Excavation and Ruin Habitation, The Museum of Excavation at Shanes Castle Part 2 Project 2021 Scott Kennedy Ulster University | UK How can we attempt to enter, inhabit, and explore the ruin to express the melancholy of the experience?The ruin of Shanes Castle on the banks of Lough Neagh, remain as an anchor in time and exists as a monument to the events, people, life, and culture of the past. Reminding us of our own mortality and finite existence. The castle was abandoned after a fire in 1816 during a renovation and extension by the architect John Nash. Beneath the castle remains on the surface exists a dark labyrinth of cave like vaults and rooms in the earth sealed from the public.This thesis was inspired by the archaeological process of excavation into the museum of the earth. To reopen the closed ruin to the public and provide a non-tempered temporary shelter for the displaying of objects/artefacts of the earth and allow for ongoing archaeological excavations to take place for the enjoyment of the public, via the creation of a new poetic connection. The design of the proposal drew inspiration from the ancient plan and excavations at Pompeii and reflections of Dante’s Devine Comedy in the journey from the parkland estate into the catacombs beneath the mountain of the ruin. Scott Kennedy Tutor(s) Paul Clarke Peter McNie