Way too long updated Abstract

Still roughing this out.

Monument is an evocative and artistic form of architecture tied heavily to cultural memory; architecture for the public good. The monumental built form reflects the aspirations of the time; it ranges from colossal gestures of social prosperity to a quiet remembrance of passing. Monument marks an important piece of history; a society invested a great amount of time, resources, and artistry to express itself through this built form. Monument encompasses amazing feats of design and engineering, embodiments of religious beliefs, political statements, commemorations of victories, and memorials to our dead. Monument addresses the concerns of a society, and maintains its significance through our interpretation of a society’s past.

What is today’s monumental social concern? Climate change and global warming are proving to be this generation’s paramount concern, the effects of which have the potential to halt social and industrial progress. While architecture is a leading advocate of combating global warming through technical sustainability; this intervention calls on it to deal with the bigger social issues linked to sustainability. Living sustainably is not just turning the lights off and recycling, but it is somehow reforming a consumer based society encouraged to drive large vehicles and frequent even larger super-stores. Our actions and buying habits put power in the hands of large corporations which buys them government influence. Government and industry are some of the largest perpetrators of environmental harm, leading to massive unnatural disasters such as industrial actions, toxicity, and war.

Just as small patterns of social action lead to large scale environmental harm, so too can small actions lead to positive environmental change. Educating the masses on the consequences of their actions can allow one to reflect on their life and decide whether or not they are acting towards better living for themselves and the community.

This education should be aimed towards society at every level, from dense urban populations to typical small town America. Small town America is described by such places as Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, at one time a crucial point in an American war. Currently benefitting from tourism as well as the victim of overdevelopment, this is a site capable of grabbing the attention of the both the curious tourist and the typical American family unaware or uneducated in the benefits of sustainability. The heart of this area’s leisure and educational travel is a natural monument on the Gettysburg Battlefield known as Devil’s Den. A place of natural beauty could be a site that would generate the curiousity and controversy necessary in attracting the masses to a thought provoking piece of monumental architecture. This site would provide a definitive monument amidst thousands of classically beautiful monuments devoid of emotion and impact. It would also provide the context for viewing the power of the built form amongst nature’s grandeur as well as its fragility. Locals and tourists may love it or hate it, but it would be a testament to our desire to shape nature to our liking and the positive and negative outcomes entailed.

The public is constantly tied to war, from a simple historic curiosity to funding the oil machine that drives it. It is the product of our society’s actions today as it was yesterday. Climate change is the product of today’s society as well as that of our immediate past. This architecture hopes to experientially allow the viewer to draw these conclusions and take away something that holds the power in changing society on both the small and large scale.

1/4 Jury

Last night was rough for all of us, but there was great benefit in having outsiders. I don’t think any of us were prepared to pitch our whole thesis, and we’re going to have to really focus on the meat of our ideas to distill our descriptions to a few minutes.

I really dropped the ball on my presentation, got nervous, and did a really poor job articulating my ideas and left out quite a few that might have been helpful to the outsiders. I think they generally got the idea and there was a lot of discussion from every juror; advisors and outsiders alike.

I need an effective diagram displaying my ideas. I don’t think they could easily wrap their minds around the social issues and current relevance I hope this monument to bring up. I’m hoping to allow visitors to draw conclusions from their own actions and the actions of people in power. Basically that there is a consequence to everything, and even war can be boiled down to consumerism and the general public. I’m thinking of a diagram like a March Madness bracket of ideas/consequences/effects or something like the food pyramid.

Andrew’s one juror brought up the ideas of sensory architecture, and that is a goal of mine. A site like this brings heightened awareness of the senses, and my architecture will extend this. Sensory perception is also why I did paintings as diagrams, I’ll be searching for more emotive ways of representing ideas.

The argument of whether or not to build here is something I was happy to have discussed. Some people will be offended by it, some people will be intrigued by it. In any case it will generate discussion and controversy that will get the gears turning in visitors’ heads. My hope for thought provoking architecture will benefit from a sacred site like this. I will not back away from “you should not build here.” This is part of the attraction and crucial to the effectiveness of the project.

Some things to work on:

Abstract/script to read from/memorize for the ½ way jury. I really need to be concise and clear and not stumble on my words like last night.

Ideas/chain of actions diagram

Determining best way to approach site, continue partis through drawing and model

Thursday Night's Presentation

This is how I plan on ending my presentation thursday night. This seems to be the most unclear part of my argument, so i thought it best to focus on it. Still wrapping up the beginnings. If you have the chance to comment that would be great, but if not i hope it makes sense thursday night!

