Where Were You?

Abstract

<p>Architects are both organizers and archivists. In addition to all pragmatic concerns of building making, architects bear the responsibility of locating a project in relation to history. Architecture flattens the past and present, providing a ‘fixed-position’ in order to understand contemporary structures. Structures ‘fix’ themselves in relation to history through the medium of space. These spaces, or the three dimensional environs2 that we inhabit, serve as a means to inhabit and manifest ideas, events, or people that no longer occupy the contemporary context. As constructed objects, these manifestations exist in the ‘real’ visible realm for a large length of time. This characteristic means that architecture should serve as a carefully planned physical repository of things that are physically absent; that is, architecture should serve as a memory bank.</p>