Memory platform

design research

Kostas Manolidis, 2014

 

During the World War II, the German occupation army in Greece destroyed 1170 villages in retaliation for partisan activity. Many of them, mostly old mountain villages, were afterwards entirely deserted with their burned buildings rapidly falling apart. Close to such a ruined settlement, namely Ano Kerasia at Mount Pelion, I locate the proposed commemorating structure. It’s a square earth platform slightly elevated from the ground and covered with local stone in the fashion of the numerous old paved paths that connect the Pelion villages. A number of scattered rectangular plots on the platform surface remain unpaved with their vegetated voids resembling the footprints of ravaged houses.

This landscape intervention using only the abundant mountain stone will serve as a silent reminder of the place’s past. At the same time it may offer a point for repose and contemplation to the mountain trekking groups that frequently cross the area.