This may be too long, not sure yet. I'll add the rest as soon i get it.

Is Gettysburg relevant today beyond our desire to remember an important part of our country’s history? Is there tangible relevance to our current national and global concerns?

The answer is yes.

In general we strive to maintain our happiness without getting in the way of others. When this isn’t possible we argue and fight, when this isn’t possible between countries, or even separate parts of a single country, we go to war. This is an unfortunate and inevitable facet of humanity.

Gettysburg seemingly has lost its relevance because we have no notion of or relation to its causes or it’s dead. Its occurrence and outcome shaped the direction of our country’s evolution, but today the Civil War is mainly stuff for middle school textbooks and History Channel specials. Slavery is gone, and so is any personal memory of it and anyone who fought to keep or abolish it.

What is still relevant today is the fallibility of man and his shortsightedness in dealing with his surroundings. Today we are still at war, but for entirely different reasons. Outside of a few thousand families, we have no personal experience with our current war other than the pain at the pump. This is a pain everyone feels. At this point, few would argue against the invasion of Iraq as anything but a failing attempt to gain easier access to oil, a war whose blunders have squandered billions of dollars, ended thousands of lives, propelled gas prices across the globe, and severely damaged America’s image and value of our currency. I apologize for politicizing, but this is something that affects everyone here however slightly or greatly we feel the impact.

The men at the white house start our wars, but our society’s indifference towards unsustainable practices give those in power the incentive to profit off of our desires, be it free labor and cheap cotton in the past, or plenty of gas for our suvs and oil and timber for the vinyl siding and framing of our mcmansions today.

The thousands of lives lost at Gettysburg have their memorials, and someday those that have died in Iraq will have their own; they deserve to be remembered.

I am more interested in the larger picture that needs to be remembered. It is not the lives lost in Iraq, its not just the thousands buried in Gettysburg, its not just sustainability, but it is a reminder that an indifferent and unaware society is the root cause of unnatural disasters such as war, pollution, global warming, terrorist attacks, oil spills, and industrial catastrophes; it’s just easier to point the finger in another direction, especially in a quiet, beautiful rural setting like Gettysburg.

If monument has the power to memorialize our triumphs, tragedies, and deaths in hindsight, then I believe that monument can provide the foresight to prevent future losses through a heightened awareness of our history, relationship to each other, and to our built and natural environment. Experiencing this monument will raise questions about the big issues on a very personal level.

There is a very specific and captivating site on the Gettysburg battlefield that is the only possibility for addressing these issues. Devil’s Den is an outcropping of rocks that is millions of years old whose historical significance lasted all but a day of fierce battle. Today it is one of the most popular destinations of the battlefield tour for its natural magnificence.

It is salvation for children bored by dad dragging them around a hundred monuments, an obstacle course for those unafraid of heights, a romantic spot for teenagers on dates, and a site with hundreds of stony seats for reading, contemplation, or just taking in a beautiful view. For the most part, Gettysburg is a drive through monument extravaganza, but every car stops here. This is a vital organ of the monumental Gettysburg experience. Chances are every one of Gettysburg’s 10,000 residents, and 2,000,000 visitors have walked the paths and climbed the rocks of Devil’s Den.

This site is the greatest evidence of the topography’s power over the course of the battle. The influence nature has over man. It was named for its vicious role in the battle, a den for snipers. This land was a point for one soldier to use nature as an advantage, and the other to be its victim.

This is true for many areas of Gettysburg, but here the casual visitor can actually feel it. They can imagine the danger or safety around every turn, behind every rock.

Then they are transported beyond the battle, to the creation of the land. How the hell did they get here? How are they resting as they are, stacked like granite dominoes, some of which seemingly balance like an egg on its top end? These questions wash passersby with humility.

Here you watch your step, brace yourself on natural railings, and enjoy the view. This is a site for the unexpecting tourist to contemplate his relationship to nature, if only for a brief moment. Now that the beauty of nature has brought you here, let me show you something.

This will become a site for the unexpecting tourist to contemplate his relationship to nature, his society, his history, and the built form after I’m through. Gettysburg lacks a definitive encompassing monument; this will be collaboration between natural monumentality and that of the monumental built form. The monument and visitors center built here will utilize the land and be subject to it. Here a visitor will explore the causes of unnatural disaster, the course of our actions, and its impact through architectural installation built above, below, around, inside, in spite of, or in addition to the natural topography. In terms of technical sustainability and regeneration everything built will be LEED certified and powered with alternative energy, but it will go beyond superficial implementation. It will be a testament to the architectural hubris of man involved with manipulating nature for his vision, and his humility in adapting to nature when he cannot overcome it.

