HERMENEUTICS: A journey to the understanding of modes of understanding

This folio is for the most part, a collection of work undertaken for Hermeneutics Studio, 2021.

More importantly, this digital zine, is an instruction manual that presents various attempts at storing information with regard to the preservation of social and political narratives throughout history.

What will follow, is the development of an understanding of the importance of storing historical information to be translated for future and contemporary understandings.

Through the examples of five past, present and future stores of information, the reader (you) will hopefully be able to formulate you’re their own understanding of what constitutes a ‘successful’ store of information, as well as becoming aware of the inherent turbulent and delicate process of actually translating information to a store and then eventually, a store to a building.

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To welcome you to this collection of work, I would like to outline some of the key themes I have been contending with throughout the semester.

Over this period, I have concerned myself with digging into the crux of what makes for a successful store of information and how to define this subsequent success.

From the case studies presented I took it upon myself to take a sort of activist approach against the certain examples I saw as somewhat problematic in terms of their storing of information and their role in preserving history.

This was countered by having a heavy focus on the significance of the Heide scar tree known as YINGABEAL. What I chose to focus on was the way in which the tree presents itself as the information, the store, and the signifier of its historical past.

Hermeneutics being both a new and unfamiliar area of study, the course of the studio became a tools itself.

Where each week was another mode or angle to attempt to understand the topic further. While no full understand may have been reached, what the studio has enabled me to see, is a consideration of where some stores of information go wrong and also succeed in their translation of historic value to a place in the contemporary world.

I often found myself asking various questions of the work: How can a store of information reflect what is inside? (see ZINE 04) If we don’t know what it is storing then why should we place value on it? (see ZINE 04 Should the manner in which we store something match the historical value we place on the artefact? (see P.E.N.C.I.L) How can architectural forms adapt in scale and program to better reflect what is being held inside? (see ZINE 05) Is it possible for the store of information to devalue or destroy the artefacts history? (see ZINE 05) Are the things being stored more valuable as their original selves in their own contextual environment? (see P.E.N.C.I.L) Can the architecture of information stores be telling of the history it contains? (see ZINE 03) What does a successful/unsuccessful, good/bad, real/fake, protective/ damaging store of information actually look like? (see ZINE 01) When dealing with natural history, what information do we actually need to consider/store? (see ZINE 02).

The undertaking has revealed to be a search for answers to some of these questions while also striving to open a discussion about the importance of preserving sensitive, natural and (in the case of Australia’s traditional land owners) largely undocumented history and what architecture can do to enable this for the future.

-- AW

“if you dig deep enough, you will hit conflict, not an underlying unity.” “when you learn to speak a second language, you have widened your world, not built yourself a second prison to enclose the first” “ as soon as we use a system of signs, we sign on to a whole string of associations and connotations of which we are not the author”

Zine 01: What does a successful/unsuccessful, good/bad, real/fake, protective/damaging store of information actually look like?

The archaic store of information. THE LAND TITLES OFFICE. How can land be stored anywhere else but in that area of land itself?

Land noun 1. the part of the earth’s surface that is not covered by water. “the reptiles lay their eggs on land” Land Title A title is a bundle of rights in a piece of property in which a party may own either a legal interest or equitable interest.

Who has the title to take the land in the first place?

The answer to the opening question: whether or not the ‘former’ Land titles office in Melbourne is successful or not, could be ironically taken its current physical state. Decrepit, old, falling down, dusty, needed-to-be-changed, disregarded, out dated. A building that was formally stored who ‘owned’ the land is now in a state of ‘either restore it or let it crumble’.

Perhaps we can take this as the universe’s sign that the former Land Titles office and both its way of storing and the information itself are not welcomed in the progression of a contemporary Hermeneutics.

The key principle of the ‘LTO’s mode of storage is in the strong room. A highly dense and protected room that in impenetrable. And above, un-inclusive. It is built to exclude. To keep out. To extradite. To disregard. To make sure that only those who can afford access, get it.

Reaction/Solution: From this, the subsequent design esquisse is presented as the public’s anthesis to the LTO. A clubhouse in Andrew’s reserve that protects the part of the land that is devoid of ownership.

The clubhouse is designed to house memories and associated experiences with land. A place that stores a coming together of people in a public place.

The clubhouse is given over to the public as a safe haven from the greedy hands of those that see land as a means for profit.

While this may be a reasonable case for land acquisition (given we wouldn’t be here but that’s another debate), what is more often than not overlooked are the memories, events, important moments, and unspoken historical occasions that occur on that land. And, it is always the public that have to suffer when this is taken away.

As their personal hermeneutics of that piece of land is important to them. Not the pocket of a developer.

