The Way We Knew It Left It. Ellipsism Part I

Ellipsism: a sadness that you'll never be able to know how history will turn out 

There's a fine line between morals and doing it for your own sake. Every now and then we would be presented with some kind of catch twenty two situation that could eventually haunt us a lifetime.

It's quite a morbid situation to consider really.

Last year on a trip to Venice, we spent two days at the Venice Biennale to understand the types of issues (the exhibition was titled 'Reporting from the Front') that have been raised in the past years. Issues ranged from underpayment, exploitation to poverty and social housing.

And then there was the past.

"The Evidence Room" - an installation is a recreation of the book with the same title that reflects on one of the darkest events that ever occurred: The Holocaust. Walking around the white, grey and ghostly wash of the room gave a sense of forbidding and guilt, as fragments that were taken from the concentration camps were plastered silent yet loudly on the wall. Despite the bleak and hollow feeling the installation provided, there was a sense of sadness as we come to the realization about the impacts we could have upon as designers. Let alone, it becomes quite terrifying to realize the mistakes we can make based on one deadly decision. Walking into the room was somehow frightening albeit thought provoking. For someone who has yet to visit the darkest places in history, where marked is a sign that says 'work will set you free', it made me realize how precious a life and life's journey is.

It's quite awful to see how single turn of events can happen through small changes we make to something. As I have mentioned in my previous articles, how we see or present things through our own eyes can shortly change into a drastic connotation let alone denotations. It goes to show how powerful yet terrifying the human mind can become once we activate our various thinking.

Through the past three years of my bachelors, my humbling internship in Hong Kong - it can really open your eyes about how a single line to appear on your drawing or even a missing statement or context can completely change the aspect of your own project. It never really occurred to me until I was witnessing more crits during our mid or end of semester presentations. However, having said, it made me become even more pedantic and precious with the work I involve myself.

With that being said, I'd like to understand about the aftermath of certain architecture, or as I'd like to put it the aftermath of an accident that involved the architecture. From Hadid's Soccer Stadium accident, to the collapse of the green roof during an exam in Hong Kong - do the people who were involved in the design process of the building feel any remorse for the unfortunate incident? At what point does our guilty conscious start and stop within our own field of profession? Are we supposed to completely disregard the guilt and move on? Or are we to carry the guilt like a ball and chain so that we would become more invested in our next project in order to remove this incident?

The idea of having total control within a design is always the best possible idea for many architects, especially in order to guarantee that what they have envisioned would manifest into a reality. But what happens after the development? Would the architect be able to walk away and not look back at how their building has evolved over time? Personally, being the protective person I am I tend to hold on very tightly to any projects that I create - and always have a very hard time parting with any of my hand made designs as they would later be in someone else’s care.

Perhaps then, we need to consider the aftermath of every project and also what becomes of it in the hands of the user. Furthermore it is also the consideration of whether the client and the architect would also continue to communicate as the finalised product continues to evolve.

Thinking back to my first visit of the installation, I'm not here to criticize or condemn those who make the decision for the designing of the concentration camps, rather I want to understand those who went in with a ruthless mind and simply allowed these actions to happen.  There is that sense of sadness really, that violence and hatred that are the underlining of certain types of destruction. Let alone, we must also remember that we should value morals, rather good morals to say the least in order to continue to produce a better society.

Having said, though morals are integral to how we function, it is the education and upbringing that we will need to focus on in order to understand how the world could develop into a better place. Moreover, it is how and what we would be educating to the next generations that would affect the thinking.

*The Evidence Room