H I R O S H I M A
H I R O S H I M A S H A D O W S
J A P A N
Whilst on a study trip to Japan I participated in a 3 day design competition, led by Japanese architect Shinichi Ogawa, at Kindai University in Hiroshima.
Working in a group with the university’s students, the open brief was to design an architectural intervention in the city. As my ability to speak Japanese was [extremely] limited I made good use of my sketchbook to communicate design ideas and won 1st place.
Created retrospectively, the above animation also won the Animation Category of the 2021 Ken Roberts Memorial Delineation Competition (the world's longest running architectural drawing contest) - which was awarded on the 76th anniversary of the Hiroshima Bombing. The animation was later displayed at the Scottish National Gallery.
Online Presentation - Architecture & Design Exchange, Dallas
The resulting design was a temporary bridge proposal, intended to span the water surrounding the Hiroshima Peace Park during busy annual events. These events include the O-bon festival and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony (which marks the aniversary of the 1945 Hiroshima Bombing). On the evening of the Peace Memorial Ceremony, and on the last day of the O-bon festival, lanterns are floated down the river to pay respects to those who lost their lives.
An arrangement of solid partitions capture the shadows that would be projected by these lanterns - as they pass under glazed sitting areas within the proposed bridge design - evoking a sobering reference to the real world “nuclear shadows” left behind by the explosion. These “nuclear shadows” capture the final moments of civilians, etched into surfaces through the extreme heat of the blast.
