top of page
AIA-DC Award of Excellence 2011, IFRAA Design Award
The Sea of Souls, Memorial to the Magar Ancestors, Thumki village, Nepal
Market
Cultural & Sacred Architecture
Submarkets
Sacred Space
Program
Memorial
Firm
Catholic University of America, Spirit of Place 2011 with Travis Price Architects
Teaming Partners
Travis Price Architects
Year Designed
2011
Description
"The design of the Memorial to the Magar Ancestors was inspired by the shamanic rituals, culture, and burial practices of the Magar people. These animistic origins are blended with sacred traditions of Hindu and Buddhist beliefs." (1)
Role / Services
Pre-Design and Concept Design contributor, for graduate elective studio. Construction in Nepal, student build team member.
Construction duration: 9 days
Design Strategies and Innovative Concepts
"As one approaches the memorial, an opening in the monumental stone walls beckons, and one can enter and circumambulate around the path as at a stupa, metaphorically spinning and cycling in cosmic time Views open along the linear axis of the path to the surrounding mountains and back to the village and the plains below, as well as inward toward the sacred center of the memorial, through narrow glimpses between the 7-foot-high stone walls one can continue to circle around the memorial path "dancing" around the inner and outer stone walls of "mortal woe,"..." (1)
(1) excerpt from: publication The Mythic Modern, Expeditions into the Spirit of Place, by Travis Price, forward by Wade Davis.
bottom of page