“if you dig deep enough, you will hit conflict, not an underlying unity.” “when you learn to speak a second language, you have widened your world, not built yourself a second prison to enclose the first” “ as soon as we use a system of signs, we sign on to a whole string of associations and connotations of which we are not the author”

Zine 02: When dealing with natural history, what information do we actually need to consider/store?

“The Heide Scar Tree, known as Yingabeal, or songtre (Yinga meaning sing or song and beal is an Indigenous name for a redgum) (Grace et al., 2016), represents an important link to Aboriginal cultural practices significant to the original inhabitants of the site, the Wurundjeri and Woiwurrung people, for whom this particular tree was a sacred ceremonial ground.” - Grace, C., Healey, C., Morgan, K., Nicholson, B., Noyes, D., & Poulson, J. (2016). Yingabeal: The Wurundjeri scarred tree at Heide Museum of Modern Art. Melbourne, Australia: Heide Museum of Modern

On approaching Yingabeal with regard to information storage. It has become prevalent that what is needed to be stored is the tree itself. As if the tree is stored, then so too is the associated historical significance.

The tree is a way finding device. It is a staple in indigenous song lines that are passed down through generations. To protect these generational artefacts, we must protect their physical embodiment.

Perhaps the wood of the tree is not the most important part, but it is what the tree signifies that is the part that requires considered protection.

This illustrated zine attempts to allure to the importance that this type of tree holds spiritually, physically, historically, universally. It also is used to convey, to heightened dramatic effect, through use of satiric illustrations, the absurdity of western practices and how, if taken literally would not only reveal their shortcomings but suggest how problematic they can potentially be.

This is best shown in the illustration of the two men ‘scarring’ the tree. On one side is the traditional owner of the land who creates a scar as to provide for himself but in a way that is harmless to the tree and allowing it to regrow. Where as the other man, the ‘western’ embodiment, is seen scarring the tree as they have done for hundreds of years. Rather to destroy it than consider ways of working with nature to provide and protect at the same time.

Reaction/Solution: From this, the subsequent design esquisse is presented as an adaptive tree protector.

The form of the building is based upon the current infrastructure in place to protect the tree.

That is a clear plastic, anti-possum wrap that is attached to the tree. This design is an adaption of the western understanding of this possum trap.

It pushes the idea of the trap to an architectural scale.

Where the tree extends, so too does the architecture.

The possum trap presents itself as our most effective way of providing protection to historically significant natural artefacts that has been developed for hundreds of years. So simple. So elegant. So effective.

While it may prove efficiency in design (or laziness in preservation) the possum trap not only indicates our disregard for the urgency of natural history but also our complacency in application.

Now, the architecture becomes the designed, considered possum trap. Perhaps a more respected ‘fuck you’ to the need to preserve natural history as it falls under the category of ‘architecture’ rather than ‘clear possum plastic’.

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1. Harmony between people and nature i 2. Loss of history 3. Protection 4. Cultural significance i 5. Generational handover 6. Heide i 7. Sacred land 8. Cultural significance ii 9. Place of coming together 10. Protection of the building 11. Journey from tree to water 12. Respect for indigenous history 13. Heide ii 14. Heide iii 15. Unspoken history 16. Function of Yingabeal 17. Harmony between people and nature ii 18. Proposed storing of information/Campanile tower 19. 'Protectitecture' proposed protecting of information 20. Proposed barricade from urbanisation i 21. Proposed barricade from urbanisation ii

“As with an onion, layer after layer is peeled away in order to come at last to the innermost center”

“IT IS THE NATURE OF THE NARRATIVE TO PORTRAY HISTORICAL EVENTS AS A PROCESS AND TO ALLOW THESE TO PRESENT THEMSELVES GENETICALLY TO THE EAR OF THE HEARER, THUS ALLOWING THEM VIRTUALLY TO UNFOLD BEFORE HIM.” Investigations of Origins; How can information be uncovered from an object itself.

What can we tell about its history just by looking what’s on the surface.

To say a the conservatory in Fitzroy gardens was built and then plants were put in it would be to disregard its life. To disregard time itself.

“AS WITH AN ONION, LAYER AFTER LAYER IS PEELED AWAY IN ORDER TO COME AT LAST TO THE INNERMOST CENTER” To say the Conservatory in Fitzroy gardens was planned, designed, populated, renovated in certain years and even today still undergoing major restoration works, would be to subject ones self to the actual truth.

A holistic interpretation of the scars it shows on its surface.

“AS SOON AS WE USE A SYSTEM OF SIGNS, WE SIGN ONTO A WHOLE STRING OF ASSOCIATIONS AND CONNOTATIONS OF WHICH WE ARE NOT THE AUTHOR”.

