Narrative(s) : a conversation between space, program & event

Abstract

Are the narratives which grow into the architecture we create and inherit, not conceived by the events that have taken place within it? A space holds the ability to write its own stories, inscribed into its materiality through the catalogue of events which it hosts in the everyday. This dissertation stems from an understanding that architecture is more than the walls which it erects, it is just as much born out of what takes place within those walls, out of the performance of life itself. The intention of this research is to investigate the metaphysical conversation between a space and the events that happen in it; a perpetually violent dialogue mediated by the rhythms of the architect’s program. This conversation is illustrated upon a framework, a conceptual model which helps shed light on a topic that is so often left unrecognised. Located in a vast array of discourse concerned with the purity of architectural space, this research provokes an ulterior perspective, one which speaks precisely of the imperfections, of the events which violate the pure composition of space. Violence is adopted as a metaphor throughout the study, used as a linguistic tool that describes the very disruption out of which a narrative is born. The motivation to develop such a framework cannot be considered in isolation of the context it hopes to serve. As this dissertation develops, the socio-political events unfolding within the local scene are being extracted into its narrative; exposing the relevance of such a discourse within the contemporary condition. Set within a state of accelerated development and upheaval, the study finds that the destruction of a space which a community has grown attached to, synonymously implies the destruction of the narratives embedded within it. Void of mourning what is lost, this research entices a conversation on the architecture which now takes its place, questioning its ability to provide for the narratives that can now be.