| Title |
Reinterpreting the Commemorative Architecture of Chinese American Architect Maya Ying Lin Through the Vietnam Veterans Memorial |
| DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5659/JAIK.2026.42.6.109 |
| Keywords |
Maya Ying Lin; Vietnam Veterans Memorial; Chinese American Architect; Commemorative Architecture; Diaspora |
| Abstract |
This study focuses on Maya Ying Lin’s 1959 representative work, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and examines the characteristics of her
architecture from multiple perspectives. Lin’s work departs from traditional war memorial forms and presents a new type of memorial space
that seeks physical and sociocultural balance. In particular, the analysis explores how the memorial integrates verticality and horizontality,
architecture and landscape, visual and tactile experiences, and Eastern and Western philosophical ideas to achieve spatial harmony. It also
examines how the memorial functions as a place that mediates individual and collective memory, and how Lin’s Asian American identity has
influenced the spatial design. Overall, this study considers how the memorial expands the possibilities of public architecture through place,
history, and sensory experience. |