Spectral flesh remembrance: an inverted monument and foundry embedded in the decommissioned Pelindaba nuclear weapons site

The Angola-South African War left extensive scars and remains a raw place in the lives of many South Africans. Yet it has become a kind of suppressed memory that is hard to grapple with in the post-democratic reality, and the majority of South Africans choose to conveniently overlook the consequences of this conflict. The memory and memorialisation of the war has become a shrouded spectre. One of the most obscured facets of the war was the fact that South Africa managed to construct nuclear weapons, and (even more astoundingly) became the first nation to voluntarily decommission their nuclear arsenal. In the wake of ghost-like memories of the past, the question arises: 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘶𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘗𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘣𝘢 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘞𝘢𝘳? Those in power, too, choose to forget the haunting effects in the hearts of those conscripted into the war and the suffering enforced by it. The manifestation of this amnesia-like state comes in the form of the nuclear weapons site, rusting and forgotten. Through a symbolic repurposing of decommissioned firearms in a foundry and the remembrance of spectres from the site in an inverted monument, a design is proposed as a means to reveal the forgotten and censored. The exposure of restricted historical documentation is part of the outcome of this research; to find what is still prevailing of something that no longer officially exists and document the remaining structures. Regarding placing architecture and conflict in context, special care is taken in analysing precedent studies of the built form as well as structural theory of ‘the form in conflict’ with a morphology responding to place as much as process. The proposed architecture of structure, relating to spectral remembrances of the flesh, attempts to explore the role architecture can play as a mediator and reminder of forgotten conflicts.