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' Imbuing Memory ' Shop for the Artifacts of Life

Part 1 Project 2009
Richard Wood
 University of Lincoln Lincoln | UK
'Imbuing Memory' Shop for the Artifacts of Life.

Locard stipulated in his forensic exchange principles that every mark leaves a trace of being - An imprint of the marker imbued on the architectural surface and a mode of grasping an understanding of time. The project developed to understand such ‘markings’ as the paternation and creation of memory. It endeavoured to bring narrative to the otherwise mundane, to make visible the otherwise invisible. An outhouse on the edge of Lincoln was analysed in order to find such memories in its interactions - a mark left by someone, something, a telling of history, a scaring on its surface.

The investigation moved to smaller and larger contexts, fuelling an obsession with the left over actions of an instance. The table installation provided a store of the interactions through a day. The ‘object’ was then studied for its ability to collate memory. A shop in Horncastle is explored as a collection of countless life – the memorabilia from forgotten people clutter its labyrinthine corridors.

The traces of a human interaction are visible frequently in the landscape. The project moves to a site in Castleton in the peak district- Mam Tor. The fragmented road which now drapes its slopes, is the remnants from countless attempts to support the landslide which destroyed it. The proposed building is as much a museum as it is a shop- a building for the store of the objects of countless local lives. A true representation of locality, storing the memories of lifes otherwise lost. Through retail the collection of the repository will inherit the same ephemerality as the landscape in which it is situated. The building itself, derived through a response to the road, will slide and trace its own history; Doors close and open through time, walkways slide to new entrances, buildings conceal in earth, all to trace a past existence, through this imbuing its own memory in the surrounding landscape.





The departure point for this remarkable project is an exploration of a disused out house at the bottom of a garden in a domestic dwelling.

The project explores ideas of Human contact, memory and the passing of time all of which have been rigorously investigated, documented and integrated in to the detailed resolution of a building which seeks to both halt and accept the process of time.

Richard is an exceptional student of architecture who has produced a delightful building, which speaks in a beautiful way about both its use and the way it inhabits its shifting landscape. It communicates of our desire for longevity, but ultimately accepts the temporary nature of our fragile existence.


Tutor(s)
2009
The Outhouse becomes an investigation into which the phenomenon of paternation is understood. The evidence of memory are sought on each material junction, and every trace of human contact
The pristine detailing of a once 'new' building becomes corrupted by the reality of time. Every section, a capsule of the ages it once passed through
Casts are taken, halting a process - capturing a moment. Elements are re-detailed providing an insight into the alterations and exchanges in time
The dynamics of time are hypothetically frozen providing a visible fragmentation of the roof. The kitchen table is then turned into a device to capture the motions of a day, making visible the invisible
The endless corridors of an antiques shop in Horncastle become a tool, exploring the memory inherent in the objects and artefacts present through owners lifes
Objects were examined_ travel cards through their life spans are researched and theorized, if we could fully only understand the journeys each one has taken, what it has seen
Mam Tor, Castleton, Peak District - Draped across the slope and foot of the mountain is the remains of the A625. Evident in the tarmac are the attempts to harness the slip now left as a visible memory
A landscape is fragmented, each strata adding to the landslides ephemeral movement, Every area of the seizures providing a movement to be stored
Plan. The buildings cascade down the site, follies responding to the broken road, connected through ribbon like walkways. Tectonically moving with the land, tracing their footprints as they glide
Silt sliding over the deliveries bay covers the opposing building through the integrated earth shafts; a quaint corridor turns into a gallery of earth. Landscape creeping slowly around and over the complex.
Cracks widen until a new walkway emerges, such movement allows the book housing to split, one section is left creating a crypt, a vault in the landscape, one entrance bolted another opened
Details - The building becomes a mechanism for imprinting itself with the slide of the landscape it integrates with. From left: Rock anchors, Path slip plates and Ground augmented louvers
Left: Housing the objects of local life the building literally becomes a Museum available for purchase, with the collection as ever changing as the building itself. Right: Museum plan 2039 Relocations now visible
Left-Right: significant objects are preserved in the display boxes which litter the site.: Furniture hung to allow for the growing collection transforming into a chandelier of instance.: Clothes of the past mottle the store
In the duality of the ephemeral yet constant landscape the building draws attention to the remnants of being. Ever changing, ever present, a hoard of memories waiting to be discovered
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