When becoming implicated in or examining the history of something, we can only articulate a ‘true’ interpretation by accepting the whole truth.

The layers of events that have been apart of this history.

To omit the statue of David’s toe being smashed with a hammer would be to deny its place in history.

It would forgo its ability to survive as a contemporary artefact. Merely just an old piece of marble.

ARCHITECTURAL DETAIL #4 ORNAMENT FOR THE UNDERWORLD; AN AESTHETIC GATEWAY TO HELL...

4. As the heat rises from below, the once beautiful ornamental grate begins to morph until it finally liquifies. Solidifying to remind us always look down...

ARCHITECTURAL DETAIL #5 ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL; THE CRACK IN THE WALL THAT NOW TAKES A CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY BOOKS...

5. As time moves on and the building ages, each new brick added to its walls are equally added to in pages in it’s history. These bricks or moments of restoration then become the storer of information themselves.

Zine 02: The conservatory acts as a haven for natural information. A garden of Eden in the heard of Fitzroy/ Collingwood. By examining some key architectural details of the store itself, the zine attempts to create an understanding about what actually goes into the building typology of an information store. More importantly, it attempts to establish a link between the architectural fabric and its contents.

Through abstracting and distorting the observed architectonic elements, a deeper dive is made to truly examine the physicality of each part of the building.

Digging ever deeper to find the link between a picturesque Follie and its wild flora it holds.

To say the conservatory in Fitzroy gardens was built and then plants were put in it would be to disregard its life. To disregard time itself.

“As with an onion, layer after layer is peeled away in order to come at last to the innermost center” To say the Conservatory in Fitzroy gardens was planned, designed, populated, renovated in certain years and even today still undergoing major restoration works, would be to subject ones self to the actual truth.

A holistic interpretation of the scars it shows on its surface.

“As soon as we use a system of signs, we sign onto a whole string of associations and connotations of which we are not the author”.

When becoming implicated in or examining the history of something, we can only articulate a ‘true’ interpretation by accepting the whole truth. The layers of events that have been apart of this history.

To omit the statue of David’s toe being smashed with a hammer would be to deny its place in history. It would forgo its ability to survive as a contemporary artefact.

Merely just an old piece of marble.

Reaction/Solution: From this, the subsequent design esquisse is presented as the a campanile tower that uses each examined architectonic element as the mode of storing.

The tower is divided into five vertical floors where the abstracted architectural details defined in the zine become the container for storage.

For instance, the cellophane floor is representing the wall of that floor where the internal lining of the building is reflective of what it holds. (see detail #4) Moving up, the extended red armature becomes a floor to hold the protective device used at the conservatory. The Pidgeon spikes on the roof.

Now the spike is both stored and displayed as itself. Retaining its functionality as a protective device but also being held within the building.

This tower is another attempt at capturing the idea of the store being representative of its contents.

Where the building is both the signifier and the artefact. The building rises from the dirt on stilts to allure to the conservatory’s natural contents.

Suggesting that the building itself is growing out of the dirt like the very plants stored in the case study building.

While this instance is a highly illustrative approach, it proved to be one of the first, solid attempts at capturing the idea of the signifier and the artefact in building form.

GROUND FLOOR PLAN ARCHITECTURAL DETAIL #5: A N O T H E R B R I C K I N T H E WA L L

FIRST FLOOR PLAN ARCHITECTURAL DETAIL #3: D E S P E R AT E LY A P P LY I N G M A K E U P I N T H E B AT H R O O M

SECOND FLOOR PLAN ARCHITECTURAL DETAIL #2: D E F E N C E F R O M A E R I A L AT TA C K

THIRD FLOOR PLAN ARCHITECTURAL DETAIL #4: ORNAMENT FOR THE UNDERWORLD

GROUND FLOOR PLAN ARCHITECTURAL DETAIL #1: S C U L P T U R A L A RT E FA C T; N O N S H A R P.

“if hit “if hit “if hit “if hit “if hit “if hit

you dig conflict, you dig conflict, you dig conflict, you dig conflict, you dig conflict, you dig conflict,

deep not an deep not an deep not an deep not an deep not an deep not an

enough, you will underlying unity.” enough, you will underlying unity.” enough, you will underlying unity.” enough, you will underlying unity.” enough, you will underlying unity.” enough, you will underlying unity.”

Zine 04: How can a store of information reflect what is inside?

If we don’t know what it is storing then why should we place value on it?

Much imagination is required when asked to speculate what a brutalist tower in Melbourne CBD is storing.

