Historical Cultural Memory Celebrated Through Architecture

Abstract

History is important in all aspects of life because without remembering the past, society cannot advance. All original thoughts are on some level dependant upon something that has happened in the past. The present condition of any area is inherently influenced by past decisions and events. Responding to this sense of memory does not require the construction of a museum or a memorial. Every building created today has a relationship to past architecture on some level, which could be celebrated regardless of the building's program. Any building site can bethought of as a palimpsest. As sites are transformed through time, traces of past stories and human inhabitation are inevitably left behind. These traces could serve to influence the re-designing of place, which could then be understood as simply another step in a continuous transformation. Buildings are part of the cultural fabric of a community. Architecture can transform ideas, needs, and desires into space. It can capture fleeting or insistent memories into tangible, buildable forms. "Memory creates a unique relationship with space, holding onto the essence of it and letting the rest of the details fade into gray". Architecture represents the history, tradition, and culture of a specific community. Memory has a fundamental role both in the transformation and in the preservation of cultural manifestations. A site that has, or had, a rich cultural history has the potential to be amplified through architectural intervention. The objective of this project is to design a building that successfully respects and recognizes its surrounding site while subtly expressing historical or cultural memory. Obviously, an in-depth study of the site is necessary to make a successful building that "fits in" the context, such as observing building styles, heights and forms, roads, sidewalks, public transportation, in addition to historical conditions.