Tomasz Bekas

Project Location 
Wałbrzych, Poland 

Topic 
Landscape Regeneration National Park 

Program 
Culture Memorial, Museum 

Remembrance place in a former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp Gross-Rosen in Rogoźnica 

The project is based on the former Nazi concentration camp Gross-Rosen. It explores the relationship between the physical and imaginary properties of architecture. Focusing on the emotional aspect of the reception of the stimuli made it possible to establish a model of links between memory and space allowing the visitor to recreate deteriorated spaces 

Touching upon the relationship between the space of memory and the memory of space is an attempt of addressing the issue of the almost completely deteriorated structure of Gross-Rosen, a former concentration camp in Rogoźnica. Attempts to confront such a challenging structure gave rise to a new model of the relationship between memory and space by placing the visitor at the center as a medium for connecting overlapping realities. This process aimed to highlight that the key purpose of places that bore witness to tragic events is to make a person contemplate. Only a narration such as this can increase social consciousness regarding the mechanisms that need to be opposed and prevented in the future 

The desire to recreate an adequate interaction with memory in the context of the events that took place during World War II pushed the research work in the direction of the emotional experience of the visitors. A conclusion was reached that some of the emotions experienced in martyrological places overlap with those experienced in broadly understood architectural spaces. Stimulation of these emotions using various different tools became the primary goal of the project. Using modern materials and forms made it possible to modify those elements of the structure that had already been altered in a way that would amplify the unique aura of the place instead of recreating the historical space. The focus was shifted from reconstruction to extraction of the intangible and non-physical message. The main axis of the project is the act of putting the visitor in the center and focusing on their personal, inner experience. Both their physical and internal path lead to creation of an intimate dialogue with the surrounding space. The simplicity and austerity of the materials facilitate comprehension of specific spatial techniques used in the project. The emotions evoked by navigating through the designed space focus on i.a. the feeling of scale, weight, texture, as well as light intensity. The contrast, contradiction and challenging familiar archetypes and proportions push the visitor out of their comfort zone and established understanding of the reality. Each design element is the result of the framework adopted to recreate emotions. For example, the feelings of distorted scale and asymmetry increase the anxiety on the way to the gate of the camp. Such intertwining mechanisms create a cohesive path through the area of the former camp. Altering the existing structure using imagined space as a design tool allows the visitor to fill in the gaps using their own personal experience of interacting with the space of the former camp. Therefore, the place adapted specifically to „experience memory” becomes the result of the search for the relationship between space and memory