Brutalist history? Staples of important architectural styles? In fact, what the building is storing is a network of connections and exchanges servicing Telstra’s national connectivity. A place where people meet through phone signals but not in person.

While the building may pose as an important example of Australian brutalism and early high-rise architects, perhaps the contents, and the conversation between a husband and wife over his alleged extra marital affair, are more significant to the greater population. How can a store of information reflect what is inside? Well, in this case, the store is only known to store what it does through what people are told it is. As it is not a publicly accessed building, it could be storing floors and floors of harvesting machines that extract electricity from the fast paced firing neuro receptors in a Childs brain (if that’s what we are told is being stored).

Here the zine poses as an dramatized speculation of the possibilities of what the building is actually storing.

And attempts to question whether or not it is important that we know what is behind the walls.

Up until this point, there have been examples (the Former Land Titles Office) that suggest we don’t need to know what is being stored. Behind the impenetrable walls of the strong room, they might actually be trying to suggest that we shouldn’t even think about trying to go near what is being stored. As discussed in the reflection of that particular week, this mode of approaching what is being stored resorts to an expulsive approach. Where the inherent ‘do not touch’ excludes a large group of people from actually benefitting from the information being stored.

Sensitive or not, people may begin to question (or even want to know) why there is a tall, brutalist, Telstra tower in the middle of the city. Or even the strong room, where the suggested ‘fuck off’ to the public may boost their curiosity to discover what it is they are hiding so diligently.

Reaction/Solution: From this, the subsequent design esquisse is presented as the a campanile tower where the form of the building reflective of what is on the inside.

The building is its contents. The external black mesh bows and stretches around the connections within the tower.

This particular tower is an attempts at showing an alternative to the current Telstra Exchange tower. The tower is no longer bordered by concrete brutalist walls. But by transparent wire mesh caressing the network of conversations and internet history inside.

Perhaps this building takes this method too literally.

Perhaps there is a more solid and architectural way to reflect what is being stored. (if you wish to see an attempt at this, skip to zine 06).

While this tower is suggestive of a formal approach to dealing with the contents of a store, it still remains highly illustrative of an idea. It offers a contrasting opposite to the original building as a way to highlight the short comings rather than develop a more architectural building.

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N O R T H E L E VAT I O N

W E S T E L E VAT I O N

5 G N e t w o r k S e r v i c e s C a m p a n i l e To w e r

5 G N e t w o r k S e r v i c e s C a m p a n i l e To w e r

Ya r r a B a n k C t ,

Ya r r a B a n k C t ,

Abbotsford VIC 3067

Abbotsford VIC 3067

“if you dig deep enough, you will hit conflict, not an underlying unity.” “when you learn to speak a second language, you have widened your world, not built yourself a second prison to enclose the first” “ as soon as we use a system of signs, we sign on to a whole string of associations and connotations of which we are not the author”

CASE STUDY EXHIBITION DISPLAY 01: THE FORMER LAND TITLES OFFICE The once sacred documents are extracted from the strong room and placed on display in shelves which populate the exhibition hall.

The former Strong Room, previously inaccessible to the public, is transported in full to act as a children’s play area with climbable installations.

CASE STUDY EXHIBITION DISPLAY 02: HEIDE SCAR TREE/YINGABEAL The artefact of pure historical translation is to be transplanted in a heavily guarded and protected room with climate control measure in place. The tree is displayed as itself behind a 20mm bullet, fire, gas, water, hate, colonisation, spit, slander, axe proof glass case as to protect from human damage.

CASE STUDY EXHIBITION DISPLAY 03: THE CONSERVATORY FITZROY GARDENS As the conservatory acts as an sanctuary for native and foreign species of flora, the walls of the conservatory have been removed and replaced with those of the museum. The display of the inner workings of the conservatory allows for the views to experience the flora but also become part of the information being stored.

CASE STUDY EXHIBITION DISPLAY 04: TELSTRA EXCHANGE TOWER This particular exhibit involved the extraction of the internal connections found in the Telstra Exchange Tower. These network connections are then installed, suspended from the ceiling and walls to emulate the feeling of being inside the shell of the tower. It allows for the connections to shape how one experiences the room rather than the shell shaping how we perceive it on the exterior.

CASE MELBOURNE

STUDY

05: MUSEUM

A proposing of an exhibit about the displaying of stored information being stored in a new store of information holding previously stored information.

Zine 04: How can architectural forms adapt in scale and program to better reflect what is being held inside?

Is it possible for the store of information to devalue or destroy the artefacts history?

A proposing of an exhibit about the displaying of stored information being stored in a new store of information holding previously stored information.

