Memorial of Duality
Memorial of Duality
Memorial of Duality
Memorial of Duality
Memorial of Duality
Memorial of Duality
Sited at the eastern terminus of 42nd Street, across the water from the United Nations headquarters, this museum-memorial tower takes the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre as its subject and duality as its architectural logic. A glulam–steel composite structure shifts vertically along the tower’s 65-metre height, timber dominating above and steel gradually asserting itself below, until the base meets the water. Motor-operated wood facade panels open and close against a stainless-steel mesh skin, producing constantly shifting conditions of visibility and concealment. Visitors choose between two circulation paths — direct or wandering — moving through floors dedicated to exposure, research, contemplation and resolution. The building doesn’t resolve the tensions it raises. That’s the point.
