FHGraham | Thesis Project | MArch Architecture, University of Greenwich | Part II

LONDON’S

LOST FLORENCE GRAHAM UNIT 20 MArch, UNIVERSITY OF GREENWICH

CHAPTER 01

ARTEFACTS OF DEGRADATION

17

CHAPTER 02

REPRESENTATION OF MEMORY STRUCTURES

17

CHAPTER 03

SCALES OF LOSS

29

CHAPTER 04

ETHICS OF FORGETTING LONDON

47

CHAPTER 05

BUILDING PROCESSION

65

SPACE HOUSE GALLERIFICATION

101

CASSON’S LIBRARY

119

CAR PARK TO WELBECK MONUMENT

131

CHANCERY MEMORIAL

159

ROBIN HOOD GARDENS MAUSOLEUM

183

REFLECTIVE TEMPLE FOR THE BUILDNG GRAVEYARD

183

ARTEFACTS OF DEGRADATION

6

30 PIECES OF SILVER | CORNELIA PARKER CONTEXT: 2011 Exhibition York St. Mary’s (Tate Collection) MATERIAL PROPERTIES: Flattened Recycled Silver Elements (Mainly silverware) suspended with Copper Wire NARRATIVE: Materiality, Transformation, Resurrection ARTEFACT RELATIONSHIPS: Transition from what materials used to be, by giving them a new lease of life by destroying them and then re representing them in art / sculptural form (A time capsule in some manner)

KODACHROME | NETFLIX CONTEXT: Based on an article in the New York Times Toronto International Film Festival; 2017 and Netflix; 2018 MATERIAL PROPERTIES: Development of Film Role into Physical Prints NARRATIVE: Development, Loss of Materials and Information ARTEFACT RELATIONSHIPS: Preserving materials, and ensuring possible historical snapshots are developed before being lost. Allowing them to be stored and memorialising the time in which the images were taken. Preserving the time at present inwhich the photograph was taken.

THE MUSEUM OF ABSENCE | PAUL SHULTZE CONTEXT: 2002 Vertical Memory; Book MATERIAL PROPERTIES: Archival Digital Prints from an Infrared Film NARRATIVE: Transforming atmospheres of the materiality and collection ARTEFACT RELATIONSHIPS: The use of materials, and transformation to create a memorial/capturing a moment, a feeling in time.

WELBECK STREET CAR PARK | MICHAEL BLAMPIED AND PARTNERS CONTEXT: 1971 Marylebone, London (just North of Oxford Street) MATERIAL PROPERTIES: Concrete NARRATIVE: Potential Loss ARTEFACT RELATIONSHIPS: Valuing the potential loss of a once popular style, however much unoccupiable. How many other elements have been lost or will be lost in the near future, and will we take notice of the loss of these objects?

MEMORISING ARTEFACTS A selection of artefacts, focusing on transitional materials and meanings, and the loss or potential loss in the future of objects and their narrative.

7

TRANSFORMED MEANING ARTEFACT 30 Pieces of Silver | Cornelia Parker

8

Memorialising objects by transforming defunct elements into new symbols.

Memories of fabric, utility and past lives.

LOSS OF THE UNOCCUPIABLE ARTEFACT Welbeck Street Car Park | Michael Blampied and Partners The future loss of an ‘uninhabitable’ car park, passed by many and often unnoticed.

Questions the value of what we have lost, and what is to be lost in the near future.

9

ABSENT HUMANS ARTEFACT Vertical Memory | Paul SchĂźtze

10

Capturing and layering the movement through the unoccupied museum spaces, featuring the monolithic absence of life and movement.

SAVING THE DYING ARTEFACT ARTEFACT Kodachrome Pausing reality to create memories, and allow moments of reflection upon the physical copies. Manipulated by exposure to light and degregation of material.

11

12

TRANSFORMATION

LOSS

ABSENCE

DEGRADATION

DIMINISHING THEMES The themes derived from the artefacts selected are to focus on the loss of memories and locations in a changing future, and how the degradation and loss of these elements many be utilised or memorialised in a speculative future.

13

REPRESENTATION OF MEMORY STRUCTURES

16

FORMING

STRENGTHENING

WEAKENING

FORGETTING

LOST

MEMORY GRID The cycle of memory throughout life for some, and soon the many.

