Friday, August 21, 2015 10:30 am
-
10:30 am
EDT (GMT -04:00)
Of the thesis entitled: Variations on a Theme of Deep Time : From Geology to Architecture
Abstract:
Through
the
lens
of
deep
time,
this
thesis
draws
a
comparison
between
geology
and
architecture,
to
create
an
architecture
of
simultaneity.
Using
Henri
Bergson’s
notion
of
the
present
containing
all
of
the
past
within
it,
the
thesis
proposes
the
earth
as
being
at
once
a
relic,
a
ruin,
and
a
construction
site.
Within
this
earth,
there
exists
the
possibility
to
create
an
architecture
that
does
not
float
on
the
top
surface
of
time,
but
is
embedded
both
in
and
across
the
deep
and
varying
layers
of
time.
It is wholly apparent that architecture exists beyond our personal time frames. It exists as ruins, as monuments to past times, or built into our generation to be sent to the next – surrendering to the intractability of time. Within geological systems in the earth, epochs are embedded as stratigraphy of vast time scales, essential to the structure and depth of the world we experience in the present. Beginning with a fascination of the effects of the past existing in an altered state in the present, a comparison is made between the human, geological, and architectural agencies that are characteristic of the Anthropocene era.
The thesis is structured in two main parts: Part I ‘Studies in Time’ and Part II ‘A 20 000 year story’. Part I consists of a series of autonomous explorations existing on various sites and non-sites,using a hybrid of representational methods to investigate and communicate possible links between the senses, the body, history, personal memory, material memory, and earth memory. Part II maintains the same level of autonomy through the fragmented illustration of a geological and historical narrative of the formation of the Niagara River. The 20 000 year story articulates relationships between visible relics and the complex processes that shape them into being. Exploring how the landscape has been transformed by both natural and human intervention,the longevity of formations and of our creations are put into comparative questioning. Describing how these moments are created, embedded, and finally eroded, a link is established between the cycles of creation and destruction with remembering and forgetting. The story concludes with a design study for the currently decommissioned Ontario Power Station Building, proposing a series of operations akin to the transformations observed in the geological and historical narrative.
It is wholly apparent that architecture exists beyond our personal time frames. It exists as ruins, as monuments to past times, or built into our generation to be sent to the next – surrendering to the intractability of time. Within geological systems in the earth, epochs are embedded as stratigraphy of vast time scales, essential to the structure and depth of the world we experience in the present. Beginning with a fascination of the effects of the past existing in an altered state in the present, a comparison is made between the human, geological, and architectural agencies that are characteristic of the Anthropocene era.
The thesis is structured in two main parts: Part I ‘Studies in Time’ and Part II ‘A 20 000 year story’. Part I consists of a series of autonomous explorations existing on various sites and non-sites,using a hybrid of representational methods to investigate and communicate possible links between the senses, the body, history, personal memory, material memory, and earth memory. Part II maintains the same level of autonomy through the fragmented illustration of a geological and historical narrative of the formation of the Niagara River. The 20 000 year story articulates relationships between visible relics and the complex processes that shape them into being. Exploring how the landscape has been transformed by both natural and human intervention,the longevity of formations and of our creations are put into comparative questioning. Describing how these moments are created, embedded, and finally eroded, a link is established between the cycles of creation and destruction with remembering and forgetting. The story concludes with a design study for the currently decommissioned Ontario Power Station Building, proposing a series of operations akin to the transformations observed in the geological and historical narrative.
The examining committee is as follows:
Supervisor:
Committee Members:
Robert Jan van Pelt, University of Waterloo
Val Rynnimeri,University
of
Waterloo
Ryszard
Sliwka,
University
of Waterloo
External Reader:
William Woodworth
The
committee
has
been
approved
as
authorized
by
the
Graduate
Studies
Committee.
The
Defence
Examination
will
take
place:
Friday
August
21,
2015
10:30AM
ARC
2026
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.