Bali Memorial

Memorial fountain, 2003

Granite, concrete and stainless steel
Lincoln Square, Swanston Street, Carlton (Melway ref. 2B, E9)
This fountain and landscaped site memorialises those who lost their lives or were
injured by the bomb blasts that devastated Kuta, Bali, on 12 October 2002, and
honours those who helped in the aftermath. It has been conceived as a place of
comfort, the seating offering a place for quiet contemplation.
The memorials centrepiece is a low concrete platform in which two rectangular
pools are sunk. These house 91 jets, representing the Australians who perished in
the bombing; the names of the 22 Victorians killed are recorded on the sides of the
fountain. The fountains 202 lights represent all who died that night. A plaque on
the eastern side of the memorial lists the names of the Australians who lost their
lives. On each anniversary of the bombing, the fountain recedes to become a
reflection pool.
This memorial rejuvenated an existing water feature, built on the site in the 1960s.


The official name of the project is 'Jewish Museum' but I have named it 'Between
the Lines' because for me it is about two lines of thinking, organization and
relationship. One is a straight line, but broken into many fragments, the other is a
tortuous line, but continuing indefinitely." (Daniel Libeskind, 1998)
Zig-zag best describes the form of the Jewish Museum's New Building. The
architect Daniel Libeskind's design is based on two linear structures which,
combined, form the body of the building.
The first line is a winding one with several kinks while the second line cuts
through the whole building. At the intersections of these lines are empty spaces
"Voids" which rise vertically from the ground floor of the building up to the roof.
Libeskind imagines the continuation of both lines throughout the city of Berlin and
beyond.

"An irrational and invisible matrix" (Daniel Libeskind, 1995)
The faade of the Libeskind Building barely enables conclusions to be drawn as
to the building's interior, the division of neither levels nor rooms being apparent to
the observer. Nevertheless, the positioning of the windows primarily narrow
slits follows a precise matrix. During the design process, the architect Daniel
Libeskind plotted the addresses of prominent Jewish and German citizens on a
map of pre-war Berlin and joined the points to form an "irrational and invisible
matrix" on which he based the language of form, the geometry and shape of the
building.
The positioning of windows in the New Building was also based on this network
of connections.
The whole of the New Building is coated in zinc, a material that has a long
tradition in Berlin's architectural history. Over the years, the untreated alloy of
titanium and zinc will oxidize and change color through exposure to light and
weather.

A Void "is not really a museum space." (Daniel Libeskind, 1999)
The Voids represent the central structural element of the New Building and the
connection to the Old Building. From the Old Building, a staircase leads down to
the basement through a Void of bare concrete which joins the two buildings.
Five cavernous Voids run vertically through the New Building. They have walls of
bare concrete, are not heated or air-conditioned and are largely without artificial
light, quite separate from the rest of the building. On the upper levels of the
exhibition, the Voids are clearly visible with black exterior walls. The Israeli artist
Menashe Kadishman's steel sculpture "Shalechet" (Fallen Leaves) covers the
entire floor of one of the five Voids.
The Museum's Voids refer to "that which can never be exhibited when it comes
to Jewish Berlin history: Humanity reduced to ashes." (Daniel Libeskind, 2000)

An underground passageway links the Old Building with the Libeskind Building
which has no official entrance. Visitors who pass through the great Void down to
the end of the staircase from the Old Building will find the Rafael Roth Learning
Center on their right, while ahead of them lies a path system made up of three
axes symbolizing three realities in the history of German Jews.
The first and longest of these axes is the "Axis of Continuity." It connects the Old
Building with the main staircase (Sackler Staircase) which leads up to the
exhibition levels. The architect describes the Axis of Continuity as the
continuation of Berlin's history, the connecting path from which the other axes
branch off.
The "Axis of Emigration" leads outside to daylight and the Garden of Exile. On
the way there, the walls are slightly slanted and close in the further one goes,
while the floor is uneven and ascends gradually. A heavy door must be opened
before the crucial step into the garden can be taken.
The "Axis of the Holocaust" is a dead end. It becomes ever narrower and darker
and ends at the Holocaust Tower. The glass cases on the way display
documents and personal possessions testifying to the private and public life of
their owners who were killed.
All three of the underground axes intersect, symbolizing the connection between
the three realities of Jewish life in Germany.

The Garden of Exile attempts "to completely disorient the visitor. It represents a
shipwreck of history." (Daniel Libeskind, 1999)
The Garden of Exile is reached after leaving the axes. Forty-nine concrete stelae
rise out of the square plot. The whole garden is on a 12 gradient and disorients
visitors, giving them a sense of the total instability and lack of orientation
experienced by those driven out of Germany. Russian willow oak grows on top of
the pillars symbolizing hope.