep into the underworlds of fire and ice. The branches of Yggdrasil soar high to the heavens and the great feasting Halls of the Shining Ones. Sacred Yggdrasil, grow within us on Omne Mountain. Concept A special tradition that is shared by many Scandinavians is the planting or the knowing of a unique tree (Yggdrasil, The World Tree) in Swedish called a Vårdträd, and in Norwegian a Tuntre; a sacred tree planted in the center of the yard on a family farm that reflects an intimacy with nature. The caring for the Yggdrasil demonstrates respect for ancestor’s spirits that were/are believed to reside in the tree, and it is a moral reminder of caring for the natural world. In Swedish folklore the Vårdträd is associated with the family's happiness and success. To harm the tree or even break the leaves of it were considered to bring misfortune and illness. There are myths and legends of the Yggdrasil with its guardian spirits or goblins, living in the tree and whose presence was to protect the family’s farm. The tradition of sacred trees in Scandinavia goes back to the pre-Christian Viking Age. There are many Scandinavians who are no longer aware of this tradition and in future generations many of the beliefs and the trees themselves may disappear. This project, Hello Nature - Hello Yggdrasil, is built as a preserve to the World Tree and i!t’s traditions acting as a living universal symbol of nature’s mythologies for all who visit the site. Design: Program & Preservation Visitors to the Hello Nature - Hello Yggdrasil site will experience two inter-connected programs. The two programs are the Vårdträd Cultural Center and the hydrotherapy baths which surround it. A central island acts as an oasis for the Yggdrasil, a giant ash, with a series of treatment pavilions positioned at its perimeter. This World Tree stands over Urör’s well preserving its ecology and representing all the myths associated with it. The hydrotherapy baths & changing rooms surrounding the central island are powered by a geothermal well field that runs hundreds of meters below the surface of the site area. The geothermal well field supplies all the water needed to sustain the Yggdrasil and provides either cooling or heating of the hydrotherapy baths per the season. On both sides of the Atlantic, newly emerged insects and pathogens of ash trees give additional meaning to the phrase “ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” Chalara ash dieback disease has already affected an estimated 90 percent of ash trees in Denmark and Sweden and 80 percent in Poland, where the disease was originally discovered in 1992. In Europe, the ash's prominence in traditional medicine and in Nordic folklore makes its loss seem all the more conspicuous. Ash trees, like the Yggdrasil, brings together different worlds -- the worlds of animals and plants and the worlds of human history and culture. If such unity is to continue to exist, ash trees must remain a part of this world. The Hello Nature - Hello Yggdrasil project represents the linkage between the natural and the mythic worlds, acting as a model for an educational & recreational environment based on a legend from centuries ago.
King of Texas Reimagine the Astrodome
Houston, Texas
On Thursday night September 20, 1973, Billie Jean King rode into the Astrodome like Cleopatra on a crimson-draped litter before a crowd of 30,472, for a $100,000 winner take all tennis match against Bobby Riggs. She rode out the King of Texas. Sports are a microcosm of society. Three years earlier on September 23, 1970, women’s professional tennis was born in Houston when nine players, called the Original 9 and led by Billie Jean King, signed symbolic $1 contracts. Howard Cosell wore a tuxedo to announce the ABC broadcast of “Battle of the Sexes”, live from the Astrodome on September 20, 1973. One of Cosell’s favorite sayings was, “What is popular isn’t always right, and what is right isn’t always popular”. Billie Jean King epitomized Cosell’s aphorism by demonstrating women’s equality to a worldwide television audience of approximately 90 million people in 37 countries. ( a larger audience than both the 1973 & 1974 Super Bowls. ) During the time-span of this competition, a very unique anniversary for the Astrodome (09.20.2013) passed without being adequately celebrated. This project physically represents the 40th anniversary of September 20, 1973 as a pivotal moment in earning respect and awareness for gender equality as a universal freedom. In other words, the most historically noteworthy event that ever took place in the Astrodome was a battle, a “Battle of the Sexes”. Billie Jean King and the Original 9 used tennis as a platform for social change. The Original 9 set a path for others, which can be described as celestial, therefore, the Astrodome site will now symbolically represent their return to the city of Houston. During the same year as the “Battle of the Sexes” in the Astrodome, the U.S. Open become the first grand slam tennis event to offer equal prize money to both woman & men players. Two counter-intuitive elements are used to Reimagine the Astrodome. 1. Tennis = Billie Jean King’s role in the “Battle of the Sexes” 2. Gender Equality = the Original 9 who signed $1 contracts
Grand Central Time Dear Architecture
New York, New York
Oh Architecture We have had enough of you, and we will never have enough of you. Is there a time when we will give you up? A time spent not building your structures or breaking them apart, but a time in which we let you be. If we, citizens of Spaceship Earth were to leave you alone, what would you do with yourself? More importantly, what would we do? We, at least many of us would settle for less, a less structured position to our darling Architecture. With a less formal relationship, we would be freed from your “right” angles and turn left into the unknown spaces of our imaginations once again. Imaginations, which we need to envelop as a frontier untapped, once alive with personal intuitions. Oh Architecture We struggle for your love, as your lofty position is secured in a fortress without doors. Will you liberate yourself from the location as high priestess and distribute your gifts to us commoners? You remain a mystery to us, as you only reveal the citadel’s exterior facades, and without any compromise we are obligated to leave behind our centuries old love affair with you. As we withdraw, we wish for a single passage into the depths of your sanctum, revealing the lacuna we desperately desire. The gap between our wishes and your lack of openness is seemingly unbridgeable. This span is ever increasing and will do so until you yield to our yearnings. We will now retire from your company, and bid farewell to our love of the ages. The journey homeward without you as our companion leaves us shelter less and full of uncertainty. If you reveal your secret to us, we will share it will all the inhabitants of the planet. The universe of your knowledge allocated to the planet would restore our lustful relationship to the moment of its inception. Oh Architecture We citizens will never depart your specter. The aura you create is one which allows us an unforeseen vision into our own reflections. Our interiors are overflowing with your single ever-present gift; the gift of a discipline based historically and consistently in the art of practice. The art we citizens will continue to practice is an individual act. The act to practice is drawing the language you taught us as the first procedure constructing our mind’s structures and spaces perceived as unbuildable. Drawing is the beginning of a seemingly impossible relationship with you Architecture, but its act repeatedly marks the process we long for in your absence. We said previously that we are leaving our love affair with you Architecture, but drawing as our discourse always returns us to your embraces. Always yours, Citizens of Spaceship Earth
