Designing a space for Ethical Remembrance

'Official History’ is obsessed with grand narratives of military movements and monumental events. This oversimplification of victory and defeat leaves history incomplete, stripped of all of its nuance and contradiction. This is very apparent in Ireland, where the events of the 1916 Easter Rising are documented in incredible detail, yet the cultural history left behind by the leaders, half of which were poets, artists and playwrights, is barely mentioned.

In visiting Carlingford, it was clear that the location had the nuanced position of being both a border town and a tourist town with many visitors from Northern Ireland. Further research into the history of Ireland uncovered that the existing Heritage Centre did not engage with some of the more controversial topics in Ireland's more recent history.

This project aims to expose the complexity of history without romanticising it, revealing both the ‘Siamese duality of mind’ that epitomises Irish religion and politics, and the less neat micro-narratives that are often forgotten of deliberately left out as not to confuse the linear narrative. It houses spaces for discussion, performance and remembrance to create spaces for ethical remembering and a hospitality of narratives.

Upon reflection, architecture is being used here as a lens to explore political and religious issues and have a conversation. It is important to explore these kinds of contentious topics and using a different medium like architecture offers a different perspective to such divisive histories.