MEMORY PARK DESIGN COMPETITION
IDEAS CONTEST
Project team:
1. Paolo Galantini (Team Leader)
2. Marco Biondi
Location: San Giuliano di Puglia, Campobasso
The path that crosses the Park is marked by three distinct but consequential moments that evoke Pain, lead to Recollection and symbolize the Rebirth.
ACHE
The architectural sign is broken, essential, strong and dynamic. It evokes the telluric movement that indelibly marks the surface of the ground, through a clear cut in the ground. Access to the park takes place from all the public roads that surround it, Corso Vittorio Emanuele III and Via Giovanni XXIII. The entrance along Corso Vittorio Emanuele III allows you to choose between an open-air path, which crosses the turf, and an underground path in correspondence with the external one. The original plantings and greenery have undergone exclusive restoration interventions. In this area of the park a commemorative work of art is placed, circular in shape, about five meters in diameter, driven into the ground with two vertical openings. Such cracks can be crossed by people, who in this way become part of the commemorative symbol. The underground path, paved with wooden slats, is also accessible to the disabled and leads inside a tunnel where the sensation of pain is amplified by bas-reliefs, with commemorative figures and names of the victims, bathed by streams of water that they come out like tears from the walls folded by suffering. Large seats are integrated into the design of the path, representing moments of rest and prayer. Linear cuts in the roof structure allow a grazing light to penetrate inside and capture the atmosphere. This is the phase of pain, also manifested by the physical structure of the place where the drama is recalled. The tortuous and broken path creeps into the ground like pain in the hearts of relatives and friends.
COLLECTION
The architectural sign is linear, static, clean. A serene space for recollection has been created for prayer and commemoration. The school floor is made sacred by the water that surrounds it. At the exit of the underground path we enter the second area which symbolizes the phase of commemoration and leads to recollection. The atmosphere is made even more solemn by a small sculpture representing an ever-burning flame, placed on a small island in the basin between the floor and the exit from the tunnel, or at the intersection of the first two fundamental moments that mark the path. On the south side the water falls towards the lower level of the Park, where it is collected in a small linear basin with acoustic dampers that cancel the noise of the fall. At the lower level of the Park a path is created between the vertical veil of water and the embankment that supports the school floor. In this way it is possible to come into direct contact with the embankment wall, which is restored and reinforced with masonry and reinforced concrete, with a deliberately rough language that enhances the commemorative aspect, rejecting any scenographic element. The blade of water, with its almost static effect, acts as a transparent protective screen, and defines a commemoration area in which the visitor can experience the sacredness of the wall more intimately.
REBIRTH
The strength of the trees rebirth is such that they come out of the ground in an explosive way and forcefully split the surface of the square. The split, the strength, of rebirth is therefore evident in the eyes of the spectator.