Competition for the Design of a Space for Gratitude and Remembrance of Healthcare Workers

Memorial spaces convey certain values, emotions, and associations during the transmission of the past to the future. Essentially, they offer an experience of remembrance. When considered in this context, the most significant experience that the coronavirus pandemic has brought into our lives is "distance"—seeing but not touching.

While the sense of touch is the most crucial means of experiencing love, longing, and other emotions, people have found themselves touching distances rather than one another.

The integration of remembrance into a public space, such as a marketplace, refreshes collective memory through spontaneous encounters during daily life. It enables individuals to interact with memories in an organic way. The countless, identity-less rods extending from the eaves represent healthcare workers. They serve as a reminder of the struggles of the nameless heroes in white attire throughout the pandemic. The visitor can establish a visual connection with the sequence of rods beneath the eaves, yet the experience of touch remains unattainable.

The core rule of fighting COVID-19—maintaining distance, seeing but not touching—is embedded within this very moment.