When examining the Melbourne Museum as a store of information, it became clear that an overarching factor in the process of storing information is context.

An artefacts context can determine its value. This is where the Melbourne Museum (or any museum at that) does not take context into consideration. It may provide a plaque detailing where that artefact is from but the method of museums is to take an artefact and store/preserve it behind a protective layer and freeze it in time to become a representation of a time.

While it allures to the importance of that object in time, it does not however, actively represent the value of the object. And possibly will never be able to. For example, the Yingabeal tree. If Yingabeal was plucked from its position at Heide and placed in a museum, it would be immortalized as a beautiful representation of indigenous innovation and use of natural resources.

However, the value of the tree to indigenous people was its precise location. A location that was immortalized in the passed down song lines as a navigational tool to be able to find their way on country. If the tree with a scar is removed from its context, then the song lines, when sung, will not be able to reference the tree with a scar to offer directionality or indication of where to go and therefore may render the song useless or misleading.

If this artefact is acted upon and immortalized using the same methodology as the museum does, then its value would be disregarded. It will not have its full story told. It would be displayed, lacking the historical justice it deserves.

Museums are neither distasteful nor inconsiderate.

Their approach to storing history unfortunately does not tell the full story.

Reaction/Solution: From this, the subsequent design esquisse is presented as the a campanile tower that attempts to realign the engrained ways of storage found in the previous case studies.

This records office is the first attempt at offering the previous case studies a chance to come together an searching for a universal understanding of considerate information storage. The staff office at the top of tower groups together one staff member from each of the five case studies and offers them a chance to work towards this new mode of understanding.

To understand you must repeat : If a building didn’t have a Banksy on it then it would just be a building If the cave did not have ancient paintings in it then it would just be a dark cave If the tree did not have a scar then we would not know the history of the owners of the land If we didn’t have a land titles office then we would not have to fight for land If we did not have an indicator of time we would not know history If we did not have history then we are as good as a new born baby If we did not have new born babies then we would not progress into the future If we did not progress into the future then we would not need new architecture If we did not need new architecture then we would not need to be reading this If we did not nee to be reading this then we would suggest an understanding of Hermeneutics If we have an understanding of Hermanuetics then we would not need to translate ideas into physical form in order to suggest this understanding If we did not translate ideas through architecture then we would possibly look at Hermanuetics through another medium If we looked at Hermeneutics through another medium then we may come to the same understanding If we came to the same understanding then we can decipher universal modes of understanding If we discover universal modes of understanding then we can attempt to trace this back in time to prove its truth If we trace it back in time to prove its truth then we could possibly look at the similarities of graffiti and cave paintings If we want to compare graffiti, cave paintings and their ability to give importance to a place/ building then we can hold the two in the same light If we hold the two in the same light then perhaps we can see that we have been repeating the same translation methods since humans began.

If we have been repeating the same translation methods since humans began then it could be said that this is an important part of our universal understanding of history.

If this is an important part of our universal understanding of history then it should be given a platform to flourish.

If it is given a platform to flourish then it could consist of a place where cave like art is welcomed.

If the could consist of a place where cave like art and graffiti is welcomed then I implore you to look at this piece of conceptual architecture that is to follow.

If you look at this piece of conceptual architecture that is to follow then you should see a repetition of what has been being repeated for millions of years.

If you should see a repetition of what has been being repeated for millions of years then I implore you to consider that this piece of architecture is nothing that has not existed but only will exist in its endeavour to place importance on the relationship of architecture and humans and their partnership in storing unspoken information.

If you consider that this piece of architecture is nothing that has not existed but only will exist in its endeavour to place importance on the relationship of architecture and humans and their partnership in storing unspoken information then policeman, please take pity on this poor historian with paint on his fingers.

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“Designs that are grounded in the formal philosophy of the case study building (whether that be to encase, to hold, to protect, to hide, etc.) attempt to repeat the original information store and then mould it into a new form or shape.”

White, A., 2021.

Interpreting Interpretations of Information Translation.

1st ed. Melbourne: RMIT, pp.1-2.

Despite the text; Hermenuetics. Facts and Interpretation in the Age of Information. John D. Caputo. 2018, detailing two distinct modes of repetition (repetition of the ‘same’ and of the ‘different’), these sketch models almost take shape as a blurring of the two.

Designs that are grounded in the formal philosophy of the case study building (whether that be to encase, to hold, to protect, to hide, etc.) attempt to repeat the original information store and then mould it into a new form or shape.

For example this could be discussed with focus on the week 02 case study where students researched the Heide Scartree/ Yingabeal.