Here the civil war is still relevant, and so are today’s crises. Interest in this specific part of history will bring visitors; the topic of today’s concerns will be integrated to understand the gravity of our actions, words, and choices in our past and present day.

Like the title of Al Gore’s film, our global situation is truly “An Inconvenient Truth.” Those with influence must make it relative and experiential for the public to face these challenges and seriously contemplate change.

for monday

working on a comparison of types of monuments, their program/intent/origin, life span, user group, and benefactors

how monument goes from event - conception - completion - use - disrepair/lack of relevancy

what is the life cycle of monument

More Definition

Monument -

1. a structure erected to commemorate persons or events, erected as memorial
2. an area or a site of interest to the public for its historical significance, great natural beauty, etc., preserved and maintained by a government
3. any enduring evidence or notable example of something
4. something venerated for its enduring historic significance or association with a notable past person or thing

Monumental -

1. symbolic status and physical presence of a monument
2. exceptionally great
3. having the quality of being larger than life, of a heroic scale

www.dictionary.com

The Case for Experience

The trouble with disaster scenarios is that they are evocative. Geoff Manaugh's BLDG BLOG discusses the disaster photography of Armestre and Gomez for Greenpeace. Their images envision coastlines across the world under meters of water, the effect of global warming. The problem is, "do i care about a coastline in spain?" It feels like a photographic work of fiction, a fiction that on some levels might be cool to see someday. As long as i'm not affected where I'm at, its pretty damn interesting, right? The pictures don't describe any tangible evidence of human suffering. All Gore's imagery in An Inconvenient Truth showing Florida and Manhattan being submerged are equally scary and evocative, but have less impact than they deserve. Perhaps detractors of America would rejoice at seeing Manhattan submerged. He also describes differing opinions on New Orleans. The images of the submerged city, depending on which side of the fence you're on, show either a tragic amount of lives lost due to nature and political apathy, or a tragic amount of lives lost when they made themselves so poor that they couldn't escape and our government had to bail them out.

Manaugh also talks about "liberation hydrology" in Miami:

"The implicit, if inadvertant, message here seems to be: hey, south Floridians, and all you who are bored of the world today, sick of all the parking lots and the 7-11s, tired of watching Cops, tired of applying to colleges you don't really want to go to, tired of credit card debt and bad marriages, don't worry. This will all be underwater soon. "

A flooded Miami (ficitonal) and flooded New Orleans (actual) are a lot less exciting knee deep than from a birds eye view.

Imagery and experience in this case are wholly different things.

The point is:

My monument must be evocative through experience. The most successful monuments are experiencial, even if on different levels. I will continue to point to Eisenman's and Foster's monumental buildings in Berlin. Users define their meaning through experience. My project will be successful if I can convey the weight of our actions to the users through experiencing what, where, how, and why i build my monument.

Regenerative Monument

Lisa provided me with articles about truly green design, regenerative design. This goes beyond the idea of sustaining our environment to actively working to improve it. Ben Haggard describes it as "...conceptualizes projects as engines of positive or evolutionary change for the systems into which they are build. Rather than looking at how to minimize the impact on wildlife habitat and corridors, for example, regenerative designs look at how to increase habitat quality." It is a more holistic design in terms of integrating the process of building with the economic health and stability of the local community.

He describes 4 concepts behind regenerative development

1. Flip your paradigm - view slopes, drainages, roads, buildings, etc not as things, but as energy systems.

2. Go to the Core - understanding the dynamics that create the character of place

3. Learn from the Master - learn from nature. it naturally develops the most efficient systems.
4. Build to Place, Not Formula - utilize the particulars of a place to determine appropriate engineering and design.

In his examples he describes site specific buildings which take advantage of their surroundings in places the at have been misused previously. Communities are active in the process from conception to completion, and learn how to apply these tactics in other areas of thier life and building. All exaples given are very rural, and i'm unsure of how this works in a more developed or urban context, if it works at all there. I'll see what i can find.

Anyway, the greatest and purest monuments are built to last, so they are within the realm of sustainability. Perhaps they all require a considerable amount of resources for their completion, but ask for little more once built. The building as monument requires a considerable amount of resources for completion, use, and maintenance with a much shorter life expectancy than grand monuments.

I'm start to think that what i'm going after is not sustainable monument, but regenerative monument. Sustainable in its methods of construction and materials, regenerative in its ability to add to the physical environment in terms of energy development, water usage, and add to the cultural environment in terms of education and expressing the impact of that which is memorialized and the effects of actions on the environment.