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Project Description:

This proposal takes the position that any and all war memorials since Maya Lin's "Wall" are inadequate to represent the "facts, acts, and consequences of war", either in the era that originates them or after the briefest passage of time after the memorial's completion. Once upon a time memorials were erected by a homogenous community that collectively was able to grieve for losses that were understood to be communal and to valorize ideals that were believed to be shared values; in our now pluralistic world there is no common "we" and hence no possibility to create enduring and meaningful symbols with which "we" can collectively identify. The Vietnam Memorial was/is a monument to a collective consciousness (regardless of whether one speaks in favour or against that war), but that memorial is also a marker, at least in North America, identifying the end of the possibility of a national consciousness; the "Wall" is a tombstone marking the end of North American nationhood as a single entity (one that was white, Christian, democratic, economically privileged by global standards, etc.) and the marker signifying the rise of a multivalent national culture.

If a meaningful war memorial is no longer possible, what then to do with all of the prime urban sites already dedicated to such constructions? The proposal is to re-signify those spaces: if these spaces once gained meaning via their deep symbolism, they can now be allowed to again play meaningful urban roles by increasing their functional and public capacities. These sites are intended to be, keeping with the original intentions of the memorials that will remain within them, places of quiet contemplation, standing in sharp distinction to the surrounding city.

The case study that is here examined is that of the Cenotaph in Ottawa, which forms the end of the Parliamentary district at the intersection of Wellington Street and Elgin Street. The Cenotaph exists on a hard and open plane of stone, which forms a traffic circle for fast-moving drivers more attentive to jockeying for positions at street lights than to the meaning the Cenotaph was intended to carry (an irony given the tomb of the unknown soldier within).

In this proposal, the site is planted with mature Pines to the greatest possible density. Pines are selected for symbolic reasons in that they signify life, longevity, and immortality, but moreover for practical reasons. The dense covering of these trees provides year-round protection from wind and sun, and the lower portions of the trees are pruned to allow for strolling visitors. Paradoxically, if there is any hope of invigorating the Cenotaph it is by concealing it. Upon approaching the new forest grove that due to the pines' extreme height can be seen from afar, visitors catch glimpses of the memorial within. In this way, for the curious, it becomes again a source of contemplation, but for most others, its stone base ultimately provides a welcome node within the city for a chat, a picnic, personal introspection, and perhaps new contemplation of the cenotaph.