7 As the document gets altered over time, the palimpsest gains a highly textural quality as it is affected by man-made or natural erosive agents. And because of that temporal tranformation, palimpsest gain value as they become several layers of information within the same surface as opposed to a singular document that would lose value if it were to undergo any weathering processes at all. A spatial palimpsest is the translation of palimpsestual processes applied to a layered, volumetric design. In a surface
By the manual process of scraping away and moving earth, The Peruvian Geoglyphs imbed layers of interesting geometries into the desert landscape.
procedure of a palimpsest, scraping and erasing are the primary tools of the author to allow for new writing to emerge. As a spatial practice, those same tools of removal can be generalized into a method of partial demolition that maintains evidence of the original while adding a new layer construction. Design can thus be though of as a textual response, in that it communicates a design narrative that is responsive to an existing context and yet adds something new in its execution.
The Philadelphia row home, because of its side by side construction, can leave a palimpsest of information when an adjacent building becomes derelict and removed. The resulting elevation is a collage of material residues that trace former structures and interior volumes.