The amnesia of place

Abstract

The intended thesis examines the relationship of how architecture can define place. Place can be identified as the common willingness of individuals of a community to engage within their space. The intent of the project is to discover, through an intervention based on a kind of archeology, what aspects of a neighborhood perceived to be "dead", could be layered and built upon to re-identify place? In the case of the thesis a specific unique setting is investigated. Can agriculture be one of the foundations for the evolution of architecture through the communal growth of a place? These elements are definable by the territories they attempt to create for the individual person to occupy and evolve. Only then can place become evident , only then can the rebirth and re-creation of community begin to re-identify a forgotten place. The evolution of place begins within the identification of a lost element, and grows based upon the individuals that occupy particular zones. The uses for the spaces will engage the idea of "place" for a future development. Care must be taken to re-identify place, not reestablish place, which services the growth of community. The fundamental basis to living can reappear as an analogy to the re-creation of a place. Agriculture, architecture and community evolve as the fundamental foundation to this idea. I propose that the goal is to make a new place, not re-create what was once there. I will repeat this comment many times throughout the thesis. I would like to define place through an extensive process of interventions through architecture.