As a response, the tree was repeated on the new site exactly the same as it was (presenting information as the object and using its original function). However, it was repeated in such a way on the new site that included an encasing architecture that grew around the limbs of the tree.

Both protecting it and allowing for it to be repeated into the future; a repetition that “repeats foward; it is turned towards the future and is trying to produce something new”.

A blurring of Hermanutic methods to attempt to understand the crux of the artefact (repetition of the same) and then how it can be preserved and prolonged into the future (repetition of different).

This proposal for a Campanile Tower serves as an exploration into the repetitive patterns of human information storage.

To begin to understand the true value of the Yingabeal, and as can be found in the zine; the underlying issues presented by the way the tree stores information was looked at in a contemporary manner and how ways in which traditional owners of the land stored their information in the tree.

This is shown through the comparison of cave painting and modern graffiti. Although one deemed illegal, it may be argued that one is merely a progression from the other.

While they both attempt to depict contemporary life, their potential impact on architecture can be massive. Without a million-year-old painting inside, a cave is merely a dark and often damp rock formation. Without a Banksy a building may not need to be consciously and rapidly immortalized and protected.

Looking through this lens has allowed me to further my understanding of what Yingabeal offers us as a signifier of life for indigenous cultures. while all vastly different, a common theme runs through these tree examples; before being created, they all turn an existing phenomenon into both the information and the store. Whether this be in rock, tree or wall form. While not attempting to downplay indigenous tradition, what this could suggest as a broader concept is a universal Hermeneutics that sees certain modes of information translated in a repetitive fashion across various cultures, people, and millennia.

Through the fast five weeks of research into how information can be stored through architecture, it has ironically drawn to a conclusion that the most successful of the five case studies (that being the Melbourne Museum, the Former Land Titles office, the Telstra exchange building, The Conservatory and the Yingabeal scar tree), is the one that was not purpose built for such a thing. That being the Yingabeal scar tree.

Using a repetitive deconstructive method of translation, the basis of the proposed site is built from the way Yingabeal acts as both the information and the store simultaneously.

In attempt to capture the notion of the information being carved into the fabric of the store itself, chunks of the other four case studies have been repatriated to the site to act as a ‘public records canvas’; where the public, or those who enter the site are encouraged to use the fragments of the old as a place to leave their mark and hence indicate the life of the site.

Above this informal ‘graffiti playground’, stands the Campanile tower that also deals with the repatriation of the staff of those case studies transposed to site. The building is split into two where staff members associated with all but Yingabeal are housed together to bring about a collective understanding of true information storage.

The new building attempts to highlight the success of the aforementioned case studies through the formal weighing of the program.

This sees one side (The side of the building oriented towards the Yingabeal site) is favoured shown through its large entrance and naturally exquisite looking timber finishes.

While the other side is more programmatically dense which sees 4 of the 5 office spaces crammed into one room where each desk keeps watch over their respective case study buildings through a carved-out timber screen as an attempt to promote a new viewing of their former stores of information through the literal lens of the Yingabeal scar.

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THREE

COLUMNS ONE TWO REMANENCE REMANENCE REMNANCE REMNANCE

METHODS Case How used

IN

ACTION:

study of case study Esquisse repetitive deconstruction can be to construct architectural ideas.

Case Study 01: This sees the complete repatriation of the lower levels of the former Land Titles Office to the site. This is then used to house a club house for people to reclaim

Case Study 04: This particular exhibit involved the extraction of the internal connections found in the Telstra Exchange Tower. It allows for the connections to shape how one experiences the room rather than the shell shaping how we Case Study 02: This design uses the same logic perceive it on the exterior. of the possum guard placed on Yingabeal as a literal repetition point but on an architectural Case Study 05: The public records office appears scale; where the form grows and follows the trees as a skeleton made up on only the necessary bones growth and built as needed to stand. What is encased in walls are all but the information being stored. The records appear Case Study 03: This approach to the records office public and the architecture protects the private. sees the conservatory repeated on the new site Here the Campanile tower exists in the world of but only after having its key architectural elements the new. With no mould for it to break; the poet passed through a series of filters distorting how captains the ship as the new pilot. that piece of information is understood

1.

Congregation H1.

Congregation House SAGRA Architects 2.

The Hong Kong Public Records Building 3.

Pasadena Presbyterian Church 4.

Viewing Tower Lommel / Ateliereen Architecten 5.

Belfry of Bruges, Belgium; 1240-1487 6.

The Campanile of Santa Maria del Fiore 7.

Clock tower in The Square, Palmerston North 8.

Hadlow Tower, Kent; George Ledwell Taylor, 1832 9. Kuchlbauer Tower, Abensberg, Germany; Friedensreich Hundertwasser, 2000-2010 10.

