Mnemonic devices and re-objectifying

(to investigate through design):

-the cut (as an analytical device, revealing edges and layers)

-layers, stratification (as physical and non-material memory)

-anticipation of the elements (such as time, weather)

-archetypal elements (issues of meaning, form and function)

-fragments (as creating whole)

-castings (as containing memory)

-positive negative play

-local narrative

objective:

I will explore issues (of the city, collective memory, narrative, experience and materiality) by testing architecture as a mnemonic device to trigger memories and reconnect people to site in Christchurch. It is my intention to design buildings with a mnemonic language (containing reference to layers of memory of the particular site) with implications to other sites throughout the city of Christchurch (through deriving a methodology / apply-able language).

Layering/casts..

I am in these casts working though a few things. You'll see I've moved since the last series of casts, removing the frame, and creating holes in the compositions so that you are able to see through them, like actually being in them. It is trying to figure out the experience I want to create. Questions still remain.. what is behind them? What is on the other side? Can you move through them? 

It is also testing the idea of surfaces, relief and layering. Why do I seem to collapse space and bring the surfaces together consistently? Why am I constantly carving and creating reliefs? 

RIBA travel scholarship entry poster

first attempt to graphically summarise my project... for a scholarship application. Good practice!

week 4

This week I re-titled my thesis, it was like getting further into figuring out what I actually want to be able to do. I want to design buildings that have a relationship spatially, materially, to the demolished buildings so that memories are triggered for the users of Christchurch. Testing the potential of architecture as a mnemonic device to re-establish the relationship of people to site. This has meant a lot more reading, on semiotics, and I need to do more reading on phenomenology. 


This week I have also:
-drawn layers (see below)
-written 4500 words on my lit review (only one section to go)
-edited and rethought my ideas in my lit review
-put an entry together for a RIBA traveling scholarship
-continued reading and typing up my notes
-researched Napier as a precedent
-discovered a thesis that relates to mine that has spurred a lot of thought, as well as presentation ideas: http://2.beltline.ca/node/400


Other thoughts:
-issue of representation
-importance of noticing what precedent projects do
-I am using thinness. Why? I need to explore surfaces and their relationship to mass

Thinking about layers and slicing/revealing

own exploration drawing

evaluation...week 3

This week I got a cold, so was not feeling so great a couple of days. 


I did despite this manage to:
-get together my materials on my sites, and gather more info
-received the property file of Sherborne St in the mail, there were many useful drawings, and a contact email address for the owner of the site! So I emailed her, too
-did drawings of my 'relief' exercises
-met with Robin Byron from the historic places trust
-contacted the Caxton Press, who said they'd be happy to talk with me while I'm in Christchurch
-took notes from 4 more books
-finalized milestone 2, my thesis proposal, and handed it in
-wrote 2000 words to start my literature review draft


So now for week 4... sounds serious. Its not just the first few weeks anymore!

meeting with Robin Byron

Meeting with Robin Byron (Historic Places Trust, Auckland)


I met with Robin on Friday to talk about the challenges Christchurch is currently facing from the Historic Trust's point of view. I asked her what the values are in maintaining historical buildings, to which she responded saying they are part of the document of history, a lineage of reference points. They are authentic, real examples of certain styles and craftsmanship. Millions of dollars may seem like a lot to restore an old building, but on the other hand she said 'once its gone, its gone.' She does admit that it gets difficult when deciding if something is worth preserving. Should we 'group' buildings? How do we justify which one is the most important?


Robin pointed out that we have different values attached to different types of buildings. Residential buildings seen as 'character' and commercial as 'heritage'. I was pointed towards heritage guidelines, which are going to be interesting to analyse and compare to other texts, and to some people in Christchurch who would be good to talk to while I'm down there (starting to realize that is going to be one full on week!). It would be so interesting to be able to get into one of the storage facilities where the documented deconstructed materials are of the significant buildings lost!


Napier is also relevant as a precedent, and one in NZ! 

drawings from castings

Week 2 evaluation

Second week down... 


