HEARTH - MEMORIAL TO AFRICAN AMERICANS ENSLAVED BY WILLIAM & MARY
Winning Design - International Competition 2018
The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA
The harsh life of enslaved people at the College of William & Mary was often tied to the fireplace. They toiled before open flames, firing bricks in the Wren Building’s South Yard, cooking in the basement kitchens, boiling water for laundry, and keeping fires ablaze day and night for students and faculty in winter. Yet in slave quarters, the fireside also represented a space for community and family, where music and folktales flourished.
In tribute to these African Americans’ immeasurable contributions to the College, WE now build for THEM, brick by brick—using masonry emblematic of the campus—a monumental HEARTH that will:
REKINDLE their memory,
ILLUMINATE a space to reflect on our shared and troubling past, and
RADIATE freedom and hope for the future.
ILLUMINATE a space to reflect on our shared and troubling past, and
RADIATE freedom and hope for the future.
This HEARTH is nestled in an unclaimed brick-walled clearing near the Wren South Yard, some distance from the Wren Building, allowing the memorial space to breathe and create its own gravitational pull without being overshadowed by its historic counterpart. The focal point—where bonfires can be lit on special occasions—is on axis with Wren’s western walkway.
The HEARTH’s form derives from the curving lines of ancient African pottery, carving out an asymmetrical void that beckons as it receives the campus community yet also embodies the emptiness of slavery. The resulting geometry reflects onto the ground plane to define a community gathering space—both inwardly as seating for the HEARTH and outwardly as an event stage to activate the South Yard.
The names of the enslaved are emblazoned on oversized bricks jutting commandingly from the top of the wall. As research reveals new names, they are added to rows at the top, creating a living memorial that forever honors the enslaved people.