Using the potential loss of the artefact, Welbeck Car Park, to represent the life cycle of the human memory, and its looming disappearance.

17

BUILDING MINDS The forming of memories at a young age, and building the foundations to a strong, and cognitive mind.

18

Strengthening the mind through games, and exercises to protect its structure.

MECHANICAL DEGRADATION The beginning of the loss of the human brain, where elements begin to weaken.

A build-up of excess protein in the brain, results in the state of dementia. Where, the line between reality, and illusions begins to fade, and cracks in the human psyche form.

And the lost, a surreal, unknown world takes over in this stance.

19

THE GIVER | LOIS LOWRY Explores a utopian world at first glance, however when further investigated the truth of its dystopian ideals are revealed.

The Giver passes down memories of historical events, emotions, and individuality down to the future Receiver of Memory, as these memories are received the world becomes clearer and transitions to colour.

Becoming the Receiver of Memories, creates turmoil, and the truth of certain memories can be distressing. However these are often the most important to never forget.

STALKER | TARKOVSKY Bedside artefacts slowly move across the table, moved by the trains vibration or the surreal.

Colour used to represent the ‘zone’ and where the Stalker finds refuge and place. While monochromatic tones represent the morbid reality of life outside of the zone.

‘Hardness and strength are death’s companions’

THE WIZARD OF OZ | FLEMING Sepia tones used to represent reality, while colour represents the surreal in an amnesia dream.

MINDFUL WORLDS

20

Main thematic findings include the look of changing colour to reflect atmosphere, feelings, and responses to different environments and worlds.

A state of mind can be reflected in materiality to create a sense of space and place in a surreal atmosphere.

MEMORY BOX A solid monochromatic casing and shell protecting the soft and vulnerable inside.

Memories and processes whirl around the central node, externally unnoticeable but changeable. Brain training games can be used to strengthen the brain’s functions.

While tactile, and objects which can be manipulated and played with can help soothe those with dementia.

21

THE SACRIFICE | TARKOVSKY “Tarkosvky forces you to be engaged in discussing humanity’s failure, Man’s shortcomings, our desire for destruction.”

“Waiting for something that you know is going to come without knowing when it’s going to hit you” “Sacrifice fits very much into this line as a sort of film that makes a final statement, a film that is, in parts, a recollection, a reminder,” The Art of Slow Cinema

SLOW TIME,VISIBLE CINEMA: DURATION, EXPERIENCE, AND SPECTATORSHIP Tiago De Luca | Academic Journal, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016 “Slow Cinema investigates one of the ways technology has led filmmakers to react against what is deemed the excessive speed of modern life and begins to re-think cinema’s relationship with screen realism and the representation of reality. ” Dreaming of Cinema / Slow Cinema NECSUS

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY | KUBRICK “Slowing down to observe is just as relevant now as it was in 1968 “ “With 2001, Kubrick was trying to get his audience to slow down in such a fast paced time and just appreciate who we are and where we’ve come from. By telling the story in a slow, meditative nature he was able to achieve what he was going for and also illustrate the very nature of space itself” What Culture

THE ARCHITECTURE OF SLOW TIME

22

Looking at slow time cinema, and their reflections upon the human state, in particular the human desires and resulting destruction of the world we manifest in. Additionally, the ominous future worlds.

Reflected in slow cinema, to ensure every moment is captured and absorbed. Rather than just seen and forgotten when the next fast, action scene appears.

ROADSIDE PICNIC A science fiction novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, in which Stalker was based on.

The interest in Roadside Picnics lies in the memories, and retracing routes through the zones.

23

PLATO’S ATLANTIS | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC “One of his most famous stories—the cataclysmic destruction of the ancient civilization of Atlantis” “The founders of Atlantis were half god and half human. They created a utopian civilization and became a great naval power.”

The legend of Atlantis is a story about a moral, spiritual people who lived in a highly advanced, utopian civilization. But they became greedy, petty, and “morally bankrupt,” and the gods “became angry because the people had lost their way and turned to immoral pursuits,” Willie Drye, National Geographic

Stories, myths, and truths of disappearing cities have been logged throughout time. Is it fate that our urban topias will disappear? Or be forgotten in time?

