The Invisible Presence Memorial, located on Hart Island, New York, explores the power of architecture to give form to absence, loss and social neglect. Conceived as a memorial for the homeless buried in mass unmarked graves, on Hart Island, the project reflects on society’s tendency to erase marginalised lives. The memorial uses space, materiality and memory to reassert the presence of those neglected by society.

A tidal pool that rises and falls with the ocean symbolises death as a leveler, contrasted with static water features, mapped from the location of New York’s homeless shelters, which all retain a constant high tide water level. This layered symbolism refers to invisible systems and stories that ebb and flow behind the urban fabric.

Materiality plays a central role. Recycled bricks from demolished buildings on Hart Island form the memorial walls. The gaps in these walls invite visitors to leave names or objects, encouraging public participation in remembrance.

Architecturally, the memorial uses binary oppositions in form - curved versus rectilinear, open versus closed - to represent the lived experiences of displacement and vulnerability. Visitors move through a spatial journey from the arrival dock to reflection spaces and the mortuary, designed to evoke a sense of transition, imbalance and reflection.

The project is grounded in post-structuralist architectural theory and demonstrates how architecture can acknowledge trauma, question urban values and offer dignity to those rendered invisible by society.