Monument to Human Perserverance

So it's been a while since we've been working on this. But since brainstorming went, Karen and me decided to work with the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of 2011.

Our inspiration board reflected the idea of us wanting to work with the Japanese culture and incorporating their aesthetic with our monument. We also wanted to work with natural elements, incorporate zen gardens, Buddhism and Shintoism ideals, and mazes with a lot of water. We floated around a bit and then sketched a ton (which Karen has all the drawings and perhaps has uploaded to her blog). So from there and multiple sketches, we came up with the form. It's a ramp with an overlooking deck into the sea (to go off the idea of perseverance and overcoming the disaster). Below are some images of our monument in progress.

For now, we are working to improve the form and I'll update with that later (or when I remember to).