THE FASCINATING HIDDEN HISTORY OF LONDON’S LOST RIVERS | THE TELEGRAPH “Many of these rivers flow quietly above ground, in plain sight but generally unnoticed beyond their neighbourhoods. Their enticing names echo London’s rural past ... These rivers go about their business forgotten in the background, but many inner London waterways have been deliberately hidden.”

“London’s rivers are invisible threads, binding London together under the surface while the city roars above.”

Tom Bolton, The Telegraph

London’s numerous rivers and waterways were once integral to the city, however were slowly covered for houses and streets, where they disappeared into the background to be forgotten.

A JOURNEY THROUGH THE SHRINKING CITY OF DETROIT | CITYSCAPE “Detroit ... once the fifth largest city in the United States, with a peak population just shy of two million in the 1950s, as the dilapidated shell of its former self with just 680,000 residents holding onto the hope that one day their city will come back to life.”

“Detroit emerged as the automobile manufacturing capital of the United States following the arrival of Henry Ford in 1903, who brought his innovative, assembly-line, mass-production model of automobile manufacturing to Detroit, thus cementing the city’s future as Motor City.”

Sky Rise Cities

Detroit was once an economically booming city, that many industries and people have abandoned.

FORGOTTEN URBAN ELEMENTS Looking at the forgotten elements of the past, and present worlds, fictional and reality.

24

DETROIT’S THEATRIC CAR PARKS Recording the change from a cultural temple as a theatre, to an automobile temple; the car park.

The theatre displays the people as the theatre’s platform, whereas the car park has one lonely spectator on an abandoned platform. The cars become the theatre’s new installation as a replacement to the old decadent chandelier.

25

SCALES OF LOSS

STAGE 01 | NO IMPAIRMENT No memory loss

STAGE 02 | VERY MILD COGNITIVE DECLINE Normal memory loss associated with aging

STAGE 03 | MILD COGNITIVE DECLINE Friends and family members begin to notice cognitive problems

STAGE 04 | MODERATE COGNITIVE DECLINE Neurologists can confidently diagnose Alzheimer’s; poor short-term memory, may forget personal details, difficulty with simple arithmetic

STAGE 05 | MODERATELY SEVERE COGNITIVE DECLINE Begins to need help with daily activities, significant confusion, disorientation, may no longer be possible to live alone

STAGE 06 | SEVERE COGNITIVE DECLINE Worsened memory loss, difficulty recognizing family members, some personality changes

STAGE 07 | VERY SEVERE COGNITIVE DECLINE Final stage; communication is limited, physical systems also decline

THE GLOBAL DETERIORATION SCALE Alzheimer’s Society Stages of Dementia & Infographics The Global Deterioration Scale for Assessment of Primary Degenerative Dementia.

28

“The authors describe a Global Deterioration Scale for the assessment of primary degenerative dementia and delineation of its stages ... The Global Deterioration Scale successfully for more than 5 years and have validated it against behavioral, neuroanatomic, and neurophysiologic measures in patients with primary degenerative dementia.”

STAGE 01 | DECAYING AS INVESTMENT HOLDINGS Abandoned, vacant & unoccupied as an investment holding

STAGE 02 | PROTECTED AS HISTORIC INTEREST & PAUSED IN TIME Becomes an un-liveable space, overprotected & untouchable

STAGE 03 | LOSS OF ARCHITECTURAL IDENTITY Architectural language has disappeared, cannot be placed in time or overly manipulated

STAGE 04 | LOSS OF UTILITY & INEVITABLE OBSOLESCENCE Out of touch with developments in technology and become outdated. The site is still in use, but is financially more viable to replace the structure with an other development

STAGE 05 | LOSS OF PURPOSE & INDUSTRY Loss of use within its industry, or purpose.

Loss of it’s place in fashion and becomes disregarded.

STAGE 06 | LOSS OF PEOPLE People move on elsewhere leaving the infrastructure abandoned / lost.

STAGE 07 | LOSS OF STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY Weak foundations / structural security. The building is no longer safe to occupy.

