MEMORY WALK

Master's Project I:

Architectural Mnemonic;

The Accumulation of Memories

Supervisor:

Hüsnü Yegenoglu

Technical University of Eindhoven (TU/e)

Sep - Jan, 2019

Project Location:

Zeeburg Cemetery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

How to remember forgotten places? How a collective memory can be brought back to life?

Zeeburg Jewish Cemetery is located at Amsterdam, holding in itself different layers of history. From being the funerary landscape for the poor Jewish community to the playground for kids at the time of war to an ecological area with wild vegetation and rare species of animals. Visiting Zeeburg Cemetery today needs constant reminding of its history to recall that this location is where Jewish bodies are laid.

Over-grown plants, anonymous gravestones, and unreachable grounds, all help in hiding the memory of Zeeburg.

The concept behind the design process is three-fold: 1. The whole design is elevated in order not to disturb the original body of the cemetery. 2. Dealing with the remembering process of what is forgotten about Zeeburg. 3. Revealing the hidden layers of the history of Zeeburg.

The remembering process is aimed to be resolved through the process of walking. “What is being forgotten in modernity is profound.[...] Now the cities are not made for walking” (Connerton, 2009).

There is a connection between memory and walking, memory and place, and memory and feelings. Each design stage aims to give people the opportunity to observe, remember, and memorize.

To make this walk through the cemetery more memorable, different experiences are merged with the activity of walking and each part delivers a unique atmosphere.

Connerton, Paul. 2009. How Modernity Forgets. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

There are 2 sets of paths:

- The natural route that is already in place as the result of use of the land.

- The designed route that is divided into 2 parts:
1. The Connector Paths that connect the site to its surrounding area (park, neighborhood, streets, etc) and different function points together.
2. The Site Tracker Path that follows the natural boundaries of the site and reveals different atmospheres of the Zeeburg Cemetery.

Along the Connector Paths, 5 Function Points are designed to represent the multi-layered history of the Zeeburg Cemetery. As mentioned, through time (1714-2020), this location has been the face of many symbols. Among all, five functions have been nominated to complement the journey of the visitors.