ADAPTING CULTURE WITH NATURE
in collaboration with Jeffrey SzetoAdvanced Studio of Experiments
Critic: Jing Liu & Kevin Lamyuktseung
HOW CAN WE PRESERVE MULTIPLE HISTORIES EMBEDDED WITHIN A BUILDING?
WHY ARE SOME STORIES VALUED GREATER THAN OTHERS?
HOW CAN WE ENGAGE & EMBRACE THE TENSION BETWEEN PAST & FUTURE, PRESERVATION & NATURE?
This project is our response to the demands of historical preservation, to challenge the understood notions of adaptive reuse and to propose new ways of preserving and conserving both material and immaterial histories. House 14 is a prior military home, built in the Georgian style, located on Governors Island. The Georgian style takes reference from classical proportions but has had many hybrid conceptions over time, both regionally and globally.
We analyzed House 14’s history by creating a timeline of the building elements through three scales of analysis: the building, the element, and the detail scale. At the building scale, we recognize facade elements and exterior proportions. The element scale is experienced when looking at windows, doors or fireplaces. The texture scale is experienced in parts of a building that may initially go unnoticed: a doorknob, patinated walls, or broken floorboards. No one scale is more salient than the other. In this proposal, the layers of the building are worked upon, either by man or by nature, to different degrees, allowing new histories to emerge. Here, nature and culture work together to represent a history in flux, a building with a multitude of stories.
We analyzed House 14’s history by creating a timeline of the building elements through three scales of analysis: the building, the element, and the detail scale. At the building scale, we recognize facade elements and exterior proportions. The element scale is experienced when looking at windows, doors or fireplaces. The texture scale is experienced in parts of a building that may initially go unnoticed: a doorknob, patinated walls, or broken floorboards. No one scale is more salient than the other. In this proposal, the layers of the building are worked upon, either by man or by nature, to different degrees, allowing new histories to emerge. Here, nature and culture work together to represent a history in flux, a building with a multitude of stories.
