concept & vision

maritime shipping containers have always also been billboards: the name of the manufacturer repeats with the same repetitive order of the container stack on decks and on docks. Evergreen Line. Hapag-Lloyd. Yang Ming. Maersk. So as we stack the container we stack text as well. We suggest the ONE/Ocean Network Express container for its signature bold color. And we also appreciate the repetition of the word ONE, and propose the surfaces of the structure as the spread pages of an open book

words & content

the personal diary that Columbus kept between August 3rd and November 6th of 1492 could be a rich source text—full of readings and misreadings, naming and misnaming, with scientific, spiritual and practical observations and records

community & indigeneity

early traditions of transcription, transliteration, and phonetic rendering into Dutch and English of indigenous and primarily oral literary traditions, folkways, and naming systems of the Lenape peoples and other original inhabitants of the region—also, learning from present-day members of this community and understanding what they might decide would be meaningful text for this site

impact & significance

we stack 32 containers in a cross around the original statue at the center of the circle carefully following its contours. Rather than removing, we propose a scaffold that shifts attention to necessary alternative narratives, a place of learning and conversation