1914 AUG 23 MEMORIAL
Client: Dinant Municipality, Belgium
The commemorations for the centenary of the First World War, throughout Europe, have seen the proliferation of cultural enhancement projects of great relevance.
A no less important event, which took place on 23 August 1914, led the municipality of Dinant, in Belgium, to announce an international competition, for the construction of a contemporary memorial.
Below are some pictures of the competition drawings that Kascen's team won in February 2013
Brief introduction to historical facts:
In August 1914, German troops invaded Belgium and attacked some villages and small cities in Wallonia. In Dinant, roundups caused the deaths of 614 people, mostly civilians.
how to bring justice to their memory after a hundred years?
This was the question that occupied my thoughts for days.
Then the idea!
Their names had to be written in the light and through them it was necessary to glimpse the blue sky!
In this way I tried to think about a structure within which to enter in.
An open environment but immersed in the penumbra.
A durable construction made with an evocative material such as corten steel can be.
On the steel plates, each name of the 614 victims, would then be engraved with the laser-cut technique so that it could be read from the inside.
Their names written into the sky.
Names through which light could filter and illuminate the internal environment.
The form to be given to this unusual "memory container," had to be rendered in an equally full of symbols shape. A simple geometry therefore was the ideal solution.
Not a static solid form, but almost as if it had fallen, the volume is inclined and penetrates the ground and to access it you have to go down a few steps, make yourself humble ... enter the shadows as in a crypt, where the light is not the candles, but the names of the fallen people ...
below are some pictures of the construction of the memorial
My role in the realization of this project was to design the memorial and independently produce the competition tables for Kascen. In a moment after winning the competition, the graphics that would be engraved in steel were designed together with graphic designer Laurent Sick. The construction company Les Atelier Triplan, took care of the realization of the works, under the supervision of Jean-Sebastien Ernoux and Nicolas Stevens.
for this project I also made the executive and detail drawings and the CAD graphics for laser cutting
THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION
