Cultural Genocide and Memorialisation Who Remembers the Armenians?

Abstract

The intentional and systematic destruction of a group’s architecture drastically compromises their ability to exist as a collective unit. The destruction of the built environment not only destroys the material evidence as the unique genius of the group and the sense of stability which architecture provides, but also comprises the group’s ability to transmit it’s collected memory throughout the group. This condition results in the decay of the group. This condition is evidenced by a case study of the Armenian genocide, in which Turkish forces targeted the Armenian body and actively destroyed extensive amounts of Armenian architecture. Currently, the Armenian people share no common built environment in which to provide the group with stability or facilitate in the transmission of their memory. Consequently, the Armenians struggle to exist as a collective. As an effective means to address this condition, an Armenian memorial design is proposed. A review of memorial precedents found the most significant aspects inherent to memorial design to be; the need to acknowledge the event that instigated loss, the need to provide a sense of resolve in conjunction with the nature of the event and also meditate tension between the two conditions. In addressing these aspects, the proposed memorial works to provide the Armenian group with a sense of stability and facilitate in the transmission of their memory in order to re-establish the Armenians as a collective group.