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Contrabands and Freedmen's Cemetery Memorial Design Competition
Contrabands and Freedmen's Cemetery Memorial Design Competition
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Contrabands and Freedmen's Cemetery Memorial Design Competition
Firm
The Contrabands and Freedmen's Cemetery Memorial Design Competition
seeks design submissions from architects, landscape architects,
artists, students, and other interested individuals to memorialize and
honor those who are buried at Contrabands and Freedmen?s Cemetery in
Alexandria, Virginia.
The site was established in 1864 as a burial ground for African
Americans who fled slavery, seeking a safe haven in Union-controlled
Alexandria during the Civil War. More than 1,800 people were buried
there over the five years that the federal government managed the
cemetery. After 1869 the cemetery may have been used unofficially by
families as a burial ground but was likely not maintained formally.
Over the years, the site has been compromised and hundreds of graves
lost from a number of actions: the removal of soil from the cemetery
for brick making; the adjacent development of two major highways; and
the construction of a gas station and office building on the sacred
site. Most people were unaware that a burial ground survived under the
pavement on the commercial property until historical research began to
reveal the presence of the cemetery in 1987. Community interest and
archaeological investigations over the last ten years have resulted in
an appreciation for the cemetery, the largest historic African American
burial site in the city, and its long forgotten story. While other
physical sites that recalled the once-considerable African American
presence in Alexandria have been lost, the City of Alexandria acquired
the property in 2007 in order to remove the buildings, reclaim the
cemetery, and create a memorial.The Contraband and Freedmen's Cemetery site
retains significance on many spectrums of a larger context. This story is of
the ground going back to the 18th century, succeeding towards the now-times,
waiting and has been uncovered by generational unveiling of lineage. What has
passed now becomes a memoir.
The flight to freedom retained habitation
on ground level. This proposal is about of emergence and unveiling. The staging
of a beacon of hope for freedom for those who have been enslaved, oppressed,
retained beyond will.
Many a generation has gone back to the
ground, unsung, unheard, without knowing who they have or had been. Thus, we
want to to sing a song. This song is to come out from within the depths of the
abyss, within ground, beyond memories.
The response to the sacred remembrance of
those who of the past buried is to create a centralized monument of
beacon-hope. A brick layered well, sitting within a crescent. Fired Old
Virginia sand-finished clay bricks will be used to layer the well. Each to be
embossed on the surface with names of those who have passed. An embodiment of
their existence.
As the excavation and digging happens
within the grounds of the cemetery graves, this proposal calls for the building
of upwards at the adjacent proposed site outside of the excavation area.
Upon entering the crescent, one would
encounter the texture of sand and seasoned timber planks on ground. This
enhances sensory towards the soiled grounds of this sacred site. The damages
that has been incurred before. The crunching of sand and gravel against the
feet resounds the enslavement of struggle, the timber planks emergence of
freedom.
The crescent folds around with its back
towards the northern edge of the site, retaining the echoes of the sound within
it. The proposal sits in consideration of the adjacent neighborhood and context
to not overpower the existing conditions. However, the unfolding faces towards
the WoodrowWilsonBridge
revealing its integrity as a monument.
Three types of trees are proposed as new
addition plantings surrounding the crescent. The Scarlet Oak. The Tulip Poplar.
The Silver Maple. All three are enlisted within forestry preservations and
native to context. By autumn and spring the proposal glistens. Autumn leaves
withering dies to ground, and spring bloom brings life again, as so were the
decantated memoirs of the Contraband and Freedman.
And so, beyond the bonds of slavery and
torment, one holds dear to their hearts the memorialized Contraband and
Freedman Well. We shall call this;
FREEDOM
seeks design submissions from architects, landscape architects,
artists, students, and other interested individuals to memorialize and
honor those who are buried at Contrabands and Freedmen?s Cemetery in
Alexandria, Virginia.
The site was established in 1864 as a burial ground for African
Americans who fled slavery, seeking a safe haven in Union-controlled
Alexandria during the Civil War. More than 1,800 people were buried
there over the five years that the federal government managed the
cemetery. After 1869 the cemetery may have been used unofficially by
families as a burial ground but was likely not maintained formally.
Over the years, the site has been compromised and hundreds of graves
lost from a number of actions: the removal of soil from the cemetery
for brick making; the adjacent development of two major highways; and
the construction of a gas station and office building on the sacred
site. Most people were unaware that a burial ground survived under the
pavement on the commercial property until historical research began to
reveal the presence of the cemetery in 1987. Community interest and
archaeological investigations over the last ten years have resulted in
an appreciation for the cemetery, the largest historic African American
burial site in the city, and its long forgotten story. While other
physical sites that recalled the once-considerable African American
presence in Alexandria have been lost, the City of Alexandria acquired
the property in 2007 in order to remove the buildings, reclaim the
cemetery, and create a memorial.The Contraband and Freedmen's Cemetery site
retains significance on many spectrums of a larger context. This story is of
the ground going back to the 18th century, succeeding towards the now-times,
waiting and has been uncovered by generational unveiling of lineage. What has
passed now becomes a memoir.
The flight to freedom retained habitation
on ground level. This proposal is about of emergence and unveiling. The staging
of a beacon of hope for freedom for those who have been enslaved, oppressed,
retained beyond will.
Many a generation has gone back to the
ground, unsung, unheard, without knowing who they have or had been. Thus, we
want to to sing a song. This song is to come out from within the depths of the
abyss, within ground, beyond memories.
The response to the sacred remembrance of
those who of the past buried is to create a centralized monument of
beacon-hope. A brick layered well, sitting within a crescent. Fired Old
Virginia sand-finished clay bricks will be used to layer the well. Each to be
embossed on the surface with names of those who have passed. An embodiment of
their existence.
As the excavation and digging happens
within the grounds of the cemetery graves, this proposal calls for the building
of upwards at the adjacent proposed site outside of the excavation area.
Upon entering the crescent, one would
encounter the texture of sand and seasoned timber planks on ground. This
enhances sensory towards the soiled grounds of this sacred site. The damages
that has been incurred before. The crunching of sand and gravel against the
feet resounds the enslavement of struggle, the timber planks emergence of
freedom.
The crescent folds around with its back
towards the northern edge of the site, retaining the echoes of the sound within
it. The proposal sits in consideration of the adjacent neighborhood and context
to not overpower the existing conditions. However, the unfolding faces towards
the WoodrowWilsonBridge
revealing its integrity as a monument.
Three types of trees are proposed as new
addition plantings surrounding the crescent. The Scarlet Oak. The Tulip Poplar.
The Silver Maple. All three are enlisted within forestry preservations and
native to context. By autumn and spring the proposal glistens. Autumn leaves
withering dies to ground, and spring bloom brings life again, as so were the
decantated memoirs of the Contraband and Freedman.
And so, beyond the bonds of slavery and
torment, one holds dear to their hearts the memorialized Contraband and
Freedman Well. We shall call this;
FREEDOM
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