PREAMBLE

This document serves as a written statement connected to the thesis project of Maria Danielle Zachariassen, Aarhus School of Architecture spring 2017. The thesis project is a building preservation project which aims to make a proposal for a restoration of Richmond Penitentiary on St. Croix and an transformation of the connected site.

Emerging at the time of Transfer Centennial of the U. S. Virgin Islands, the project finds itself in a current discussion of colonial past and the future connection between Denmark and the former Danish West Indies. The project debates architectural heritage in a postcolonial context and a continuous increasingly globalized world.

Which concerns are to be taken, as an architect representing the old colonial power in 2017?

And furthermore,

How do we move past the challenges of post-colonialism, to facilitate a sustainable development for the local community in which the architectural heritage is situated? Through analysis of the building complex and the local context of St. Croix, the following project takes a stand to these questions.

This statement includes an introduction to the project, the context and the site, a description of the method used for programming, an architectural strategy based on a developed value assessment, important analyzes for the process and a short representation of the resulting project. The statement finally includes reflections on the process.

Connected to the statement are four appendices.

Appendix 1: Conservation Value Assessment on Richmond Penitentiary Appendix 2: Interviews Appendix 3: Reflections - Building preservation in a postcolonial context Appendix 4: Current condition - a set of measurement drawings done in February 2017 “Postcolonialism, the historical period or state of affairs representing the aftermath of Western colonialism; the term can also be used to describe the concurrent project to reclaim and rethink the history and agency of people subordinated under various forms of imperialism.” (Duncan Ivison, 2017)

Plan drawing of the site, dated to 1882. Measurements done on site in 2017, where done on the basis of this plan drawing. (Danish National Archives)