Designing Memory
The Architecture of Commemoration in Europe, 1914 to the Present

This innovative study of contemporary memorial architecture explores how design can translate memories of human loss into tangible structures.

Sabina Tanovi? (Author)

9781108707824, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 29 September 2022

287 pages, 52 b/w illus.
24.4 x 17 x 1.5 cm, 0.464 kg

'A fascinating insight into the meaning behind our memorials – where design intent has to mediate personal psychology, politics and collective experience. Tanovi? is especially good on the ambiguous philosophical underpinning of an art and architecture practice that too often superficially rests on its laurels without questioning its own assumptions.' Robert Bevan, author of The Destruction of Memory

This innovative study of memorial architecture investigates how design can translate memories of human loss into tangible structures, creating spaces for remembering. Using approaches from history, psychology, anthropology and sociology, Sabina Tanovi? explores purposes behind creating contemporary memorials in a given location, their translation into architectural concepts, their materialisation in the face of social and political challenges, and their influence on the transmission of memory. Covering the period from the First World War to the present, she looks at memorials such as the Holocaust museums in Mechelen and Drancy, as well as memorials for the victims of terrorist attacks, to unravel the private and public role of memorial architecture and the possibilities of architecture as a form of agency in remembering and dealing with a difficult past. The result is a distinctive contribution to the literature on history and memory, and on architecture as a link to the past.

Introduction
Part I. Scaffolding Memory: 1. Commemorative architecture since 1914
2. The dual role of memorial architecture
Part II. Case Studies: 3. Memorials to the victims of terrorism
4. Memorial museums
5. War memorials
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Terrorist attack [JPWL2], Memory [JMRM], Military history [HBW], Genocide & ethnic cleansing [HBTZ], 21st century history: from c 2000 - [HBLX], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], Memorials, monuments [AMGD], Architectural structure & design [AMC], Theory of architecture [AMA], Architecture [AM]