The Temporal Life of a Site: Photomontage and Meaning

This thesis is an exploration of an urban heterotopia. Through the examination of the temporal life of a site, in combination with visual techniques of control, a proposed intervention transforms the site and its associated meaning/memory. The methodology involves memory and process, and an understanding of how memories are constructed, and why. Processes of defamiliarization, abstraction, and estrangement are given special emphasis, in order to demonstrate how a site can be transformed through design. The design is informed through exercises in collage, montage, and assemblage in order to cull out the ghosts of a site: its associations, narratives, and connections within the city. The concept of urban palimpsest, or the readings of layers on urban artifacts, is a theme of this exploration. Ultimately, the primary element of change is effected through the landscape. The design is a result of the readings of these layers, and an understanding of the value of the substrate itself.

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