Unknown Bell Tower 11.

Campanile di Giotto, Florence; Giotto, 1334-1359 12.

San Patrizio Bell Tower.

13.

Unknown Church Bell Tower 14.

St. Gregory the Great Trinity Tower 15. Herz-Jesu-Kirche Allmann Sattler Wappner, 2000, Munich, Germany 16.

Steeple Church Bell Towerouse SAGRA Architects 17.

Minoru Nomata Paintings

WHAT

IS

BEING

STORED?

Through the eyes of Yingabeal, the proposed public records office is to store both the act of storing and the results of this action being taken. As presented in the previous research zine, a mode of information storage that has withheld through the tests of millennia is that of physical documenting using the world around us (see cave art and graffiti comparison).

So, it has been concluded that in order to prolong this repetitive human behaviour, it must be captured and stored as a benchmark that future civilizations can use for the same comparisons. Pin points in the evolution of the universe that suggest a repetitive pattern in the storage of information.

The proposed information store is also to house examples that act as the anthesis to Yingabeal as to show its significance in the evolution of humanity and preservation of history.

Here, a surviving example of this; the Yingabeal tree at Heide, will be captured and stored as a signifier of this mode of information storage. The tree must be stored at all costs. Whether in full or in essence.

Today, this human tendency is at war with the state.

While some forms of it are illegal, the graffiti world plays a key role in documenting youth development and a voice that is drowned out by strict governance.

With the Yingabeal existing as an example of this that cannot be washed off or covered (like graffiti), it presents itself as a deity with this hypothesis considered.

Massing Model 1: ‘Up and out’

Massing Model 2: ‘Exhaust core’

Massing Model 3: ‘Holding the Scar’

Massing Model 5: ‘Progression of Time, Form and History’’

Massing Model 4: ‘Progression of Time

What

is

the

ideal

storage?

Rather than storing Yingabeal as a natural object, this tower is purpose built to focus on the culture of the tree. Instead of dealing with centuries of past artefacts as seen in some case studies such as the Melbourne Museum, the tower allows for the future to be explored and questioned through its various ways of storing Yingabeal.

The tower appeals to the multiplicity of the tree where it contends with itself to discuss possible ways to store the tree’s information.

This takes shape with the building being split into two parts creating and thus becoming the literal bridge between nature (the park) and culture ( what in this case is the city).

In search for divine storage, the building interprets the significance of the tree through a mode of repetitive deconstruction.

These ways being: 1. Yingabeal as new - seen through the transformation of the tree’s material into pencils to be distributed to schools to be taught about Yingabeal significance.

2. Yingabeal as self - using the physical pieces of the tree as a façade material to clad the building.

3. Yingabeal as idea - using the formal quality of Yingabeal scar to define the tower’s form. E.g. Where a scar appears, is an opportunity for growth. In this case, in the form of a historical library.

A place of culture where the natural and artificial are forced together into a state of constant reconfiguration and discovery.

Rather than being concerned with nature of the tree and the park, it is concerned with the culture.

The opening to the park is concerned with specific learning program and invites people from the park to come see preserved historical records of indigenous cultures.

The other side is transformed into the pencil factory where it deals with the progression of the tree and gives it a new use, expanding the future possibilities of Yingabeal’s life.

IN SEARCH OF A CONSIDERED HERMENUTICS: DIFFICULT TO NAVIGATE, HARDER TO FIND...

Here we see the first attempt at bringing together all the previous ideas explored through the weekly zines.

The schematic plan for the ‘pencil factory discover center’ works to offer a multifaceted strategy that implements the good (and bad) parts of the case studies.

Rather than taking a

more

focused

approach with one direct mode of information storage, the tower suggests that Hermeneutics is not be dealt with or considered without acknowledgement of all/many approaches.

As

the

text;

‘ H E R M E N E U T I C S .

Facts and interpretation in the age of information. John. D. Caputo. 2018’, suggest by the way the author constructs their argument, in order to explain one mode of interpretation you must hold it against the other, as to highlight their differences and similarities but over arching importance to

the

study

and

understanding

of

Hermeneutics.

The building has been designed in a way to expose visitors to as many modes of interpretation and information storage as possible when moving up through the tower. This allows them to formulate their own personal HERMENEUTICS through what is presented to them. That is a collection of conversations surrounding the western disregard of natural history and offers a chance to prove its failings through abstracted displays of possible YINGABEAL stores.

FINAL PRESENTATION

Before diving into the tower, itself. I would like to outline some of the key themes I have been contending with throughout the semester.

Over this period, I have concerned myself with digging into the crux of what makes for a successful store of information and how to define this subsequent success.

