Light and Air

Light from a Void

Location: NA

Year: 2023

Status: Proposal

Program: Memorial

Area: NA

Team: Shane Neufeld, Kristy Cho with Kevin Kunstadt

Our approach to this brief– the memorialization of the seventeen lives lost during the events of February 14, 2018 – expands upon our research in vision and optics, as well as the manipulation of form to communicate historical and emotional qualities, with a focus on context, light, and materiality. Light, and its relationship to the material world around us, is the means by which we make sense of our surroundings and our existence in general. Our design for Parkland – Light from a Void – harnesses light in such a way as to bring a heightened sense of awareness to each life lost, creating an illuminated presence out of individual absence. However, despite the specificity of the design intent, the character of the architecture remains abstract: a monument that strives for timelessness, thoughtfully removed from any historical association or style. In this sense, the purpose of the memorial is to transcend our current moment in time, and instead, operate fluidly with respect to the past, the present and the future.

“While other things come and go, are lost and forgotten, the monument is supposed to remain a fixed point, stabilizing both the physical and the cognitive landscape.” Kirke Savage

Our proposal aims to do just that - a sculptural device rooted in the landscape by which we measure physical loss with respect to the ever changing nature of the world around us.

Section drawing, cut through center of memorial structure; showing the path of the sun through the memorial on February 14th at 2:19pm (yellow), as well as on the summer and winter  solstices (gray),  and demonstrating the relationship of reflecting pool (left) to existing waterway (right). The path of light on February 14th at 2:19pm aligns exactly with the perimeter of each bench.