ABSTRACT
AS WE CONTINUED TO LOOK AT POSSIBILITIES FOR BUILDING ON THE SITE, WE BECAME MORE INTRIGUED WITH THE FORMAL POSSIBILITIES OF THE TOWERS DESIGNED FOR THE INTERIOR OF THE WORLD PEACE DOME. Our next move was to remove the huge enclosure and let the tendrils grow and loosen formally, unconstrained by the formerly spherical condition but still informed by it. The metaphor of a flower unfolding hovered over the project as we worked through this second iteration. Initial drawings show the buildings as a kind of Fata Morgana, unattached wisps mingling with more rooted structures. Looking back, there seems to be something both floral and flame-like in these forms. This reflects both memory and ambivalence. More important, the paring away of the dome and the ephemerality of the sketches recall my earliest feelings about the future of the site, that it should be left alone for a long time before any decision was taken about reconstruction.
