Wednesday, April 17, 2013

spatial: monument concept & location

we began by considering the kinds of monuments we had seen and could think of, and the things they had in common. many seemed to have a large sense of grandeur, be formally abstract, and exist in tribute of something significant and potent.

we decided to see how we might come up with something that functioned a little differently. first, we thought of a monument to 'small things', to the unexpected and underwhelming. this led us to our concept: a monument to underdogs.

naturally, our instincts were to heighten the experience into a lofty structural representation. we thought of how little forms could interact with big forms, and related notions. but we kept thinking. what if our monument itself was an underdog, an unexpected experience? what if it seemed a little lighthearted, a little silly?

we turned to the underdog of humor: puns. our monumental experience is to put the viewer under a dog. 

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it is our intention to propose a monument to underdogs in the west bottoms of kansas city, a location whose connotations are already in keeping with the unexpected & plucky idea of the underdog. we're thinking it should be built out of the same raw sorts of industrial materials that are already in the area, which we spent some time touring and examining.