Resurrecting architectural ghosts [An anticipation of collective memory]

Recognising that society is made up of a diversity of people with distinct idiosyncrasies, building carcasses can only say so much. The thesis explores the notion of “regional identity” through the alternative lens of architectural ghosts (buildings demolished in the past) – a representation of our values of the past that manifests who we are today. It calls for a rethinking of the value system that drives the notion of authenticity as one more social than architectural and strives to achieve that by introducing a new archival framework and space through the regional artefact, the invisible histories – micronarratives. It explores an interpretive process of translating text (micronarratives) as space (architectural tableaus) and organises fragments of individual memories into a bottom-up collective through a spatialised classification system, utilising the three facets of energy, space, and time. The archive of architectural ghosts offers a more humanistic experience, transcending the normative idea of a static card box filled with black and white documents. All design, agency, and intentionality come from the uses we make of the archive, rather than what it contains; an aspiration to spur memories, produce new meanings, build relationships, and re-member us as a community (Figures 27.1, 27.2, and 27.3).