Project name: Silent City
Client: The Architectural Society of China (ASC)
Tangshan Urban Planning Bureau (TUPB)
Object: Tangshan earthquake memorial park
Size: approx. 100 hectare
Stage: concluded international competition
Team: Joakim Kaminsky, Fredrik Kjellgren,
SEEK; Nina Gorfer; Sarah Cooper
Visualisation: SEEK

hi-res plan
hi-res perspective
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section10.dwf

dwf viewer

Landscapes and cities contain information layers. These layers can exist physically, they can be visible or invisible, they can be abstract like cartographic grids, or remembrances. 

DESCRIPTION

SILENT CITY -TANGSHAN EARTHQUAKE MEMORIAL-

Landscapes and cities contain information layers. These layers can exist physically, they can be visible or invisible, they can be abstract like cartographic grids, or remembrances.

For Tangshan the layer of the 1976 earthquake will always be present, in the collective memory of its inhabitants and through its physical remains.

For the memorial park we propose a monument that is omnipresent throughout the whole park constituting one of its many layers. Juxtaposed to greenery, paths and daily life remembrance becomes a natural part of the park.

The dichotomized relationship between grief and hope, black and white, past and future reoccurs throughout the project materialized in the relationship between the message stones, the lanterns and the two parts of the ruin.

SWING LANTERNS
A flowing grid of swing lanterns stretches throughout the park luring the visitor forward. As a contemporary interpretation of the traditional Chinese rice lamp the swing lanterns become a symbol of remembrance and hope. To achieve visual and spatial variation they vary in scale and density creating lantern cities and places of solitude. The lanterns interact with their surroundings in a number of ways. Blowing in the wind interior bamboo chimes make a clanking sound. The lanterns also duplicate as swings and illumination.

MESSAGE STONES
Upon entering the park one passes a carved out block made up of 240.000 black stones placed in metal meshes. Visitors are free to pick up a stone, write a message on it with white chalk, and place it at their own special spot in the park. Eventually the walls will be torn down and spread throughout the park by the combined actions of thousands of visitors creating individual places of remembrance.

THE RUIN
The ruin is treated in two ways. The bulk part of it is left exposed to forces of the elements. On the ground the bushes are replaced with a water surface mirroring the ruin and emphasizing the beauty of its decay as time goes by. This part of the ruin is to be watched from the outside as a monument. The other part is incorporated in the museum, it is to be restored so that visitors can walk safely through it. Shielded from the elements it will be preserved in its present state for future generations.

THE MUSEUM
The museum is positioned strategically in connection to the entrance and the ruin. Part of the ruin will be incorporated in the museum. After passing an introductory exhibition visitors can walk safely through the ruin.

THE PARK
The park consists of intervened layers of topography, vegetation, water, paths, swing lanterns and message stones.

The topography mainly follows the slow natural inclination from southeast to northwest. Small hills are added to provide variation in the spatial experience and a larger viewpoint hill provides an overview of the landscape. The vegetation grows denser along the borders of the park forming a shield for the interior. The vegetation varies between grass, reed, bamboo and trees. In the area closer to the entrance the vegetation is strictly organized, but throughout the park it grows naturally.

Water is used throughout the park in ponds and streams. The ruin water pond is the center of the water system and from here it stretches throughout the park.

The paths are made out of white gravel and connect the various parts of the park, occasionally they widen to form fields and sometimes they turn into bridges made out of white painted wood spanning over water or reed. When black message stones are placed on the paths they stand out against the white background.

WALKING THE PARK WITH SHENGUANG
The Silent city memorial park has just opened. Shenguang, who lost her mother in the disaster, welcomes it. She hasn't got a grave to visit and the monuments downtown seem so impersonal. Here, she has heard, one may create ones own place of remembrance. As she approaches the park she can clearly see the entrance. The black gabion walls are massive but as people pick stones from them they will diminish. She chooses a soft round black stone. On the other side of the wall she takes a bit of chalk that is provided, writes a few words on the stone and walks into the park. From here she can see the ruin and the museum, but she is not to visit them today. Instead she takes a walk to find a quieter place. All around lanterns are hanging. They seem sad, yet light and bright. She follows their direction; they lead her into the park. As she continues the paths turn smaller and the vegetation wilder. There are not so many people around. There are white concrete platforms along the path where people have put their stones. After a while she comes across a beautiful pond. She stops there and walks up to one of the lanterns and takes a seat in the cocoon. Here she sits for a while and listens to the silent sounds of the park, leafs that whisper into the wind, rippling water in the stream nearby. Rocked by a mild breeze she fells asleep and dreams of childhood memories with her mother playing in the park. A bird wakes her up and she walks out of the lantern swing. The morning fog has disappeared and the sun shines onto the white lanterns. She starts walking along the stream and looks at the colorful flowers and the Ginko trees. When getting closer to a pile of stones she takes a black stone and read the text that are written onto the shiny surface. It is a sad but beautiful poem that gives her strength. As Shenguang continues her walk she feels that for the first time in thirty years she has a place to remember her mother.