Master thesis | 2022
Abstract
Understanding of place is fundamental to architects, a complex topic with many layers. The purpose of this research is to explore how architects can answer to the given conditions of a specific site and through the act of making, explore and provide insights as input for a series of Pioneers (design proposals). This investigation takes place in a rural coastal village forty kilometers north om Umeå, a tranquil place named Ratan. Six in-situ artifacts are identified and analysed through an extensive iterative process where drawings and models are made along with reflections and theory, constituting an archive. A pioneer is among the first to explore and to settle in new territory, it can also be groundbreaking in utilizing new methods or areas of knowledge or activities.These pioneers are just that, objects that pushes boundaries and are willing to try new things. The focus lies in unfolding that process and to explore how that understanding can be achieved through a specific process of making an archive.
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To articulate the past historically does not mean to recognise it 'the way it really was'. It means to seize hold of a memory as it flashes up at a moment of danger 1 Walter Benjamin
The archive has been used as a conscious tool to reflect and learn. In turn, it has provided insights into the three pioneers to be placed back in Ratan on three specific locations representing different typologies. The aim has been to find methods and strategies of providing insights to be used into creating thoughtful born-outof-place architecture that reflects back to its location and surroundings, to learn through the act of making and to involve all senses into the process. For architects, the outlined process is relevant as it proposes alternative approaches and methods to understanding space. To make meaningful architecture with character, that is both rooted into the past and the future. Perhaps it is true as expressed by Christer Hollinder that we need a historical foundation as not to be fluttery and rootless. Keywords: Archive, Making, Identity, Critical Regionalism, Genius Loci
Charny, Daniel. Power of Making, Victoria & Albert Museum. 2011. http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/p/powerofmaking/ (retrieved 2020-10-15). Walter Benjamin, quoted in Hall, Stuart. "Constituting an archive." Third text 15.54 (2001) p.89: 89-92.
Karl Lind
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