AN ATHENAEUM FOR THE UNEARTHED
M A S T E R S P R O J E C T
The Athenaum is a home for artefects of time, space, culture and nature. An architecture which reveals the embedded narratives of local people and objects which would otherwise be hidden, discarded or lost to time is proposed in inner East London.
Like Alice from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, we are all navigating the forests in our heads, scrambling to find a solid footing beneath our feet, and simply attempting to make sense of the time and space we inhabit.
When we look inwards at this forest of consciousness, we find a narrative of our reality.
As a mirror of a self-defined reality, the forest allows the space for questioning what we think we know. But what if we distorted the image?
THE ATHENAEUM FROM DAWN TO SUNSET TO DUSK
A spatial language is found through experimentation with the museum programme; a space created for looking backwards in time. This exploration plays on the metaphorical warping of time and space, specifically within Inner East London.
An architecture which allows a dynamic, non-stop community to access the stillness, surprise and contemplation of the forest is proposed through the design of a local archival display.
This architecture distorts our expectations of a new development within Inner East London, as well as revealing the embedded narratives of local people and objects which would otherwise be hidden, discarded or lost to time.
Pause is given to the gritty, dynamic and resourceful London that we know - a space for pondering, reflection and contemplation of the narratives we live by is offered in return.
The first exploration revolved around expectations of architectures which currently tell stories of time in Inner East London.
CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS
EXISTING SITE CONDITIONS
TO CHAPTER 2
An Unearthing
A Spatial Language for a Porous Experience of Memory