The contest is now over, and the winner was picked by the people of FreeLand.
And the winner is:
FredFree!
Congrats, John!
The entrance to the former castle has been left untouched as a permanent reminder of man's capacity to destroy - as such it can no longer be used and has been blocked off using the remaining roof balustrades. A new glass pavilion entrance built directly in front of it, takes you down into the windowless depths of the castle where there is a graphic exhibition on current and past conflicts and how they were started.
From here one ascends into the main halls and spaces of the former castle, the form of which was rebuilt to its original shape, but all holes, no matter how small, were replaced with great care with a steel and glass structure - so it is repaired - or re-envisioned, but not restored - this creates a band-aid or patchwork effect when seen from the outside, suggesting that one can makes things better, but one can not and should not forget the old wounds entirely - or hide them in some nostalgic re-preservation. From the inside, this approach allows for dramatic shards of light to filter into the once classically and minimally lit structure. Along these lines, on all areas of the facade where layers of stone or detail were stripped off, but no gaping holes were created, steel plating was installed using recycled munitions found inside the structure itself. This is done to show that something used to tear apart, can also be used to mend together.
On the plaza itself, all missing chunks of terrazzo were replaced with special man-made material produced in the town that made the planes that did the bombing - each tile is embedded with a famous quote on peace. And of the two side garden courts, only one could be restored to its former glory - the other was replaced with a bosk of tall flowering trees - a living sign of hope for a brighter future.<< (ff)
