RIGA, LATVIA

Given the significant nature of the non-violent protest along the Baltic Way in 1989, the idea of the memorial has the potential to not only mark the event, but to have it inform, sensitize, and influence younger generations of the context that surrounded it. This proposal draws inspiration from both the intimacy and large scale of the non-violent human chain protest. Holding a fellow countryman’s hand, an act otherwise reserved for loved ones, clearly expressed the mass necessity for self-determination, independence, and removal of the shadow of the Soviet Union; especially so when executed among over 2 million people. The organization of this proposal incorporates a meandering circulation spine from which the main spaces are adjacent. The architectonic gesture springs from this main spine and extends to the northeast and southwest to define the exhibition space, souvenir shop, and cafe towards the northern section of the site.