URBAN DEMENTIA SCALE Based on: The Alzheimer’s Society Stages of Dementia & Infographics

Based off the Global Deterioration Scale, a new scale has been made to analyse the lost and redundancies in buildings and architecture. This scale uses dementia as a metaphor for the deterioration of architecture. The logos formed from case studies to further analyse these.

29

WELBECK TAXONOMY

30

Looking at the long and short elevation of Welbeck Car Park, in addition to the section and levels of the ramp which travels through the centre of the building.

In addition to a simplified plan, picking out only the concrete walls and form that make-up the buildings elements. The key facade elements are also highlighted to reflect their solidity.

LOST WELBECK MEMORIAL TO OBSOLESCENCE Varying sizes of elements to the eye of the beholder, giving a sense of confusion.

Broken into a series of elements that create the form of Welbeck Car Park, to then be reassembled to create a new abstract form that make-up the Forgotten Follies.

31

BLOOD FLOW IN THE NECK MAY HELP PREDICT FUTURE MEMORY PROBLEMS “UK researchers have suggested that a measure of blood flow in the neck may predict the risk of future memory and thinking problems.”

ALZHEIMER’S RESEARCH UK

“Blood pumped by the heart passes through an intricate network of fragile blood vessels to supply every part of the brain with the fuel it needs. If blood reaches the brain in high intensity pulses this could impact the health of blood vessels and affect the normal functioning of the brain.”

“Measuring the intensity of blood flow pulses in the neck could help to predict a person’s risk of future cognitive decline.”

“Disruption to the normal flow of blood to the brain is the direct cause of vascular dementia and changes to blood supply also play a role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease” DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH AT ALZHEIMER’S RESEARCH UK

URBAN BODIES | INFRASTRUCTURE MATTERS “Roads are the arteries through which the economy pulses.”

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM

“Concrete, steel and fiber-optic cable are the essential building blocks of the economy. Infrastructure enables trade, powers businesses, connects workers to their jobs” “Big demographic and cultural changes, such as the aging of our society ... underscore the need for new transportation and telecommunications to connect people and communities.”

WHY INFRASTRUCTURE MATTERS: ROTTEN ROADS, BUM ECONOMY

“Transport essential for growth in cities: Help people access jobs; Support innovation, productivity and economic growth in cities and the national economy; Help shape greener and healthier places; Help cities attract new firms; Unlock new development sites for business and housing.” ” Transport is also multi-modal ... cities bring together different modes of transport that need to seamlessly connect with one another.”

DELIVERING CHANGE: MAKING TRANSPORT WORK FOR CITIES

ARTERIAL FLOW & DIMINISHING LINKS

32

A failure in arteries leads to diminishing memories and contributes towards a state of dementia. Roads, walkways, and infrastructure connections are the arteries and blood vessels of urban centres.

Infrastructure provides a great boost to the economy, through creating jobs, and healthy links between communities. Allowing vital access and trade through these urban zones. However, what happens when these links and routes break down?

DEPTFORD PIER’S LOST UTILITY Welbeck Car Park Stage 04 | Loss of Utility & Inevitable Obsolescence | Loss of Spatial Awareness Varying sizes of elements to the eye of the beholder, sense of confusion Shown through the varying sizes of fragments, confusing site lines & scale perception

33

ETHICS OF FORGETTING LONDON

“The form that monuments take and the way that they are used is constantly changing. Monuments are a record of who we are in the world and what we have done. They are deeply ingrained in our psyche as a way of memorialising our triumphs and failures. Through this exhibition … a new architectural narrative for the monument where architecture and form are used as storytelling devices.”

Within this exhibition Adjaye, questions our relationship with memorials and monuments in today’s society. Adjaye claims “The monument is no longer a representation, it is an experience of time and place that is available to everyone”. From this we can look back to how we treat monumentalising buildings, and look at what we choose to remember? What is lost in reaction to this? The exhibition “Making Memory, while not a retrospective, draws out a “thread” running through Adjaye’s work and spins it into a narrative arc”. This thread shows Adjaye’s development and the buildings’ stories and relationships with one another through his design development. In reaction to this exhibition, the question of making memories, and how we do so should be looked at in an opposing manner. In order to include buildings which have not been given this protection and monumental-isation and have lost something in their day-to-day life or in more extreme cases in their entirety. However, the narrative should be kept as a tool for explanation, similarly to Adjaye’s Making Memory.

