A Tale of Two Pasts: Ephemeral Reality and Monumental Memory

How exactly is the past remembered and is its recollection factual? Can we really speak of remembering when the commemorated materials evidently serve historically unrelated motives? Guided by those questions, this paper will argue for a de-monumentalizing approach towards the architecture of memorials. The thesis stresses the usage issues of architectural commemorative apparatuses. The process of memorialization, regardless of its context, leaves ever-changing impressions of a past, rather than faithful reproductions. Individual or collective, they are often tinted narratives aiming to emphasize particular conditions from incompatible times and spaces. Essentially, this thesis confronts the ephemeral reality of the past to the permanence of the architecture of memory. Finally, the thesis will propose a design for a Civic memorial on Ottawa’s LeBreton Flats. A focus on the community’s investment on the site, the project aims to demonstrate that the locality and spatial definability are essential to the integrity of the memorial.