Hellen Keller
Helen Keller was a strong and courageous woman. Her being blind and deaf at a young age made her life extremely hard. After learning her first word, "water", it opened a doorway to knowledge. She would continue to learn and she became a symbol for courage and hope worldwide. Her bravery led to awards like the Lions Humanitarian Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the French Legion of Honor.
Memorial
With my memorial I wanted to give a short glimpse into Helen Keller's life. With Keller being blind and deaf she had to navigate through life with touch, taste, and smell. To take away sight, one of the most important senses, I made everything in the memorial dark where you could not see anything. To take away hearing, I will use anechoic chambers throughout the memorial. With Keller's early life being difficult and confusing, it reminded me of a maze so I added and simple snake-like path to represent her harsh childhood. As she learned her first word, she began to be engulfed in knowledge, making her life more clear to her. Her gaining knowledge was impactful and I wanted to portray that to people with adding a library. As her first word was water, I wanted to use that as a representation of knowledge. Originally I wanted the water to be a path and show a continuous loop that represent that anyone's life can change with knowledge.
This is the finished idea of the memorial. Two simple blocks overlapping, the first floor being the memorial and the second floor being the library. The snake-like pattern ended up having 9 turns with a gimmick that uses the flowing sound of water to guide you through the maze. I added a large open window in the library to represent freedom with knowledge.
Site Plan
My site is Radcliffe College and it is a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge University. This college is important to Helen Keller as this is the college she graduated from. This accomplishment would lead to more successes and feats where she made the impossible possible and became a figurehead of the blind.