36

MAKING MEMORIES DAVID ADJAYE | LONDON DESIGN MUSEUM

“How can a building shape our perception of events – and how can architecture, rather than words, be used to tell stories?”

“Discover new monuments and memorials” Creating experiences within monuments to allow different levels of reflection

37

Within architecture, these memories can be due to events that we feel guilty about as a society, or their occurrence has left a ghostly atmosphere which we no longer wish to inhabit; therefore, the building is altered or demolished to remove this narrative. This concept is investigated in Radio 4’s Guilty Architecture, where Jonathan Glancey: “asks for how long a building carries the charge of an evil past.”

Glancey discusses this idea with David Chipperfield regarding the Haus der Kunst, which he claims “…has sat as an uncomfortable physical reminder of the Nazi regime and, as a piece of architecture, it was seen quite rightly as part of its sinister cultural propaganda”. Chipperfield claims that “Buildings are not guilty, but the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler, had a certain intention.

People who saw the building, should have the inspiration to feel themselves as belonging to a special people, to a special race.This building impressed through its sheer size ... it had a certain purpose”. Through this we can find that although the building may not be guilty, the purpose for which it was designed was. In a later conversation between Glancey and Norman Foster, he reveals his belief of “Are we in the business of cosmetically plastering over the past? Or would it make the building richer to confront these realities?”.

From this belief, we can find that there is truth in the danger of wiping away the past, therefore it should be engaged with and learnt from.

“Is there such a thing as guilty architecture?”

From this, we can ascertain from David Chipperfield’s opinion that “Buildings are not guilty, but the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler, had a certain intention”. The intention to show the architecture should make us feel leads to the question how do we disguise and hide this history from ourselves. Should we open them to the public so we can learn from our mistakes? Is there is guilt in acknowledging our history, which could prevent the past repeating itself. Therefore, there is a requirement of ethics and morality to what we choose to forget, as we have a duty to inform the future.

GUILTY ARCHITECTURE

38

How much responsibility does a building hold for its past?

Is it better to destroy and forget? Or do you risk repeating mistakes?

It may be, more beneficial to protect these buildings with a more sinister past and intention, to show the historic events that occurred, and how the nation has moved forward. To create an appreciation of history, but still looking on to the future.

“Preservation is always suspended between life and death.”

“We celebrate the idea that preservation itself is a forward-thinking celebration of life, that it is a way of looking at something that seems to be fading or gone and incubating new life within it.”

“We then looked at the history of preservation in terms of what was being preserved, and it started logically enough with ancient monuments ... Later, structures with more and more (and also less and less) sacred substance and more and more sociological substance were preserved ... In other words, everything we inhabit is potentially susceptible to preservation.”

The failures of architecture and preservation can be found within Rem Koolhaas’ Preservation Is Overtaking Us. Rem Koolhaas states “We are living in an incredibly exciting and slightly absurd moment, namely that preservation is overtaking us”. He describes an increase in the number of buildings we earmark for preservation. Koolhaas extends this argument to say, “everything we inhabit is potentially susceptible to preservation.”. This questions the value of what we choose to preserve and forget. To tackle this, Koolhaas suggest “Maybe we can be the first to actually experience the moment that preservation is no longer a retroactive activity but becomes a prospective activity”. Through this speculation, Koolhaas reflects on the ““Barcode” preservation scheme for Beijing where different preservation scenarios can be implemented in horizontal bands.” where the city becomes: “a kind of barcode and declare that the bands in the barcode could either be preserved forever or systematically scraped. In such a case, you would have the certainty that you preserved everything in a very democratic, dispassionate way and therefore really maintained an authentic condition.”

The shift towards democracy and fairness within this solution is commendable, however in reality would this solution be effective, or would we become attached to certain architectures and fight for their preservation as we do now? This results in the buildings we choose as culturally significant being retained, while the uncelebrated buildings are wiped from sight.

However, these ‘underdogs’ often have value and stand as a testament to their time, even if unfashionable or aesthetically displeasing.

PRESERVATION IS OVERTAKING US Looking at the views on preservation, is it too strict? Or not strict enough?

