Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe
architecture as a filter Peter Eisenman’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe is composed of a vast and ordered field of pillars of varying heights. By situating the memorial within the city center of Berlin, and through the design of this field condition, Eisenman achieves an acoustic landscape which challenges feelings of connection and alienation both at an urban scale as well as an individual scale. The 2,711 polished concrete pillars or ‘stelae’ range in height from knee level along the edges of the memorial increasing at the centre to the height of a one-storey building. The undulating topography in conjunction with the stelae creates an interior space within the context of the city. Proceeding towards the core, the city begins to drift to the back of the mind as one is engulfed by pillars and gradually unable to see beyond the field. The obstructed horizontal views and fragmented visual and aural surroundings create a sense of disorientation and isolation from the distant shouts of guards and passing traffic. Each footstep reiterates this experience. When standing between the long sides of the rectangular stelae, the nearest sounds are trapped by the two concrete surfaces that are closest to one’s ears and are subsequently amplified. In contrast, with a few steps forward, ambient sound is diffused and reflections are dispersed as one emerges into an aisle created by the short sides of the stelae. Though such a subtle effect may be overlooked in our conscious thought, our auditory sense registers these shifts and shapes our overall experience. Contrasting conditions are discerned and a mapping of the speed and path travelled through the memorial can be recorded. The field acts as a filter of both external and internal conditions, a process through which we gain an altered perspective of ourselves particularly in relation to others.
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