Idea Project Competition of Urban Design, Planning and Landscape on Gallipoli Historical Peninsula National Park, Ağadere Hospital and the Memorial

‘Ağadere Field Hospital’ is one of the chief spectators of the most melodramatic memories of the Çanakkale War. The experiences there both represent misery and hopelessness, while describing honor and hope. The aim of the soldiers brought to the field hospital is to get better as soon as possible and to go back to the trenches. Thus, to experience eternity as a martyr is the end of hope, a kind of regret, but never the fear of death. We molded the project considering those thoughts, aiming that the visitors face the past events and feelings in their clearest look: Hope on one side, eternity on the other.... A picture of combat...

This picture asks for a discreet design approach that respects the geography and that departs from the ‘less is more’ principle. The martyred soldiers are symbolized by human-size lit steel rods in the rural landscape, the main pedestrian axis is ‘the way of eternity’ leading to the ‘memorial wall’, the marine transportation of the hospital is symbolized by ‘the deck of hope’, while the natural landscape that witnessed the collective memory (the valley, pine forest, olive trees and herbaceous plants) is symbolized by the memory park. Nightscape enables the national park to be experienced during all hours of the day.

As the visitors see the model of the peninsula and proceed along the defined route in the museum, the corridor gradually narrows down. Coupled with the dimming light that eventually disappears, one feels less like a visitor and more like a subject in the dark despair of the war. As one proceeds through the exhibit halls presenting textual and visual material, one also experiences the unique circumstances of the war. Water, which accompanies the visitors since the start of the journey, follows them to the end.

This project won the first prize in the Project Competition for Gallipoli Historical Peninsula National Park, Ağadere Hospital and the Memorial in 2012.