DEJAvu - a feeling that someone has experienced the present events before. A memorial is something that reminds people about an event , a person or a place important to them. There are two approaches to design - either it can be abstract or literal. However, I feel that for a memorial to fully accomplish its purpose, i.e. to impart knowledge and wisdom, it neither has to be abstract nor too much of literal. Hence my approach is subtle, self explanatory at some places and intriguing at others. The idea is to design a form that unravels the story of slaves from the beginning and uses the present memorials in the vicinity to create a link between them. The site chosen is near the Washington monument, as it is surrounded by important structures that best define the American history. The form is of narrow pathways, interconnected at the ends that go up and down at different angles. These pathways are plausibly oriented, each one provides a panoramic view of the monuments in the vicinity, in a sequence of events which unfold inside the structure. The experience of the visitor changes as he proceeds from one part to another. At the entrance the heavy steel frames and the narrow concrete passage way bring a feeling of suspicion and fear, much like what the first slaves would have felt. Going further down it opens up into a small courtyard of dark, rough concrete walls and floor with metal beams overhead, this is to invoke the feeling of helplessness, fear and suffocation. Further ahead now, the climb starts, the struggle begins at the end of the tunnel the opening provides light which guides the visitor towards itself. Reaching there one gets the view of the white house : the laws : the passing of rules that curb the moral rights of slaves. All this is etched on glass which is fixed on the ceiling , the text coming alive from the sunlight. Moving on to the next tunnel ,the visitors move to the next beam of light at the end of the tunnel. In between there is a slit of glass, ,from which the Washington monument is visible, just like the slaves had the resolve to improve their condition, it’s a goal, a motive now. Moving again at the end of each tunnel there is an opening and in between the glass slits that remind constantly of the motive, the ultimate goal. Walking up the slope is a daunting task but the slits of glass in the tunnels inspire the visitor that the end is going to be good and he follows on. He reaches the openings which face the capitol building; here the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were established. Finally the journey comes to an end when the visitor reaches the last tunnel, the grand front opening shows Washington memorial in all its grandeur, the semi glass floor allows a complete view of the monument. A sense of achievement and exhilaration takes over, now the road is downhill and easy. Throughout the journey a person learns from the writing on the glass, contemplates about it at the ends and moves ahead to the next tunnel. The objective of the design is that not to make the structure so much abstract that it becomes aberrant to a common man, child or tourist. Neither make it too much literal that it becomes a museum and loses its purpose. A bit of information in textual form, majority in experience and visual is the main motive. The structure further invokes curiosity about the nearby structures and thus doesn’t acts as a sink to visitors but it gives out more information seeking visitors in the end. The memorial is like a time machine that takes the visitor on a ride of the past, reliving the moments, feelings, and the struggle of our ancestors, knitting in between the present monuments and urging the young to understand the importance and relish this fruit of freedom. Anyone coming out the memorial is sure to have a feeling of being there in the past with the slaves, more like a - DEJAvu