Additionally, how the building categories selected to be preserved have extended from monuments, to religious artefacts to a more broad category of any building with cultural significance, or palpable contribution. Furthermore, working under a title of ‘preservation’ however the language of the existing and new architecture changes and completely transforms the building into something new.

39

THE ETHICS OF MEMORY | AVISHAI MARGALIT

A value of memory. Avishai Margalit discusses this issue in The Ethics of Memory: “An ethics of memory is as much an ethics of forgetting as it is an ethics of memory.The crucial question, are there things we ought to remember? has its parallels, Are there things we ought to forget?”

Margalit, goes on to describe the notion of collective memory as “collective memory has agents and agencies entrusted with preserving and diffusing it”. The agent in this case is the ‘moral witness’, where “a moral witness may well give voice to an ethical community that is endangered by evil force”. From this, is the ‘moral witness’ responsible in the decision of what we forget? Margalit states that the “conveying the sensibility of events from the past that should be landmarks in our collective moral consciousness calls for a special agent of collective memory”. Through collective memory, is there collective motivational forgetting? What do we choose to forget, and through forgetting ultimately avoiding the inevitable consequences? It is well known that we learn from our mistakes, but if we forget will these events be reiterated, and at what cost. The value of memory is unquestionable, however what of the value of the forgotten or the to be forgotten? This question reverts back to the ethics and morality of memory and what we do with our memories to depict and predict the future.

THE ARCHITECTURE OF FAILURE | DOUGLAS MURPHY

Within the The Architecture of Failure, Murphy defines the building as “preserved but at a distance, as fragments” as the building lives on through an archive of information but no longer exists in its physical form. Through these methods of remembrance, memories linger in our existence and day-to-day lives. They will be used to demarcate the levels of loss in which the buildings have experienced, and where their memory still remains.

These definitions of forgetting, explored through a selection of buildings to speculate on redundancies within architecture.Through the investigation of the ruination and what a building once was and the memories it held. The relationship between memory and architecture is crucial. This is discussed by Douglas Murphy in The Architecture of Failure, where the “… relationship of the architecture discussed to its mediation; architecture’s complex conceptual ties to memory will be seen to be problematic when conditions of ephemerality are involved”.

In this case Murphy is referencing Crystal Palace, Hyde Park. To expand on this Murphy claims “we only experience the building in its mediated form; it is preserved at a distance, as fragments” 544. It is these fragments which survive longer than the life-span of a building, through archives of drawings and photography.These images act as memories from the past, capturing a moment in time. However, that is all they achieve, as they do not display the architecture in its entirety.Therefore, in many cases much of the building itself is lost and only a small fragment of the building’s story remains to be forgotten at a later date.

THEORIES & ETHICS OF MEMORY

40

Memory can be defined as “Something remembered from the past.”. Memories exist in our minds predominantly, and this is the key way in which we picture their existence. These memories eventually fade or are passed on to others as a memory of the past.

Memories survive through the portrayal of their story in museums, novels, imagery, and so forth. From this, it can be found that memory is embedded in the material.

RETRIEVAL FAILURE

‘Memory Retrieval’ failure is a memory, which one can not recall despite knowing the information required. This can be applied to buildings, which have lost a feature or element which made them what they once were, however the overall form remains.

INTERFERENCE RECOLLECTION

‘Interference memory’ is when “new information interferes with your ability to remember previously learned information” . Within architecture, this can be found through those suffering with lost association, as the original design and intention of the building is conflicting with newer programmes, implementations, or more.

FAILURE TO STORE

‘Failure to store’ memory in scientific research, is when short-term memory is not committed to long-term memory as it is not seen as required.This is in association with buildings becoming obsolete as they no longer serve a purpose or are not viable.

MOTIVATIONAL FORGETTING

Motivational forgetting occurs when someone does not want to remember a certain event or feeling so attempts to wipe the memory from their mind. This may be due to events we feel guilty over, or have left a ghostly atmosphere.

In architecture this leads to the building becoming altered or demolished to remove this story of the past.

DETERIORATION OF MEMORY FORM

The deterioration of memory is when the brain’s cognition begins to falter and fail. This loss of memory can be applied to architecture, when looking at the loss of physical memory through loss of fabric of deteriorating and removed architectures.

