Final physical Model

Photographs showing the shadows reflecting the pattern creating by broken trusses.

Finally, after a lot of hard work and a lot of fun, our final physical model stands tall just like St. Luke's Church, a reflection of the suffering and destruction, as well as a reflection of the bravery and resilience of the people of Liverpool.

One of the drawbacks of our initial concept was that we failed to unite all the elements in our concept. This brings us to our final concept. After a lot of brainstorming sessions and heated group discussions, we finally came to a conclusion. In order to unite all the elements of our concept, we decided to not showcase the broken fragments in plinths. Instead, we decided to hang them from the roof using several strings and wherever these strings are connected to the roof for each fragment, we took out that portion of the roof and hung it below the fragment using strings, thus uniting all the elements.

Our initial concept had the roof design which represented the destroyed trusses, the gaps filled with shattered glass representing the shattered souls and the broken fragments of the lost elements of the church showcased in plinths. Each glass plinth showcased an element. Spot lights above the plinths and diffused light coming out from the bottom of the plinths were installed to portray a subtle image, a reflection, an idea. The idea was to create a subtle image of bombs hitting the ground. If we can imagine a bomb hitting the ground and freeze the image at the very moment it touches the ground. We'll be able to a trail of smoke behind the bomb and fire just about to rise from the part of the bomb which hits the ground. The concept was to create a subtle reflection of this through the lights where the plinths act as the bombs.

Reflections of the past: the final part of our concept. When the church was bombed, a lot of its elements/organs were destroyed as well. Elements like the columns, the altar, the bells, the tapestry, the benches, the trusses, the beams, the sculptures, the stained glass, all burnt, all destroyed. We wanted people visiting the church to experience the destruction, we wanted them to see a reflection of what used to be there but isn't there anymore. Therefore, our concept included fabrication of these elements in white color. Our intervention has broken fragments of these elements hanging from the roof at different heights. Thus, a reflection of the past.

The next part of our concept was to fill the gaps in the roof created by the design, with 4000 broken pieces of glass. These 4000 pieces of shattered glass represents the 4000 shattered souls, the 4000 lives which were lost during the Liverpool Blitz which also destroyed the church.

Look up and you see trusses holding up the roof. Look down and you see a reflection of the destroyed trusses.

Following the first 2 days we started having group sessions every day. One of the first concepts that we developed for the intervention was the restoration/installation of a roof. Its a restoration cause the roof would be a reflection of the original roof which used to be there. But its also an installation cause its not the exact reflection. We decided to adapt the original shape of it but add a design to it. This design was particularly interesting as it reflected what had happened when it was bombed. The concept was that, the original roof had trusses supporting it, but when it was bombed, the wooded trusses were destroyed and laid burnt on the ground. So we decided to do a quick experiment. We made a scissor truss, identical to the original one, broke it into pieces and dropped those pieces from the height of the roof at a 1:100 scale, repeating it for each truss. Thus, emerged an interesting pattern. We used this pattern to make gaps in the roof through which light would enter into a rather dark atmosphere inside the church.

The second day started off with everyone presenting their ideas and concepts for commemorating the 70th anniversary of the bombing of St. Luke's Church. Following that, we were dividing into 4 groups depending on our ideas. Thus, started our(Group 04) journey through the Fragments Of The Past.

The first day of events began with a rainy Manchester and a surprisingly sunny Liverpool. We started off by visiting St. Luke's Church, our site and spending about an hour taking pictures, sketching and diagramming. Then we headed off to the RIBA Stirling Prize winner of 2014, the Everyman Theatre, where we had coffee and got briefed on our project. This was followed by a visit to the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, which was an absolute spectacle. I had never seen anything like that before. After spending some time admiring the revolutionary architecture of the cathedral, we came out, still stunned by its sheer presence, and headed off in search for a place to have lunch in. The end of lunch also marked the end of the fun and refreshing journey as we broke off and went our own ways.