Synopsis:

Memory exists in every aspect of our lives; any minor gesture from our surrounding can become a portal for series of memories, just like the ripple effect of a drop of wine echoing in a wine glass. Therefore, one is in a constant tension between the state of remembering and its day today routine, both in the physical and the metaphysical states.

Today, more than a hundred years after the Triangle Fire tragedy that took place in New York, the need of a physical reminder which will tell the story of its victims is requested. The main challenge as we saw it is the disparity between the presence of memorial structure in the daily routine of students, travelers and pedestrians.

The main concept of our intervention on the façade was on the one hand not to cause unnecessary tragic burden and on the other hand creating a noticeable memorial structure that will delicately remind the street pedestrians of its past events.

In addition, the building now serves as the Faculty of Science and Arts of NYU, which can be interrupt as a source of knowledge and inspiration to students studying there. Therefore, the design intervention on facade of the building especially on the street level should serve the people lives nearby and become an integral part of their daily activities.

 

Concept:

The delicate quest of re designing the façade was challenged via a simple method of defining a new order to the rhythmical elements of the original façade. The understanding that the lower phase of the façade should be dealt differently than the other 9 floors was fundamental to the design process.

We designed a wall which spreads over the entire corner of the building which creates an oriented flow to the façade. The names of the victims are exposed gradually from the curved slots in the wall. Adding places for the students and pedestrians such as: billboard for street exhibitions, benches for meeting & relaxing and planters was necessary in order to enrich the public space experience nearby.

The design for the rest of the facade was primarily an attempt to produce spatial frames around the windows which appear gradually up to the eighth floor where the fire burst.  In order to create a 3D sense for the add-on and not a flatten form of decoration the singular fragments had to be combine into one whole entity. That structure, which was created as a sequence, spreads over the facades asking to remind us the horrific fortunate event that took place in the building.

The notion of time has an important role in the "memorial state". In order to inflict the importance of residues of time on the structural entity we chose an oxidized materials such as cor-ten, steel and copper which enable's textural changes as time will pass by and by that will make a symbolic gesture to the important connection of time and memory.

 

Designers: Nimrod Meir Levi, Roy David