Presenting Difficult Pasts Through Architecture

Presenting Difficult Pasts through Architecture analyses four centers—Cologne, Nuremberg, Berlin, and Munich—and their shared intent to make material evidence of National Socialism involvement in authentic perpetrator sites which were part of both peaceful prior histories and now part of current everyday life.

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Architectural design can play a role in helping make the past present in meaningful ways when applied to preexisting buildings and places that carry notable and troubling pasts. In this comparative analysis, Rumiko Handa establishes the critical role architectural designs play in presenting difficult pasts by examining documentation centers on National Socialism in Germany.

Presenting Difficult Pasts Through Architecture analyzes four centers – Cologne, Nuremberg, Berlin, and Munich – from the point of view of their shared intent to make the past present at National Socialists' perpetrator sites. Applying original frameworks, Handa considers what more architectural design could do toward meaningful representations and interpretations of difficult pasts.

This book is a must-read for students, practitioners, and academics interested in how architectural design can participate in presenting the difficult pasts of historical places in meaningful ways.