Andrey Chernykh
5 The cloud of dust was rising behind us as our car sped up in the south direction from the Field to find a camp ground for the night. We drove along the defined diagonal path that circled the ground zero in the middle of the two converging trajectories of the measuring towers. Around the centre I managed to trace a low mound,
heavily grown in, bending around the centre akin to the defining brush stroke on the canvas that completed the image of the Field for me. The Cartesian alignment, long distances, scattered cryptic structures, all reinforced a sinister intent. Media’s portrayal of the nuclear era and its images of mushroom clouds left a lasting impression on our collective imagination. The Ground Zero felt like a black hole pulling you in, commanding you to pay attention even if testing infrastructure was no longer there. During an opportunity to visit a site such as this, one couldn’t help but project those images onto the site. That precise relationship created the sublime feeling of the landscape. The Field, albeit utilitarian in its form, was designed with an approach straight from an authoritarian playbook, by establishing visual centre of gravity, via view corridors among built form is a universal language of attention, power and command. The degree to which the nuclear site is preserved is a sign that today’s Kazakhstan still grapples with the dark Soviet past, as locals look towards the future trying to reconcile their relationship with the monuments of communist regime. The structures are products of the people and a specific time period in history. Their scale and purpose serve as important reminders of the past leaders’ recklessness in the pursuit of power. What is remarkable is that the structures proved to be able to vividly record the surrounding biophysical processes and military operations on their concrete surfaces. What the site awaits now is a thoughtful preservation and re-purposing of its artifacts in their natural setting. This next step will be an important chapter in this young country’s history – an act reinforcing a local commitment to reconciliation with a turbulent history and creation of a new economic and cultural asset for the region. n
above: The water filled crater in the centre of the Field site left: Concrete blocks with various angles of inclination used to measure the intensity of the force of the blast Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Range, Ground Zero. ‘Photographic Images of the Results of Nuclear Detonation on August 29, 1949’. Appendix to the Report, by Beria and Kurchatov to Stalin, on the preliminary data obtained during the test of the atomic bomb The central tower before and after the experiment, from a distance of 500 m below: Looking back from the centre of the Field site, towards the vanishing geese towers in the distance
On Site review 35 : the material culture of architecture
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