REASONS TO FORGET Investigating the notion of memory and ‘why do we forget’? Psychologist, Elizabeth Loftus, breaks down the reasons we forget into four categories: 01

Retrieval Failure

02

Interference Recollection

03

Failure to Store

04

Motivational Forgetting

In speculation, they do not go far enough, as they do not encompass the failing mind. Therefore to include: 05

Deterioration of Memory Form

41

SPACE HOUSE THE LESSER KNOWN-LITTLE BROTHER TO CENTRE POINT BUT STILL LISTED AND HAS RESTRICTED FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

RETRIEVAL FAILURE GEORGE MARSH & RICHARD SEIFERT | 1968

42

“Appreciated within the industry but often maligned by the general public, brutalism came to define post-war architecture in the UK” “While Seifert is most famous for Centrepoint (which I also like), and the Natwest Tower, now called Tower 42 (my favourite London building), there is something about the smallness of the Space House that makes it more subtle and less ‘grand’ than the other two buildings.”

CASSON PAVILION, LONDON ZOO LEFT TO HOUSE SMALLER ANIMALS, WHICH DO NOT REFLECT THE ARCHITECTURAL STYLE IMPLEMENTED

INTERFERENCE RECOLLECTION SIR HUGH CASSON / NEVILLE CONDER | 1962 – 1965

“The style of the building has been described as ‘zoomorphic New Brutalism, marvellously expressive of its inhabitants’ and its conical copper roofs gave the impression from above of elephants gathering around a water-hole. Casson’s design won him the 1965 RIBA award for the Best Building in London.”

“Grade II heritage listed since 1998.”

43

WELBECK STREET CAR PARK TO POTENTIAL HOTEL DESTINATION

FAILURE TO STORE MICHAEL BLAMPIED AND PARTNERS | 1971

44

“Originally designed for local department store Debenhams, the car park was sold to Shiva Hotels in 2016 and closed in March 2017. It is scheduled for demolition.”

“The demolition of a brutalist-era car park behind London’s Oxford Street has been approved to make way for a hotel designed by Eric Parry Architects.”

LONDON CHANCERY BUILDING, USA EMBASSY OCCUPANTS HAVE MOVED ON TO A GLASS “BUNKER IN THE’BURBS” & TO BECOME A HOTEL DESTINATION

MOTIVATIONAL FORGETTING EERO SAARINEN | 1955 – 1960

“The current embassy’s site, which has been valued at £500M ($780M), has already been sold to Qatar.”

“For security purposes, the building is currently surrounded by bollards and barricades. But these will all be removed as part of Chipperfield’s proposals, to create more usable public space.”

45

ROBIN HOOD GARDENS ONLY ONE BAY LEFT OF THE HOUSING SCHEME (V&A), WHILE THE MAJORITY OF ITS MASSING & PURPOSE IS NOW LOST

DETERIORATION OF MEMORY FORM ALISON AND PETER SMITHSON | 1966 - 1972

46

“Demolished in 2018 despite multiple rescue campaigns. The Victoria & Albert Museum preserved façade elements, which were exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2018.”

END BLACKWALL LOST LANDS

START SURREY WATER PIER

RETRIEVAL FAILURE

DETERIORATION OF MEMORY FORM

SPACE HOUSE:

BUILDING STORIES EXHIBITION Circular form & Framing Views within square exhibition frames

ROBIN HOOD GARDENS: CAFE & GIFT SHOP Memorial to the trapped & suspended lost building, home to comfort and feed those within

INTERFERENCE RECOLLECTION

MOTIVATIONAL FORGETTING

CASSON PAVILION: LIBRARY & READING ROOMS Circular form & Curvature of library book frames embracing & protective of its contents & reading nooks

CHANCERY BUILDING: FORGOTTEN INJUSTICE Memorial to the injustices of London & the forgotten sins of the city

FAILURE TO STORE WELBECK CAR PARK: MEMORIAL TO LONDON’S LITERATURE Sculptural Form, memorialising lost authors & poets

DECLINING FOLLY PROGRAMME Travelling ‘down river’ through the deterioration of memory and why we forget. These are represented through the manipulation of the follies found on the journey down the Thames, and the programmes housed within.