Roto Sea Changing the Face
Warsaw, Poland
THE LEGEND OF THE WARSAW MERMAID A long time ago, a prince from the Mazowsze Region took his men and went hunting. In the forest, he saw a wild beast and was determined to kill it. He was close enough to shoot at it the arrow from his bow, but as he took his aim, the beast suddenly disappeared. Thoroughly surprised, the prince decided to stop at the nearby river for a drink of water. As he bent over to drink, he saw the mermaid. The mermaid told the Prince to follow the arrow she shot from her bow. The prince followed the arrow along the river's edge until he reached a clearing. In the clearing he saw a run-down fisherman’s cottage under a large oak tree. He went to the cottage to ask for food. Inside, the Prince saw a young woman sitting by the fireplace feeding her twin babies: a boy and a girl. The young woman shared her food with the Prince. After the meal, the Prince and the young woman sat in front of the cottage and looked out at the river. The prince insisted that the young woman name her baby son, Wars and her baby daughter, Sawa. He told her to clear the land around the cottage and plant crops. He gave this land to the young woman and her children. He knew that they would work hard to make the land valuable and a village would result. This village would become Warsaw. As the young woman listened to the Prince, she saw the mermaid rise from the river's waves. The mermaid said the village would grow into a beautiful city because of the hard work of the simple fisherman who chose to live there.
44 Vaults 2014 Chicago Prize
Chicago, Illinois
The American dream can become an architectural dream, a dream that can be realized by an individual or by a building. This mythical achievement is accomplished everyday by ordinary people in America. Once the American dream is realized by individuals and through buildings alike, we have reached our frontier. This ever-changing model of the frontier continuously reshapes who we are as a country, and Barack Obama is the forty-fourth president to carry on this tradition of democracy. The Barack Obama Presidential Library and Museum with its cantilevered vaults symbolizes the democracy of an architectural dream in the City of Chicago, and for the United States of America. The cantilevered vaults of the Barack Obama Presidential Library and Museum support two interconnected entities. The vaults metaphorically support both the president and the people of the country simultaneously. Without one or the other the ideals of the country and the architecture it represents are fundamentally unstable. The vaulted structure of the facades also links the interior and exterior spaces into one unified and stable whole. The multiple shifting volumes demonstrate the delicate balance required in structuring a successful country that an architecture can also embody. The vaulted exterior structure transfer their loads to multiple interior walls in order to anchor a visually gravity defying structure. This architectural mirage is the American dream made physical in the Barack Obama Presidential Library and Museum as a demonstration to the public of what can be achieved in this country.
The recent media coverage surrounding the announced Barack Obama Presidential Library, drawing bids from contenders New York, Honolulu, and Chicago, once again initiates the desire for speculations and projections. As the fourteenth of its kind, this civic institution will not only function to house a collection of artifacts and documents relating to the president’s life but will also provide an educational infrastructure and framework for outreach and community programs. Although the Presidential Library, as a museum-library hybrid, is perceived as a great contribution to the public it serves, criticism has been raised regarding its true civic function. Both the Chicago architectural community and public at large recall similar controversies that still remain unresolved for the Harold Washington Library.
CHARGE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For this year’s Chicago Prize we are calling for speculative proposals for the Barack Obama Presidential Library to initiate a debate in order to rethink and redefine this particular building typology. Within the context of the city, is this institution a stand-alone monument or rather a forum of social-urban interaction and an active extension of a President’s legacy? Would it be considered as one of the civic components of Chicago’s public library system or does it remain autonomous? At its best this is a cultural institution providing a place for the exchange of knowledge, the creation of dialogue and debate, and last but not least an urban niche to read and write.
Bellwether City Triangle Fire Memorial
New York, New York
The Triangle Fire Memorial physically represents the union of these two cities in the form of a musical instrument. The vertical site of the Triangle Fire Memorial is built on the sound of one hundred forty-six bells. A bell is created for each individual who perished in the Triangle Fire on March 25, 1911. Each victim’s sacrifice still resonants as a bellwether, each of whom altered New York City. The facades of the former Asch building are alphabetized vertically and one hundred forty-six bells are dispersed based on both the eleven age groups of victims and gender. Eleven female and nine male age groups create a total of twenty different bell types. ( i.e. There are two bells each for fourteen, twenty-six and thirty-one year old age groups which equal a total of six bells, all of which are female. In the largest age group of victims, twenty-three bells represent the eighteen year olds, of which 22 are female bells and 1 is a male bell. ( see chart below ) ) Bellwether City is suspended, her sound dwells in the air, and in all who hear the Triangle Fire Memorial. HUMAN PERFORMANCE Annually on the morning of the Triangle Fire anniversary, the bells on the third to the tenth floors will be removed from both the Washington Place & Green Street facades. The bells will be placed inverted at street level parallel to their corresponding facade. At 4:45 p.m. each March 25th the one hundred forty-six bells of the Triangle Fire Memorial will be struck simultaneously. The bells will remain inverted at street level until the morning of March 26th.