In contemporary society, large-scale destructive events are continuously generating a new architectural condition: the modern ruin. Unlike historical ruins shaped and legitimized through time, the remnants left by war, wildfires, and other natural disasters remain embedded in lived reality and collective memory. These environments are not distant artifacts of the past, but recently inhabited spaces whose material presence and social meaning remain active. However, prevailing reconstruction practices tend to prioritize complete demolition and site clearance, followed by rebuilding on restored empty ground. While this approach provides reliability in terms of safety, engineering, and regulation, it often interrupts the material and spatial continuity between built form, memory, and place.
This thesis investigates whether an alternative mode of engagement with the modern ruin is possible, one that does not treat ruins solely as debris to be removed, but instead honors degradation as an active stage within the life cycle of architecture. Using the fire-damaged site of Altadena Community Church in California, destroyed during the January 2025 wildfire, as a point of inquiry, the project situates this case within broader contexts of disaster-induced modern ruins and public memory. Rather than focusing on complete reconstruction, the thesis develops a memorial park as a spatial response to loss, survival, and communal recovery. The project examines how material traces, landscape topography, and ritualized movement can reorganize a damaged site into a place that acknowledges absence while supporting continued public life.
This thesis explores the tension between memorialization and community use, between confronting loss and rupture and creating conditions for healing, gathering, and continued occupation. Design strategies include the evaluation and retention of residual walls and landscape features; the overlap between the original spatial order and a new axis derived from the solar orientation at the moment the fire began; the reuse of debris and its translation into new material systems; and the construction of spatial sequences that guide bodily movement through memory, reflection, and everyday life.
在当代社会，大规模破坏性事件正在不断生成一种新的建筑状态：现代废墟。不同于那些经过时间塑造并被历史合法化的传统废墟，由战争、山火以及其他自然灾害所留下的残存物，仍然深深嵌入现实生活与集体记忆之中。这些环境并非遥远过去的遗物，而是不久前仍被居住和使用的空间；其物质存在与社会意义仍然保持着活性。然而，当前主流的灾后重建实践往往优先选择彻底拆除与场地清理，随后在被恢复为空地的基地上重新建造。尽管这种方式在安全、工程和法规层面提供了可靠性，它也常常打断建筑形态、记忆与场所之间的物质和空间连续性。
本论文探讨是否存在一种与现代废墟相处的替代性方式：一种不将废墟仅仅视为需要被移除的残骸，而是将退化视为建筑生命周期中一个活跃阶段的方式。论文以加州 Altadena Community Church 的火灾受损场地作为研究切入点。该场地在 2025 年 1 月的山火中被毁。通过这一案例，项目将一个具体的建筑损失置于灾害诱发的现代废墟与公共记忆的更广泛语境之中。不同于将完整重建作为目标，本论文提出将场地转化为一座纪念性公园，作为对损失、幸存与社区恢复的空间回应。项目研究物质痕迹、景观地形与仪式化的身体移动如何重新组织一个受损场地，使其成为一个既承认缺席，又支持持续公共生活的场所。
本论文探讨纪念性与社区使用之间的张力，也探讨直面损失与断裂、以及创造疗愈、聚集和持续占用条件之间的关系。设计策略包括对残存墙体与景观要素的评估和保留；将原有空间秩序与一条新的轴线叠合，这条新轴线来源于火灾发生时刻的太阳方位；对废墟碎片的再利用及其向新材料系统的转译；以及构建一系列空间序列，引导身体在记忆、反思与日常生活之间移动。
