Hurricane Maria Memorial

Battery Park, NYC

2019

Statement:

The purpose of this proposal is to memorialize the loss of human beings who perished

in the hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and the anguish the Puerto Ricans still go through to rebuild their lives and move on. Global warming is making this agony increasingly worse.

This memorial creates a space to reflect on our human condition today and idealize a construct in a form of a sculpture that by its virtue of shape (torqued) is structurally very strong and self-supportive. The idea for this sculpture is to engage the passerby as well as the community to interact, sit, reflect and contemplate the past, the loss and what the future has entail for us, individually and collectively as a nation.

The mobius form of the sculpture is very open but at the same time creates an enclosure providing variant shade for the seating portions of the sculpture. It also frames various views towards the water, the Marina and the city as well as a resting point at axial end of the esplanade. It is to sit in the eye of the storm, conceptually in the center of this sculpture to think about climate change, sustainability and our home on Earth. Artistically It’s a tribute to resiliency of the Puerto Rican community.

The memorial dedication will be engraved into a curved band of granite flush with the existing pavers. This band mimics the tourqe shape in plan, reiterating the shape above. This subtle varriance in ground plane brings focus and directs people to the center to honor the ones we have lost.

The overall composition and the siting of this proposal will evoke a powerfull “Sense of Place”, a destination to remember, honor or simply sit and rest. Its siting on the esplanade will enhance the existing conditions and will become a focal point to meet with friends on the esplanade.

The material envisioned for the memorial sculpture is mirror finished stainless steel cladding to reflect the surrounding buildings, the sky and the people in its vicinity. The reflectiveness of the material will provoke a sense of bewilderness and curiosity to discover and know more about the art piece. The seats will be made of solid surface material, waterproof and easily maintained and cleaned.

The structure, will be made of rolled sainless tubes forming a two way truss. It will be ballasted and anchored to the ground. The structure will be dry-fitted off site and transported to the site in two to three pieces and erected in a short period of time. The cladding will be pre attached to the structure before transport to the site. The solid surface seat panels will be vacume formed off site and installed after the main structre is erected. The entire structure will be rotproof and low maintenance. Both Steel and Solid surface can be broken down and reused after the life cycle of the project .They are both sustainable materials that can be reused with very low carbon foot print.

Lighting will be via low voltage LED flexible strip lighting recessed and embedded at the base of the sculpture. The lighting strip follows the form of the structure, always downlighting, creating a halo of mobius form at nights.