Cecilia Vitas Design

Tzuk Eitan Memorial Site: Memorial Wall and Circles of Memory

Environmental Design: Tzuk Eitan Memorial Site, Gevaram, In progress

Client: Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael
In collaboration with BO Landscape Architects
1st Place, Tzuk Eitan Memorial Site Competition 2017 

The work is composed of two central elements: a memorial wall, bearing the names of the 68 Israelis who fell in Operation Tzuk Eitan (“Protective Edge”), and 68 “circles of memory” located throughout the site. The concrete memorial wall is designed as a continuous circular structure that follows the outline of the park itself. The names of the fallen in metal lettering grace the wall. Alongside them are an equal number of niches where visitors can place a memorial candle; their close proximity form the shape of a single remembrance flame. The purpose is to enable a personal, symbolic, commemorative act of lighting a candle, while at the same time sharing the pain and collective memory through the unifying flame of the candles.   

The circles are made of architectural concrete, planned as pre-cast elements, composed of three units, each representing one third of a circle. The upper section of each element will look like a ring bearing a graphic casing, a kind of mosaic of forms made of tiles that express the idea of ‘fragments of memory.’ These will be melded with three-dimensional textural images and graphic images on the concrete, which will express the memory of each of the fallen in an abstract visual way. The form the tiles take will be different on each circle. The idea is that most of the elements allow for seating, as an inseparable part of the commemorative circle.
The memorial site is planned for the Gvar’am Forest as a park for the families and visitors, with an adjacent amphitheater in the heart of nature.