Recently in class, we have been talking about Architecture and the meaning of Place. We discussed the difference between "space" and "place," how space can be seen as an empty container, whereas place can bee seen as an object or a construction that holds innate value. Recently, I was in Ireland at a town on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, a land that has been riddled with conflict for centuries. For years, English and Scotts who call themselves Protestants have been fighting with native Irish, who consider themselves Catholic. The oppression has been tremendous and the gap between the communities is still found today, in one place by a 3.8 mile long "peace wall," which splits the communities in two. I was there searching, wondering why there has been such conflict and how reconciliation has come about between opposing communities.
The wall itself has taken on a sense of "place" because of the experiences that surround it. Despite the movement towards reconciliation in many of these communities, the wall stands as a sign of the division that still exists between these two communities. This place directly affects the way that the communities view each other. Division. That is what they see and that is what they know. Imagine a child who grows up, knowing to stay only on his side of the wall, never being allowed to venture to the other side, for fear of violence and hatred from those who live there. This wall thus holds in itself meaning and it exports that meaning to those around it. It is not merely a space, but a place.
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