From the case studies presented, I took it upon myself to take a sort of activist approach against the certain examples I saw as problematic in terms of their storing of information and their role in preserving history.

This was countered by having a heavy focus on the significance of the Heide scar tree known as YINGABEAL. What I chose to focus on was the way in which the tree presents itself as the information, the store, and the signifier of its historical past.

With this being said, this project has become a conglomeration of these themes to hopefully present a sound progression that highlights all these previously touched on parts.

Looking at this composition finds shapes and information where it has not been found before.

This itself is a representation of the idea.

Where the artefact and the information are one in the same.

This piece of cardboard stores a search for divine information storage and hopes to capture the process of arriving at a building that successfully does so.

You may be wondering, how has the idea for this mashing together of various examples of information storage come about. Well, using a mapping technique that stores all the possible abstracted ideas of what the future could look like for the tree, the progression of the idea led to a sort of complete abstraction of highlight the significance of the original artefact.

“Red is not a colour” - Bernard Tschumi In this case, this theory is taken and combined with what has been identified as being the key in Yingabeal’s effectiveness of storing information.

Here, it being a visual signifier.

What can the process of storing information tell us about Architecture?

What can the process of building the store of information tell us about architecture?

If storing information is perhaps a way of documenting the ACT of storing information, then maybe the building that stores these things can offer a completely new way mashing together contemporary failed and successful attempts at this to create something not yet created.

What if the parts that make this model created a map to find new architectural forms?

What if the forms of the form told us something we could not previously see?

The P.E.N.C.I.L ( or THE PROTECTIVE ENVIRONMENT FOR NARRATIVE CREATION OF INHERITED LANDMARKS) is situated on the bank of the Yarra River in Andrew’s reserve where it acts as the wayfinding signifier of the park and the commencement point of the journey to a holistic consideration of storing information.

A point of discovery.

A signifier of translation. From curiosity to enlightenment.

The guided walkways offer the public a suggested pathway

The actual placement of the tower uses the mystic of

that leads them to both the pencil manufacturing area and

the surrounding park to evoke a sense of discovery.

then up into the knowledge distribution centre (or library).

Pragmatically the P.E.N.C.I.Lcapitalises on its natural surroundings,

Rather than documenting land titles reminiscent of centuries

such as the Yarra River to convert into hydroelectricity to fuel the

past; the building serves as an experience to be explored and

pencil factory while also maintaining a direct connection to the

discovered by those that visited the site; to deconstruct former

neighbouring industrial parts of Collingwood and Abbotsford.

ideas about information storage and create answers for its future.

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Formally, the building morphs and blends into one

Above is the ‘office of collective assimilation’ where staff

where, as it ascends, offers visitors different examples

from the previous case studies are grouped together to

of how information can be stored and allowing them to

work towards a new understanding of how information

formulate

Hermanuetics.

should be stored while looking over the factory interior.

The ground floor is host to the entry and the pencil factory as visitors

The next two floors are derived from angled armatures that each

are first presented with the actual changing of past into future.

hold examples of information. For the third level, it is divided

This being the translation of the tree parts into a pencil to be

into physical history storage: being an actual piece of the

distributed to the surrounding areas to help literally rewrite history.

original tree. Written storage: a library containing new literature

their

own

understanding

of

(including this book) produced from the factory below. And Visual storage which is a magnifying window directed to the original Heide site of the tree to allure to key moments in its history.

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While I believe that the presenting of a building which offers visitors the ability to establish a better understand about how information storage and history is an important factor of our human progression, I also believe that the most important part is the significance of the physical representation of the artefact. Or in short, the WHAT aspect.

This building may offer a future for a historically significant tree that perhaps may die one day but in the process of designing it, it is not without consideration that maybe the tree is its most significant as itself. the information, the store, and the signifier.

Whether this approach at attempting to store and display the information, or more specifically the ideas of the Yingabeal tree, is left to be determined by the you and the occupants.

However, its purpose is hopefully to allure to the approaches of storing history may appear problematic.

And so, I would like to leave you with this, It has become clear that in our Anglo-Saxon narrative, If it weren’t for trees we wouldn’t have paper. If it weren’t for paper, we wouldn’t need pencils. Without the pencil there is nothing history.

And without history then we simply wouldn’t exist.

So, which is more important, The tree or the pencil.

And so, I would like to leave you with this, It has become clear that in our Anglo-Saxon narrative, If it weren’t for trees we wouldn’t have paper. If it weren’t for paper, we wouldn’t need pencils. Without the pencil there is nothing history.

And without history then we simply wouldn’t exist.

So, which is more important, The tree or the pencil?