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We think of an atomic blast as a huge billowing mushroom cloud, but a more appropriate memorial explores the event on a human level. With successive buildings from back to 1955, the architecture of this complex records the process of the city in the years since, last constructed in 1996.The museum is approached through grassy topography. One can see a blocky rust-colored edifice bringing attention to the might and splendor of human industry. The path screws down into the earth with a glass dome overhead. Immediatly the visitor is hit with images of before and after the blast, post-war restoration, and finally a plea for peace. The ticking of a clock reverberates through the space.
Besides providing a powerfully emotional experience at the epicenter of one of mankind’s most momentous actions, the museum explores Japan’s attempt at identity, a permanance despite this temporal construction. For truly a split second turned a nation upsidedown and redefined our world. |
(David McKelvey– flickr/creative commons license)
(David McKelvey– flickr/creative commons license)
(featured image by David McKelvey on flickr/creative commons)