-This week my supervisor was confirmed, and I met up with her for the first time.
-I firstly montaged my casts back onto the original photographs, and reprinted them, making certain elements positive. This translation wasn't totally satisfactory, possibly because of the hard edges of the card I was using. The process lost its subtlety. So I casted into my casts with latex, and I now have a + and - of the original photo I layered. I am much happier with this translation. My next step is to draw a section of the 'between' space. 
-I took notes from 4 books
-I grouped my notes into categories and started to identify a possible thesis structure
-identified more precedents (Scarpa, idea of stratification)
-I wrote my first draft intro/ abstract
-I decided on my sites
-booked my ticket to Christchurch
-rung up the CCC for a property file of one of my sites, which is going to be sent to me hopefully in the next week
-Filled out Milestone 2 (just need to do a final edit before hand-in on Friday)


Bring on week 3! 

08.03.12 - first official supervisor meeting

I met with Lynda, now officially my thesis supervisor, for the first time today. I feel as though I have 'a stamp of approval' now... this thing I have started, and have worked on for the last few weeks all on my own is somehow validated. I am pretty amazed by the freedom of 'individual research.' 

Main issues that came up were how to 'represent' these layers of memory I'm wanting to analyse and use as a tool for design, the idea of the subjective.. can I validate my response if it is personal? What happens when it is handed on to the users of the space? my own aesthetic I have already developed, precedents, and just how wide and vast this field is. Memory in different cultures. 

One thing I am quite happy about is settling on my sites. I am going to look at sites/buildings I previously visited in Jan '11, pre Feb quake. These buildings are probably demolished, but I have memory of them before they were. That is important.

06.03.12, stratification and the Harris matrix

Stratification is a system which, but means of 2-D , add on elements, conveys a multilayered complexity that allows narrative (memorative) or formal subject matter to become operative simultaneously. This is the principle of layering. Also: to cover and make. 

It has a lot of meaning in the field of archeology, which I found particularly interesting:

The identification of the context of each find is vital in enabling the archaeologist to draw conclusions about the site and about the nature and date of its occupation. It is the archaeologist's role to attempt to discover what contexts exist and how they came to be created. Archaeological stratification or sequence is the dynamic superimposition of single units of stratigraphy, or contexts.

Contexts are single events or actions that leave discrete, detectable traces in the archaeological sequence or stratigraphy. They can be deposits (such as the back-fill of a ditch), structures (such as walls), or "zero thickness surfaciques," better known as "cuts." Cuts represent actions that remove other solid contexts such as fills, deposits, and walls. An example would be a ditch "cut" through earlier deposits. Stratigraphic relationships are the relationships created between contexts in time, representing the chronological order they were created. One example would be a ditch and the back-fill of said ditch. The temporal relationship of "the fill" context to the ditch "cut" context is such that "the fill" occurred later in the sequence; you have to dig a ditch before you can back-fill it. A relationship that is later in the sequence is sometimes referred to as "higher" in the sequence, and a relationship that is earlier, "lower," though this does not refer necessarily to the physical location of the context. It is more useful to think of "higher" as it relates to the context's position in a Harris matrix, a two-dimensional representation of a site's formation in space and time.

example Harris matrix

Carlo Scarpa uses this idea in his concept of site. I want to explore this architecturally.

 + today I interpreted my plaster casts (from the last post) by montaging photos of them with the original photographs, printing them and re-modeling them

Sherbourne St House

High St

week1 evaluation

-Took notes from 6 books

-found precedent projects

-identified potential site(s)

-analysed Rachel Whiteread's work, especially Postcards and House

-made casts, impressions and abstractions of ruins in Chch:

 
Notes so far ...
From notes I've made so far, I can identify key issues, all which are related, but that I think  I will need to refine, and narrow my focus on. 

I have particular contexts and buildings (within Chch)/contextual issues, and the city of Christchurch, and precedent projects of both buildings and cities which to relate to my design, and that deal with the following issues:
-heritage, (collective and individual) memory, history, life cycle, materiality, identity, movement (encounter, experience), community, narrative, place, activities, ground (surfaces, layers, depths, levels)