The penultimate stop and building’s last destination is the located at the Blackwall’s ‘Lost Lands’. Here a temple and buidling graveyard is situated for reflections on loss.

47

START

DETIORATING PIERS TO LOST PAVILLIONS

END

HEART OF DARKNESS

APOCALYPSE NOW

|

|

JOSEPH CONRAD

FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA

THE DROWNED WORLD

|

JG BALLARD

JOURNEY DOWN RIVER

50

Heart of Darkness & Apocalypse Now, both consist of a journey down river. Heart of Darkness is based in the 19th Century, while Apocalypse now is based in the 20th Century. The Drowned World looks at the future of London, and the overtaking nature of the river and vegetation. Where nature takes back the city, and swarms the buildings and land with water and plant life, making the city virtually uninhabitable.This fictional look into the future, allows for speculation on the future of a boat to move through the city & the floating remnants of the past.

CHARON RIVER VESSEL Inspired by the Heart of Darkness & Apocalypse Now. A military inspired base of the boat, while playing homage to more traditional boat formats through the use of sails.

Additionally, a combination of fuel/driving forces for the boat to be able to function in all situations and futures. A floating remanant of the past. A Charon Boat on a journey down river, passing dead architecture on a forgotten pathway.

51

TEMPORAL FOLLIES BARGE

52

Inspired by the London’s Refuse Removal Tug Boats.

A base inspired by the refuse container barges found scattered, seemingly abandoned, along the Thames.

Used to carry the city’s disregarded waste out of sight and out of mind.

A remnant of the disposable nature inwhich we live.

Based on the narrative of Charon’s Boat, taking dead architecture to its end location.

FRAGMENTED FURNITURE Lost furniture elements manipulated from Brutalist design to new futures and uses.

The broken elements of the deteriorating furniture is replaced with semi-transparent black resin, filling the void of the lost, and giving the objects an opportunity to be displayed and curated with a new future.

53

BLACKENED ENGINEERED TIMBER & BLACKENED GLASS Sails to mask elements of the follies to highlight loss, only to be unveiled at night with lighting.

BRUTALIST CONCRETE FOLLIES Selected from the lost building’s of London to be put on display whilst on their procession down the river

YELLOW RESIN CAST FLOORS & STEEL SUB STRUCTURE Flowing from the land and sinking into the river

54

BUILDING PIER MATERIALITY Using materiality as a component to highlight and exhibit the lost buildings of London.

55

56

57

58

DOWN RIVER DETERIORATION

RETROSPECTIVE BUILDING LOSS

59

BUILDING PROCESSION

RETRIEVAL FAILURE SPACE HOUSE

62

INTERFERENCE RECOLLECTION CASSON PAVILION

FAILURE TO STORE WELBECK CAR PARK

MOTIVATIONAL FORGETTING CHANCERY BUILDING

DETERIORATION OF MEMORY FORM ROBIN HOOD GARDENS

FORGOTTEN PROCESSION TEMPLE OF REFLECTION & BUILDING GRAVEYARD

63

SPACE HOUSE GALLERIFICATION

66

EXHIBITING FADING BUILDING STORIES

67

68

RE-ROUTING BUILDING STORIES EXHIBITION

69

CASSON’S LIBRARY

74

CASSONIAN ELEMENTS TO RIVER PAVILION

75

76

MEANDERING THROUGH LITERATURE

77

CAR PARK TO WELBECK MONUMENT

82

CAR PARK COMPONENTS TO MONUMENT

83

84

GREENWICH PIER REDEVELOPMENT

85

CHANCERY MEMORIAL

90

EMBASSY MAJESTY TO INJUSTICE MEMORIAL

91

92

MEMORIAL TO INJUSTICE

93

ROBIN HOOD GARDENS MAUSOLEUM

98

MOTIF COLLECTIONS TO REMEMBER

99

100

COMMEMORATION TO THE GIFT SHOP

101

REFLECTIVE TEMPLE FOR THE BUILDNG GRAVEYARD

106

MONOLITHIC TEMPLE TO BUILDING TOMBSTONES

107

108

LONDON’S LOST BUILDINGS

109

110

RETROSPECTIVE BUILDING LOSS

To Elizabeth Graham An Inspiration & Never to be Forgotten

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS