I declare That later on, Even in an age unlike our own, Someone will remember who we are. -Sappho
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A special thanks to guest critics: Hyacinth John Sarah Oakes Chuck Redmon Mark Rukamathu Dana Rowan Dave Walsh Daniel Wilder & Ian Taberner
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION & PERSONAL NOTE
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THESIS STATEMENT
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MEANS OF INQUIRY & TERMS OF CRITICISM
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CONSTRUCTED ARGUMENT
Preservation & Philosophy
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Case Study: Kamp Westerbork, Oving Arkitecten
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Case Study: Matrera Castle, Carquero Arcitectura
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Case Study: Menonkin House, Machado Silvetti
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PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
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SITE INTRODUCTION
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History
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Existing Conditions
SITE DEVELOPMENT
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SITE GATEWAY
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VISITOR CENTER
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CASTLE RUINS
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NEXT STEPS & CONCLUSION
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APPENDIX
Presentation Boards & Agendas
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Thesis Research Proposal
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Resume
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INTRODUCTION & PERSONAL NOTE:
Along the west coast of Ireland there lies a wild and rural place jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean called Connemara. It’s a magic place covered by fleeting, ever-changing skies. The olive and rust colored landscape rolls from mountains into knobby fields fingering out into rocky beaches against cold salt spray and ocean winds. Wind gusts and rainstorms come and go with frequency and are warded off by snug rooms and warm, smokey turf fires. A few miles away from the small, thatched cottages in the village of Tully Cross, an austere ruin faces northward towards the sea. Since I was small, I have been fascinated by stories of its most infamous inhabitant, the formidable pirate queen, Grace O’Malley, locally known as Gráinne Ní Mháille (pronounced GRAW-nya WHALE-ya). A contemporary of Queen Elizabeth I, she was a woman who made her own rules, leading men on land and sea. I first learned of her through my dad, and over the years, I have read more stories, legends and history both connected to the historical figure and the castle ruin itself. With each fragment, the whole story of place became a rich, tangled web of mythology and history set against this backdrop of ruin and landscape. This thesis is my way of sharing some of those stories through an architectural framework and to frame a journey that blends history, myth and place.
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THESIS STATEMENT:
“The existing methodologies of preservation, restoration and reuse create subjective frames around the history of a building, focusing on moments out of a larger story. Finding ways to design with deteoration in historic buildings or architectural sites is a way to preserve history and culture through impermanence.” ... This project celebrates layers of time and history which accrue in architectural ruins or historic sites. Preservation and restoration typically seek to stop time or focus interpretation of a site on a single moment of history, ignoring the richer, and more complex story of a structure’s full timeline from construction to the present. Caitlyn Desilvy’s idea of “Curated Decay1” encourages broader freedoms when interacting with historic objects: we are allowed to let historic objects detereorate. Seeing a building’s natural decline doesn’t arrest the structure to a single moment of history, instead it allows fuller and richer stories to be told. The deteroration can be evocative, prompt the imagination, and tell its own unique story through the way materials are worn or overgrown. The goal of this project is to explore new ways of interacting with historic structures and provide frameworks for stories and experiences around a historic ruin that embrace the wear of time as part of the building’s history rather than an enemy of it.
1 Desilvy, Caitlin. Curated Decay: Heritage Beyond Saving: University of Minnesota Press: 2017. Print
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METHODS OF INQUIRY & TERMS OF CRITICISM:
METHODS OF INQUIRY: • Explore multiple examples of building preservation. • Identify relationships between preservation and historic interpretation and storytelling by identifying context through which a building is understood. • Develop relationships between impressions made on historic buildings through use and wear and projected wear and life cylces of new chosen materials.
TERMS OF CRITICISM: • Do the historic object and modern experience maintain a balanced formal dynamic in which the historical object of significance is not overwhelmed or overshadowed by the new? • Will the new site intervention relate to the existing historic structure as both the new and existing buildings evolve and wear over time? • Does the modern experience make the historical object more accessible both physically and experientially through a provided framework and backdrop for stories, mythologies and history?
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PRESERVATION & PHILOSOPHY
Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher writing towards the end of the 19th century. In his writings, he identified 3 ways in which we interact with objects from the past. The diagram below is a visual representation of his three views: the critical, the antiquarian and the monumental. A critical approach abandons the past in favor of the new and the future. The antiquarian approach looks only at the past and hopes to preserve the context of history around an objec. The monumental takes historic objects and sees them in their contemporary context - often using the past as a symbol of status or political power.
Each of these ways of looking at historic objects implies or creates a particular bias or context for which we view the item in question. While this context can help identify and build stories and significance around objects, they do so in isolation of the larger history of an object. When a building is constructed, it begins the timeline for that structure which continues onward until the building no longer exists through disuse, wear, or intentional demolition. While some building lifespans last only a few decades, others span hundreds or thousands of years in the case of ancient ruins and archeological sites. In the instances of older sites, viewing buildings through biased frameworks can erase important stories, or over-simplify narratives that deserve to remain complex and richly explored.
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The current methodologies of restoration, preservation and reuse can also similarly restrict our ways of understanding a building’s overall story by focusing to restore to specific eras of significance, preserve the building as a static object in time, or to reuse the structure of a building for a new purpose. While these approaches may be programmatically desirable, sensitive to the structure and site and be well conceived and executed, these projects focus attention on some aspects of a building’s history by ignoring others. By holding a building hostage in either the context of the past or present, or by reusing a structure to serve a new purpose, the tangle of history becomes simplified to suit a new purpose or program.
Leaving historic objects to stand on their own and be individually interpreted is not always possible, but in the cases of ruins or historic sites that cannot be traditionally preserved or restored, a new possibility arises to let visitors explore and interpret sites and historic structures for themselves if they are provided a structure in which to do so.
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CASE STUDY Kamp Westerbork Westerbork, Netherlands Oving Architekten
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CONTAINMENT Kamp Westerbork is the sole structural artifact of a refugee camp turned concentration camp tranist point that existed in the Netherlands during World War II. The house was the home of SS commander Albert Konrad Gemmeker. This example of preservation shows a building captured in time, framed and protected by a glass enclosure. There is no physical connection between the modern intervention and the historic object. In the middle diagram, we see that the viewer is kept at a distance from the object eliminating all but a visual experience of the object. The abstracted timeline of the building’s history (bottom diagram) depicts that the building’s life has been arrested and forced to live within the context of history. The glass becomes a time capsule protecting the building both from deteriorating effects of weather and also the changing contexts of a modern world. The isolation and containment of this particular object create a sense that history and the evils of the past can be neatly contained.
PROTECT The history of this specific object suggests a desire for containment. However, on a purely formal and practical level, this intervention also suggests ways in which we can protect historic objects from natural elements in order to protect structural integrity. This thesis, however, embraces deteroration of objects as part of a building’s lifecycle and continued history, and therfore exposure to existing natural environments and ecosystems is desirable. What is also desired, is a means of protecting objects from visitors in a way that still provides intimate experiences with objects of historical significance. The diagram below shows the relationship between object/protection/visitor inverted to allow for intimate explorations of space.
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CASE STUDY Matrera Castle Cadiz, Spain Carquero Arcitectura
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CASTING Matrera Castle in Cadiz is a masonry ruin in Cadiz Spain which was restored by Carquero Arcitectura. The building’s mass was recreated by casting lime plaster against the historic structure. The project garnered both heavy criticism and high praise for the way in which the new was fused with the old. Traditionalists and historians felt this fusion and construction disrespected the historic structure while modernists were compelled by the juxtaposition and recreated massing. Because the old and new forms are bonded together in this way, the lifespan of the building is stretched and extended out of the past into the contemporary in one continuous expression. As shown in the middle diagram, the structure becomes equal parts past and future while the bottom diagram shows the forms adaptation from historic object to modern symbol.
FOCUS Recasting the form of a ruin is not consistent with this project’s intended approach based on DeSilvy’s ideas of “curated decay”. While Matrera Castle has been revitalized and brought into a modern context through its restoration, and subsequent controversy, the Connemara project seeks to recontextualize the existing structure through site interaction and individual experiences. While Matrera Castle provides focus to the structure as a landscape object from afar, this thesis looks to provide focus to the structure both from a distance and also through more tactile and personal interactions, inside as well as outside the existing ruin.
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CASE STUDY Menokin House
Warsaw, Viginia, United States Machado Silvetti
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CONSTRUCTION The Menokin House preservation project, conceived of by Machado Silvetti, is similar to the Matrera Castle in the way that the historic object was somehow augmented, and completed by modern materials to recreate the original form. Unlike, the Matrera Castle, however, this project allows for a more intimate connection to the building by creating interior experiences, mimicking the original footprints of rooms while still exposing the deteriorated existing structure through glass partitions and flooring that show the effects of time and wear. Like the Matrera castle, the Menokin project’s life extends from the present into the future for an extended time, given the renovation’s protection of the structure, however, as the preservation effort is not cast into existing materials, rather connected to it at individual moments, there remains a subtle separation between historic and modern objects which is shown in the last diagram. As this project is still in conception and construction, it is difficult to know how the historic and new structures will age against one another and whether the connections will withstand the wear of time or fail as they are different tectonic systems delicately held together. While this case study does provide a precedent for visitors being able to experience a historic object from an interior perspective as well as a landscape object, the constructability of a glass enclosure connecting to deteriorated wooden framing creates a tension in the continued life of the building.
Historic
Modern
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Solo Traveler
Group Tours
Events
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PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
Create a site experience that gives visitors an intimate connection with the existing historic ruin that becomes a framework or platform for observing layered stories connected to the site and structure. ... This project does not seek to define a program in the traditional sense of determining spaces and required square footage. Instead, the goal is to develop an overall site strategy that provides architectural spaces and experiences that enhance a visit to an existing historic structure while remaining flexible and adaptable to different interpretations of the site. Visitors to the site fall into one of three categories: • Solo travelers (and families) who visit the site alone or in small groups travelling by bike or car. • Group tours arriving to the site by charter or tour bus as part of a larger guided tour of the region • Event guests visiting the site for pop-up music, theater or art performances Individual visitors are encouraged to explore site and story lines that they find most engaging in both the historic structure and the larger site, while other spaces can provide guided introductions and structure for the larger group tours. The site is landscaped to provide different moments in which the site could be used for special events such as concerts and theater performances which speak to oral storytelling traditions in the region. The experience of the site is not scripted and one’s interpretation is unique to the individual and the specific visit.
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SITE INTRODUCTION
The project site is on the Renvyle Peninsula is located in Connemara on the west coast of Ireland in County Galway. The region is sparsely populated but popular with tourists from the spring through the fall who stay at local bed and breakfasts or in campground sites along the coast or make day trips from elsewhere in the region. The area is made appealing by the unique geographic features and constantly shifting skies and weather patterns. Rolling fields melt into surrounding mountains and beaches. A glacier fjord cuts a channel through the mountains to the east. This project develops the site of Renvyle Castle on the northwest edge of the Renvyle Peninsula which was built in the 13th or 14th century for the Joyce Clan and later became home to the O’Flahertys. The site provided sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean that aided in Irish defense against English and Spanish attempts at invasion in the 16th century.
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A View of Kilary Harbor
Landscape Palimpsest: “Lazy Beds� developed in the 1700s mix seaweed and sandy soil to grow potatoes and are visula reminders of the 19th centrury Potato Famine
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SITE HISTORY: 20,000 BCE nearby Killary Harbor formed by massive glaciers
13/14th century castle tower is built near Renvyle beach by the Joyce clan
Circa 1540 Donal O’Flaherty marries Grace O’Malley.
The O’Flaherty clan seize control of Renvyle Castle during a wedding banquet.
1588 Two ships from the Spanish Armada are lost off the Renvyle Peninsula
1593 Grace O’Malley meets with Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich Palace
1845-1849 Potato Famine 1905 Marconi Station est. in Clifden
1919-1921 Anglo-Irish War
Circa 1980s the Olde Castle House B&B established
2012 WIld Atlantic Way tourism campaign established
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SITE: EXISTING CONDITIONS
The historic castle ruin is accessed by a single width road from the east known as the “Connemara Loop”. The road leads from a very small village known as Tully Cross through Renvyle Village and along the coast. A small beach and campsite are located approximately two miles away, between the town and castle. The landscape is intermittently dotted with small, single story, white stucco cottages. The ruin is featured destination along the Wild Atlantic Way, which locates points of interest along the west coast of Ireland for tourists to seek out via car or bike. Several hundred yards from the ruin is a small gravel parking area and signage with information on the historic ruin and other local points of interest along the Renvyle Peninsula. The immediate site surrounding the castle ruin is shared by a bed and breakfast established in the late 80’s. The building is built in the local cottage vernacular style similar to other homes along the “Connemara Loop”, however it’s proximity to the castle (less than 20’) makes it difficult to center focus to the ruin while on the site and therefore for the purposes of this
Wild Atlantic Way Points of Interest
Wild Atlantic Way Existing Signage
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Views To Site
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Views Fom Site
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PROPOSED SITE DEVELOPMENT
The project initially focused on the historic ruin and immediate surrounding plot of land, but was extended to envelop the existing gravel parking lot and location of the Wild Atlantic Way signage. This location now serves both as parking and grander gateway to the site. Arched beams contrast against the landscape and provide a sharp focus towards the historic castle before visitors begin a procession to and through the site of the historic ruin. Surrounding the ruin, pathways and points of interest bring visitors to different vistas of the historic structure against the landscape including views towards the Atlantic Ocean and mountains in the distance. Early iterations explored geometric, rectilinear pathways which borrowed from the square form of the castle ruin. Instead, organic curved pathways provide contrast to the structure and mimic the winding roads towards the site through the surrounding countryside. A visitor center replaces the site of the existing Bed and Breakfast and provides a second gateway into the site itself. Nestled under the topography, it does not detract focus from the castle ruin once visitors are on the site.
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Site Plan Iteration: Rectilinear
Site Plan Iteration: Organic
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Visitor Center
Solo Traveler
Gateway Pavilion
Castle Experience
Group Tours
Events
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Gateway Pavillion
Visitor Center
Historic Ruin
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GATEWAY PAVILION
The gateway serves as the primary entrance to the site and subsequent experiences for all user groups: solo travelers, group tours and events. The existing gravel lot and Wild Atlantic Way signage is replaced by a new traffic scheme, parking layout and pavilion. Dedicated and separate parking is provided for charter buses and cars and a traffic turnaround helps with navigation of the single lane road way to and from the site. Permeable paving is used under parking areas. The pavilion is made of organic curved glulam members contrasted against the landscape. The juxtaposition between landscape and object creates a quick visual impression while the rhythm of the curved beams overhead focus views directly towards the historic ruin. This experience initiates the procession and frames the first views towards the historic ruin before the pedestrian approach along the rocky shoreline. Seating in and around the timber frames provides moments of rest, reflection and photo opportunities for visitors.
Views West
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Views North
Views East
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GATEWAY PAVILION
The gateway serves as an introduction to materials that will be repeated throughout the rest of the site. Curved wooden beams juxtapose the massive stone structure and allow for warm, organic shapes and forms to contrast the colder, rectilinear nature of the castle. Wood is also a material that weathers gracefully over time, speaking to the life cycles of both historic and new materials. Gabion stone walls provide a modern interpretation of the iconic tumbled and overgrown stone walls of the Irish countryside.
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This view, taken from underneath the glulam beam canopy shows the how the eye is focused towards the castle ruin to create a framed and focused moment. Bench seating integrated along the base of the beams creates a natural gathering area for larger tour groups or seating that could be used in the event of pop-up food truck events which are becoming more popular in the area.
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VISITOR CENTER
The visitor center is a subterranean exhibit space that provides a more comprehensive guide to the site’s rich history. Inspired by similar, partially subterranean visitors’ centers in similar northern European climates, the topography folds over and around the building in order to create a minimally intrusive, organic form next to the historic tower. The folded landscape creates an entrance canopy for the gallery space that also serves as a compressed portal that becomes an aperture through which to view the castle from a closer distance, similar to the frames established at the Gateway Pavilion. The gallery space is fully accessible and can house alternative experience videos or VR experiences for those visiting the site that may have mobility challenges that prevent them from accessing other experiences in and around the landscape and ruin. There are also two accessible bathrooms and a small space to serve as back of house office and guide’s room for a small number of staff who may run the site three quarters of the year during the tourism season.
The Whale Dorte Mandrup
Skamlingsbanken Visitor Center CEBRA Architects
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Exhibit Display Sample
Visitor Center Roof Plan
Visitor Center Floor Plan
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VISITOR CENTER
Like the Gateway Pavillion, the Visitor Center provides a secondary gateway into the site. By wrapping landscape over the main pathway to the historic castle ruin, the structure focuses attention towards the castle and subverts attention to itself while still welcoming visitors into the site. As the roof connects to the surrounding landscape, railings (not shown) would be needed to protect visitors from the drop offs to the pathway below.
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The section shows the massing relationship between visitor center and historic ruin. The focus remains towards the historic object with the landscape and the auxiliary spaces and pathways serve to support that landmark object rather than to compete with it. Like the ruin, the walls are comprised of thick, masonry walls, but the ceiling repeats the elements of curved glulam beams which fold around the space to support the green roof. In this new, modern structure all elements of stone, wood and landscape are melded together into one form.
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Rockfleet Csatle
Clare Island Castle
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HISTORIC RUIN
Renvyle Castle
The facing page shows the prevalence of what are known as “tower houses” throughout Ireland. These 3 to 4 story square, masonry structures served both as residences and defense towers. The images at left show two other tower houses near the Renvyle Castle site shown above. Rockfleet Castle and the Clare Island Castle are examples of standing and complete structures while the loss of the north-east corner of the Renvyle Castle evocatively asks how the ruin came to be while also exposing some elements of the tower’s construction that cannot be seen in other examples.
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Initial explorations into interacting with the historic object focused on several objects:
OPTION 01 - EXPERIENCE Provide an interior experience of the castle ruin, which now is not open to the public and only viewable from the roadway. Being able to have intimate connections to the object would provide tactile connections to the object and allow visitors to imagine the completed interior spaces rather than just the completed exterior form. This option raises questions about how the building could be protected from new touch of visitors and how construction can minimize connections to the existing structure.
OPTION 02 - FRAMING The second idea would be to frame views to the historic object in and around the site and tell stories or imagine the completed form on glass panels overlaid with graphics. This option creates focus towards the historic ruin as a landscape object and does not create connections or impact on the structure itself. The Gateway and the Visitor Center are iterations of the idea of framing.
OPTION 03 - REBUILD/REUSE The third option was to take fragments of the existing structure that may erode over time to create new forms around the historic ruin. This new form would be designed to focus attention towards the existing structure – perhaps creating seating so that visitors to the site can become spectators to a ceremonial “final act” of the historic building. As this ruin does not appear to be actively deteriorating, this option for construction may not be viable, but providing seating and viewing areas around the ruin was incorporated into overall site planning strategies.
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The intent of the historic castle experience is to create a way to inhabit the space through a modern structure but to keep a balanced relationship between new and old even as both objects age and wear. If the castle were to further to erode and decay, would the two objects still have a relationship to one another? Procession through the space is intended to create a flow through the historic ruin. Single staircase structures that caused visitors to backtrack their steps seemed to disrupt the rest of the flow and procession established through site pathways. A looped staircase or other ways to create two circulation paths: up and down were desirable.
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STAIRWAY ITERATION This early stairway iteration attempts to fit two staircases into the existing building footprint. A winding, “easy� stair with lower tread depths winds circuitously around the structure, with landings and moments of rest at moments of architectural interest within the ruin such as masonry openings or under the ceiling of the great hall on the second level. A second spiral staircase provides a rapid decent through the structure back to a lower landing and helps with circulation and flow through the space. Ultimately, the form of the winding staircase was too dense within the historic structure and competed for focus and attention.
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STAIRWAY RESOLUTION Instead of having an irregular organic staircase wind throughout the structure, the staircase experience developed into a nested spiral staircase, with slower circulation on the outside and a compressed, faster experience around the central core. This compressed inner experience mimics a medieval stone stair construction and experience while the slender fins of the slower exterior stair allow visitors an intimate connection with the masonry structure: almost able to touch and experience the stone, physically but held back enough to protect the historic object from visitors.
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The section shows the relationship between the two staircase experiences. Both stairs are supported by a central steel column grounded by a concrete footing. This construction allows the self-supported stair to rise out of the footprint of the existing structure while not connecting to the masonry walls. Eliminating attachment of historic structure to new, addresses some of the concerns of the Menokin House Case study which created interior experiences of the historic space but made many connection between the new modern envelope to the existing structure which may not hold up over time as the historic and contemporary systems wear in
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The staircase experience creates intimate connections for solo visitors who wish to explore the architectural features of the castle ruin. The open framework allows for curiosity, introspection, and re-imagination of what once was. Relationship between historic object and individual is personal and intimate as the layers of history are explored.
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Charter tours and bigger groups are accommodated in an open deck at the base of the historic castle structure. Here, groups can gather, discuss and view the tower together, or individuals from the group may choose to explore the tower vertically through the staircase. The platform still allows for an intimate connection and experience of the materiality of the masonry but is more accessible for those with mobility challenges.
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The deck at the base of the historic tower also becomes a platform for music and theater performances. Here we see a music event on the decking while visitors gather on an open gravel terrace connected to site pathways at a level below. New stone wall seating on the lower level creates a small, informal amphitheater for these events which are silhouetted against the ruin.
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CONCLUSIONS & NEXT STEPS
The project thesis aimed to develop ways of designing with deterioration of historic buildings in order to stretch the existing methodologies of preservation, restoration and reuse which create subjective frames around an historic object, limiting the context and historical narrative. By providing a framework of site experiences in and around an historic object, visitors can experience a site and its history through personal exploration. Curiosity enabled by architectural interventions allow visitors to create their own narratives. Their experience becomes both unique and more personal. While the project lays out a foundation for three different user experiences through different site elements, the individual components and site procession could be further developed and expressed. The Gateway Pavillion could be further developed to sit within the landscape rather than against it. The Visitor Center could be developed with specific exhibit ideas and programatic elements for visitor experience and back of house to test the appropriateness of size and massing. Overall, more renderings and visuals would clearly illustrate the spaces and moments created and what historical stories they specifically tell. Storyboards of three distinct journeys through the site would more clearly convey the possible experiences of the site. Additional details relating to site safety and construction would take the project from a conceptual experiment into a project that could be implemented with proper funding and resources.
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APPENDIX I: PRESENTATION BOARDS
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INTRODUCTORY REVIEW: AGENDA: • Introduced Nietzsche’s philosophy about understanding historic objects as my conceptual framework for project • Shared 3 case studies of preservation projects exploring relationships between historic and modern interventions or restorations • Shared case study of London Mithraeum which encorporated ideas learned from case studies and additionally added a multi-sensory audio visual component to tell the story of the ruin’s history. • Introduced program which would borrow from Irish storytelling traditions to create multisensory experiences on historic site. • Diagramed 3 approaches to interacting with the historic castle ruin: internal experience, outside frames, and building a new structure from broken material.
FEEDBACK: • More information and photos are needed to understand the historic ruin and surrounding landscape. • More information on the history of the building is needed for context: what are stories connected to building, was building built for residence or defense? • Group questioned if coastal erosion or building stability was a factor in project. • More information needed about how different site options relate to the event-based program.
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MID SEMESTER REVIEW: AGENDA: • Added to Nietszche’s conceptual framework, concept of a “continuous” view of looking at historic objects that encompasses total history and context. • Revised lessons learned from case studies • Focused program to site experience from event-centered approach • Provided more information about views to and from the site • Provided more information about history and moments of discovery in and around site • Introduced iterations for site plan of immediate area around historic castle, including site paths, visitor center and castle experience • Introduced schematic design for historic castle stair experience through diagrams, plans and video.
FEEDBACK: • Conceptual framework needs clarity and connection to site moves. • The event element of the previous program iteration helped ground some of the conceptual framework. Potentially this master plan can still include musical events or art/ projection exhibits against the castle structure • Visitor center partly underground provides nice contrast to tower structure • Group raised questions about site accessibility which could be addressed by alternate experiences such as video or VR that could be part of the visitor center experience.
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FINAL REVIEW: AGENDA: • Re-introduced the site experience through the lenses of 3 different user groups: individuals, group tours and special events that may be held on the site. • New, broader site plan addresses procession to and through site • New Gateway Pavillion serves as entry to site for all visitors and frames destination • Updated plans for underground visitor center • Updated plans for castle staircase experience. • The overall site experience relates back to the conceptual/philosophical framework by allowing the visitor to determine their own relationship with the historic ruin based on their context and experience in the space.
FEEDBACK: • The glulam beams that frame the views to the site at the Gateway Pavillion could have a more cohesive relationship to landscape similar to the visitor center. • VIsitor center blends well into landscape and borrows from local culture but may be too modestly sized. • New iteration of spiral staircase well received. The interior spiral mimics the enclosed feel of a historic medieval staircase. Further iterations may look at winding in and around the ruin, moments of rest and pause on the stair, and finding ways to reach the upper level as shown in the castle “moments” diagram. • Design choices fall between concepts learned from precedent studies and should be identified and explained
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APPENDIX II: THESIS PROPOSAL
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TIMESCAPES: Translating Memories and Physical Manifestations of Time and Aging in Historic Irish Ruins
Megan F. Kinneen Candidate for M.Arch May 17, 2019 megan.kinneen@the-bac.edu 203.984.7504
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
THESIS SUMMARY
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ABSTRACT 09 THESIS STATEMENT
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MEANS OF INQUIRY & TERMS OF CRITICISM
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PERFORMANCE NARRATIVE
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CULTURAL CONTRIBUTION
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CASE STUDIES
London Mithraeum, Foster and Partners
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“Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty”, Kevin Arnatt
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Menonkin House, Machado Silvetti
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Matrera Castle, Carquero Arcitectura
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National Museum of Roman Art, Raphael Moneo
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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
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CONSTRUCTED ARGUMENT
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SITE CONTEXT & ANALYSIS
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VISUALIZING THE PROGRAM
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PRESENTATION PANELS
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SCHEDULE OF REQUIREMENTS
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RESUME 47
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I declare That later on, Even in an age unlike our own, Someone will remember who we are. -Sappho
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Concept Collage Megan F. Kinneen
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THESIS SUMMARY: Megan F. Kinneen megan.kinneen@the-bac.edu 203.984.7504
Thesis: Can architecture translate the memories from sites or structures at risk of loss, or already lost, to capture the ephemeral essence of place and the existing cultural memories of site and history?
Abstract: Architecture plays an important role in recording the history and memories of a community. The existence of a structure documents an initial intention and captures the craft of hands working in unison at one moment in time. A building’s use, repurposing or decay creates further impressions on the structure or the site that provide sensory clues allowing one to imagine and connect with the past. Buildings serve as mnemonic devices for stories, myths and legends that are important to immediate communities as well as national and global narratives. When architectural artifacts are lost due to manmade and natural disasters or the slow erosion of time, the stories and memories associated with place become unmoored.
Methods of Inquiry: 1. What can expressions of decay and wear on a building tell us about a building’s history? How is memory physically manifested through material aging? Palimpsest? 2. What do architectural artifacts add to the storytelling of myth and history that cannot be conveyed through other visual or verbal communication? 3. What are the effects on communities when a building (and it’s memories) are lost?
Terms of Criticism: 1. How can memories be mapped and documented similar to geological site analysis? 2. When buildings are lost to decay, can their significance as mnemonic devices be translated into other architecture or experiences? 3. How can imagination and narrative complement historic preservation practices to preserve the memory of place in architectural expressions?
Site and Location: The site for this project is a ruined tower castle on the Renvyle Peninsula in Connemara, Ireland. Site and castle are steeped in rich history and geological interest and are the locus of personal memories in addition to community mythology.
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ABSTRACT:
Architecture plays an important role in recording the history and memories of a community. The existence of a structure documents an initial intention and captures the craft of hands working in unison at one moment in time. A building’s use, repurposing or decay creates further impressions on the structure or the site that provide sensory clues allowing one to imagine and connect with the past. Buildings serve as mnemonic devices for stories, myths and legends that are important to immediate communities as well as national and global narratives. When architectural artifacts are lost due to manmade and natural disasters or the slow erosion of time, the stories and memories associated with place become unmoored. This thesis explores the space between historic preservation and imagination. Can architecture translate the memories from sites or structures at risk of loss, or already lost, to capture the ephemeral essence of place and the existing cultural memories of site and history?
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THESIS STATEMENT:
“Can architecture translate the memories from sites or structures at risk of loss, or already lost, to capture the ephemeral essence of place and the existing cultural memories of site and history? “ This project celebrates layers of time and memories which accrue in architectural ruins or historic sites. The thesis will explore ways in which those layers of history can be discovered through architectural form, fragments and palimpsest, catalogued and preserved through translation into other architectural expressions. In conjunction with the physical form of the building, the project is equally about capturing community memory and myth surrounding a building on the precipice of loss so that use of the decaying structure as a mnemonic device is also translated into another form for use as a cultural landmark.
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METHODS OF INQUIRY & TERMS OF CRITICISM:
METHODS OF INQUIRY: • What can expressions of decay and wear on a building tell us about a building’s history? How is memory physically manifested through material aging? Palimpsest? • What do architectural artifacts add to the storytelling of myth and history that cannot be conveyed through other visual or verbal communication? • What are the effects on communities when a building (and it’s memories) are lost?
TERMS OF CRITICISM: • How can memories be mapped and documented similar to geological site analysis? • When buildings are lost to decay, can their significance as mnemonic devices be translated into other architecture or experiences? • How can imagination and narrative complement historic preservation practices to preserve the memory of place in architectural expressions?
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Photos & Collage Megan F. Kinneen
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PERFORMANCE NARRATIVE:
You proud mound of stones. Tall and solemn you stand against the sea, and the sky and the sands. Your stones and mortar worn and smoothed by time and the ocean’s salty breath. Your gaping wound wrought with fury and madness by a queen who once called you home. Her cannonball shudders through you still. You were left exposed, raw and naked. Yet still you stand. A home for bats and weeds, constantly vigilant, awaiting redemption or release from the weight of the stones you carry. Your legacy was cemented by the touch of legends within your walls. You saw the birth of kings and the death of hundreds in your stony shadow. The open wound exposing your veinlike corridors to the sky is bound only by myths as you continue to crumble slowly and gracefully into the sea. I see you differently: softly glowing from within, your walls hold a different purpose. No longer a hall for kings, a fortress of defense, you are a castle for dreamers. Your walls hold not only the stories of your past but a structural poetry that carries the heaviness of the rocks, the physical representation of time’s slow decay with the softest imaginings for the present and the future. A hope and a dream rising out of history’s mortal coils, lighter than air. You are transposed from a shadow to a beacon enticing explorers and dreamers across the rocky fields, the frigid beach and waves to your walls once more. You connect all to place and time in a singular moment still on your own path towards a ruinous end. An experience of memory. An echo-chamber of the past, a dance of light and shadows. Of stone and shimmer, history and future dancing together in a single moment.
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CULTURAL CONTRIBUTION:
Architecture plays an important role in recording the history and memories of a community. The existence of a structure documents an initial need or intention and captures the craft of hands working in unison at one moment in time. Heritage sites and landmarks in particular become mnemonic devices for stories myths and legends that are important to local and global communities. But architecture, despite its monumentality is not permanent. Buildings suffer wear from use, weathering and neglect or can be damaged or lost entirely as casualties of war or at the hands of natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes or fires. The recent fire at Notre Dame Cathedral and the loss of the timber framed roof and Violet le Duc’s spire was a tragic loss which has highlighted two central questions related to my thesis: • How do we grieve the loss of buildings? • How do we protect the stories that buildings tell when they are gone? The loss of parts of the cathedral elicited an overwhelming sense of mourning not just among Parisians, but the global community who saw the cathedral as a religious symbol, an architectural icon, and a symbol for the romantic grandeur of Paris. Collectively, individuals have shared their personal memories and dreams of one day visiting the space that are now unconnected to place. In a show of resilience, aided by global philanthropists, French politicians vow to quickly rebuild a structure to cover the open wound that is left. But this showmanship and the resulting competition that most humorously has shown swimming pools and parking garages in place of the lost timber “forest” structure of the roof, does not necessarily connect to the shared memories and stories of place. Jorge Otero-Pailos cautions against the impulse to solve the problem with a competition and quick timeframe to rebuild. He writes that heritage is a social process that should be explored by preservationists and community together .
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Caitlin DeSilvey also explores the tension between decaying buildings and unmoored community memories in her work “Curated Decay� where she chronicles historic sites left to designed processes of decay. The surrounding communities grapple with how their identities are defined by the objects to be lost and struggle to find new ways of expressing the narrative and associated memories of place to themselves and future generations. This thesis explores how memories, stories and myths connected to lost architecture can be translated and collected into new forms so that the heritage and stories collected in buildings and structures lost in natural and manmade disasters can be preserved. The lessons learned from this project have far reaching applications for countries whose heritage sites have been lost to war. While building typology is inherently unique in all situations, this exploration hopes to define processes or methodologies that could be replicated outside of the chosen site.
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CASE STUDY: London Mithraeum at Bloomberg London Foster and Partners, Architect Local Projects, Exhibit Design
JUXTAPOSITION PAST/PRESENT PRESERVATION & INTERPRETATION The London Mithraeum was an ancient Roman temple unearthed in 1954 as London rebuilt after the blitz of World War II. The temple was excavated and placed above a parking lot in 1962. Michael Bloomberg provided the funding to move the temple ruins back to their original location 7 meters below street level as part of the creation of Bloomberg London designed by Foster and Partners. The exhibit space jusxtaposes the ruins with modern display technology to create an immersive bodily experience involving site, sound, touch. https://www.dezeen.com/2017/11/09/london-mithraeum-roman-temple-museum-architecture-local-projects-bloomberg-london-uk/ https://www.londonmithraeum.com/temple-of-mithras/ https://www.mola.org.uk/blog/london-mithraeum-bloomberg-space-brings-roman-temple-mithras-life
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CASE STUDY: A.O.N.B (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) Photography by Keith Arnatt 1982-1984
JUXTAPOSITION PAST/PRESENT INTERPRETATION WITHOUT PRESERVATION, CURATION In the series A.N.O.B (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), produced between 1982 and 1984, Keith Arnatt addresses what he characterized as the ‘conjunction of beauty and banality. The photographs in the series were taken across England in areas classified for their natural beauty. However, Arnatt presents not just untouched beauty but also the intrusion of man, including vehicles, detritus and abandoned objects. Arnatt cheekily subverts the picturesque heritage sites in his photo series. The combination of old and modern ruin in this image especially shows age and wear as the inevitable without the romanticism often associated with ancient ruins. The irreverence is playful but also directly plays with ideas of eventual decay and a comparison of time scales. https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/ruin-lust http://www.britishphotography.org/artists/17405/10341/keith-arnatt-aonb-area-of-outstanding-natural-beauty?r=artists/17405/keith-arnatt
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CASE STUDY: Menokin Glass House, Virginia Machado Silvetti, Architect
BUILDING ENVELOPE STABALIZATION: TECTONIC ASSEMBLY The historic preservation of Menokin is self-referenced as “the most engaging preservation project in America.” The former home of Francis Lightfoot Lee, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, the current ruins of the house and the surrounding lands are considered a piece of American heritage and history. Machado Silvetti’s plan to preserve the remaining structure of the house in structural glass exposes the wear and decay of the structure while protecting the building and providing visitor access. The modern juxtaposition of materials highlights the passage of time by contrasting materials https://www.menokin.org/
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CASE STUDY: Matrera Castle, Cadiz, Spain Carquero Arcitectura, Architect
BUILDING ENVELOPE STABILIZATION: CASTING & FORMWORK The restoration of Matrera Castle has left Spain divided between historic preservationists and modern architects. The castle was originally built in the 9th century and much later became a national landmark in the 1940s and a site of National Heritage Interest in the 1980’s. The stone tower partially collapsed leading to a five year restoration. Carlos Quevedo, Architect, solidified the structure using local limestone, filling in the missing fragments of the structure similarly to how museums infill missing frescos, pottery or other archeological finds to create a better impression of the object’s original form. Local Andalucian and Spanish preservationists were horrified at the result which they felt tried to impose a modernist white cube on the historic site. http://www.carquero.com/ https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/13/matrera-castle-restoration-wins-architecture-prize-spain
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CASE STUDY: National Museum of Roman Art, Merida, Spain Raphael Moneo, Architect
TRANSLATING MEMORY OF PLACE TO NEW ARCHITECTURE Rafael Moneo’s museum building hovers over the ruins of a pre-existing historic site as well as intacting with a historic Roman Amphitehater which sits adjacent to the site. Moneo borrows structural details of ancient roman architecture and reimagines them in contemporary materials. that still reference the scale, texture and qualities of the past. The ancient forms rendered in clean, monochormatic stones pays homage to historic details, the site and context without simply replicating the past. The project is an example of a new building embracing architectural legacy and traditions of building within a significant site. https://www.archdaily.com/625552/ad-classics-national-museum-of-roman-art-rafael-moneo https://www.area-arch.it/en/merida-classicanti-classic-national-museum-of-roman-art/ Rafael Moneo 1967 2004: El Croquis Editorial: 2004. Print
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REPLICATION - FORMS
CONTRAST - PLANS
CONVERSION - BUILT PALIMPSEST
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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Desilvy, Caitlin. Curated Decay: Heritage Beyond Saving: University of Minnesota Press: 2017. Print
Curated Decay explores heritage sites in states of deterioration that are deemed beyond repair or preservation. Each chapter explores the end of life of structures significant to their communities and looks at both the natural decay of physical structure but also the psychological response of surrounding communities. In most examples, the human response to supervised decay is confusion and an untethered sense of mourning. The text suggests repurposing materials as a means of keeping connections to lost structure but the examples do not reach that level of conclusion with buildings on the cusp of loss.
Jackson JB. The Necessity for Ruins, and Other Topics. University of Massachusetts Press; 1980.
Jackson explores ruins as a reflection of nostalgia rather than an element of beauty or an object which signifies a specific event. He views preservation as interpreting history. I am interested in his critique in order to understand how preservation can be more authentic to history.
Kemp, Wolfgang, and Joyce Rheuban. “Images of Decay: Photography in the Picturesque Tradition.” October, vol. 54, 1990, pp. 103–133. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/778671.
This essay analyzes the admiration and criticism surrounding the picturesque movement. Kemp quotes John Ruskin, who’s critical analysis of the picturesque was that adoration of ruins as picturesque objects was inauthenti and reviews how the introduction of photography literally changed our perception of time and memory.
Lynch, Kevin. What Time is this Place?: MIT Press: 1972. Print. Lynch explores history’s place in modern cities, adaptive reuse and palimpsest. This book looks at how people sense the age and time of the place they experience. While the book focuses on urban environments, I hope to translate Lynch’s sensitivity to the human experience of time in cities to the experience of time in isolated historic sites.
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Macaulay, Rose. Pleasure of Ruins: Indian University: 1966. Print Rose Macaulay is a novelist who recounts the history of man’s relationship with ruins over time. Her work explores the psychological connection between man and decayed buildings from a more poetic perspective adjacent yet outside of architecture. Mostafavi, Mohsen, David Leatherbarrow. On Weathering: The Life of Buildings in Time: MIT Press: 1993. Print This illustrated essay on weathering reviews the effects of time on building surfaces. The work examines both the aesthetic qualities of aging in addition to how building techniques and practices lead to either graceful or abrupt signs of decay. The authors contrast historic building and building practices with modernist buildings. Otero-Pailos, Jorge. “In Notre Dame, we find a heritage that invites us to breathe and reflect.” The Art Newspaper, 19 April 2019, www.theartnewspaper.com/comment/a-proustian-call-to-arms-on-notre-dame. Otero-Pailos’s article is a thoughtful analysis of the fire and initial political responses to repairing the ceiling and spire of Notre Dame. He acknowledges there is a process of grieving within architectural loss and advocates for a collaborative approach to repairs that is sensitive to the cultural memory and community not just a quick response in architectural showmanship. Otero-Pailos, Jorge, Erik Langdalen, Thordis Arrhenius. Experimental Preservation: Lars Muller Publishers: 2016. Print This work is a catalog of different conversations and approaches to preservation and presents several experimental ideas in which buildings can be preserved without intervention with the existing building though different art and architectural expressions. Among many artists, the work documents and explores Otero-Pailos’s own work trapping and recording the dirt accumulated on structures through monolithic latex castings.
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ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY (CONTINUED):
Rafael Moneo 1967 2004: El Croquis Editorial: 2004. Print This book catalogues Moneo’s work and was my primary source of information exploring and understanding the Museum of Roman Art in Merida, Spain. Supplementary essays in the book explore Moneo’s approach and process to design. Robinson, Tim. Connemara: The last Pool of Darkness: Penguin of Ireland: 2008. Print Robinson’s text captures the multifaceted spirit of Connemara and charts the land through it’s people, geography, histories and traditions. His words capture the spirit of place acknowledging the intertwining nature of history and mythology which I hope to capture through architectural form. Ruskin, John. The Seven Lamps of Architecture. Dover Publications, 1989. Print In this text, Ruskin outlines the seven principles of architecture: beauty, truth, sacrifice, power, life, obedience, and memory. I am interested in how he develops the idea of honesty in buildings: honesty of form, craft and representation of culture. When looking at ideas of preservation: his ideas provide a check point for “translated” forms and buildings and whether ideas stay true to their inspiration.
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Memory One had a pretty face, and two or three had charm, but charm and face were in vain, because the mountain grass cannot but keep the form where the mountain hare has lain. W.B. Yeats
Collage Megan F. Kinneen
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CONSTRUCTED ARGUMENT: HISTORY
INTERACTING WITH THE PAST Friedrich Nietzsche outlines how we interact with objects from the past. A critical approach abandons the past in favor of the new and the future. An antiquarian approach looks only at the past and hopes to preserve the context of history around an object and the monumental takes historic objects and sees them in their contemporary context - often using the past as a symbol of status or political power.
PAST
PRESENT
FUTURE CRITICAL
ANTIQUARIAN MONUMENTAL
This breakdown helps identify our bias towards historic objects as each approach has it’s own pros, cons and blindspots in understanding history To successfully interact with historical objects, it is important to acknowledge continuous lifelines of buildings, both their historical and contemporary context. Removing context from buildings creates experiences of time and place that may or may not be authentic. In the models to the right, each timeline expressed creates a different understanding of history: steady creation (top), repurposing structure and decline (middle), and decay (bottom).
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PAST
PRESENT
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FUTURE
Constructed Argument: Memory
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MEMORY & THE SENSES Webster’s Dictionary defines memories not only as the impressions of events on people, but also the impression of events on materials. In order to translate memory of events, it is important to understand how they are recalled by the senses as sensory impressions are the building blocks of creating architectural experiences. The diagram to the left shows that architectural experiences and food are the two experiences that interact with our bodily senses to create the strongest mnemonic devices to trigger storytelling and myth. Textures of building materials create impressions of sight, smell and touch (sometimes taste) and alter our sense of sound in space. Matierality in structure also recalls the memory of initial construction. The stones within a masonry wall or timber framing express both their natural creation in addition to the human intervention and hands that assembled them into new forms.
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Renvyle Peninsula, Connemara County Gallway, Ireland
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SITE LOCATION: INTRODUCTION
The Renvyle Peninsula is located in Connemara on the west coast of Ireland in County Galway. The region is sparsely populated with two small villages, Renvyle and Tully Cross. The area is popular with tourists and is part of the Wild Atlantic Way tourism campaign established in 2014 which traces sites of interest along the entire West Coast of Ireland. The area is made appealing by the unique geographic features and constantly shifting skies and weather patterns. Rolling fields melt into surrounding mountains and beaches. A glacier fjord cuts a channel through the mountains to the east. Historically, the site was home to different rival family clans over the centuries. Renvyle Castle at the westernmost edge, was built in the 13th or 14th century for the Joyce Clan and later became home to the O’Flahertys. The site allowed for strategic defense against English and Spanish attempts at invasion in the 16th century.
Photos Megan F. KInneen
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SITE MAPS & ANALYSIS:
EDGES Atlantic Ocean
PATHS Roadways
NODES Village Centers
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Tower Footprint
Water’s Edge Abutting B’n’B
Neighboring Residence
Site Boundary ENLARGED SITE PLAN N.T.S.
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SITE HISTORY: 20,000 BCE nearby Killary Harbor formed by massive glaciers
13/14th century castle tower is built near Renvyle beach by the Joyce clan
Circa 1540 Donal O’Flaherty marries Grace O’Malley.
The O’Flaherty clan seize control of Renvyle Castle during a wedding banquet.
1588 Two ships from the Spanish Armada are lost off the Renvyle Peninsula
1593 Grace O’Malley meets with Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich Palace
1845-1849 Potato Famine 1905 Marconi Station est. in Clifden
1919-1921 Anglo-Irish War
Circa 1980s the Olde Castle House B&B established
2012 WIld Atlantic Way tourism campaign established
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Sketch Megan F. KInneen
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MEMORY MAP:
In addition to traditional site analysis and exploration of the history of the site, the project also looks at community memoies and mythologies. The collage at right is an exploration of a personal memory map connecting my own experience and rememberance of place. The image of the castle softens from vivid image to overlay sketch and is set against an antique map - a reference to my own family ties to place. Textures become stronger memories than framed images. The sea represents both a boundary edge and cacocphany of sound. The words - The Lake Isle of Inishfree by W.B. Yeats, is a tribute to my dad, who among many other gifts, introduced me to this part of the world. The shark stretched over the boat frame known as a currach, is the work of Dorthy Cross, an Irish artist living in Connemara who captures memory and mythology of place in unexpected forms.
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Visualizing the Program:
The proposed structure serves two functions: metaphorically, this project seeks to create a new architectural structure to capture the physical memory of the Renvyle tower castle ruins. The project assumes that there will be no intervention with the existing structure itself, opting for an approach of “curated decay” of structure that Catitlin DeSilvy outlines in her work and research. The building will be sympathetic and subservient to the existing structure and utilize replication, contrast and conversion as seen in Moneo’s precedent study to visually capture some of the experiences of the prior structures.
Literally, the building will function as a gallery and museum that exhibits work and artifacts that document the experience, people and stories of Connemara. The region does not have a dedicated museum to its own rich history. As the castle ruins are highlighted as part of the Wild Atlantic Way campaign bringing tourists along the west coast of Ireland, the building will function as an additional point of interest in the immediate area.
The gallery and museum spaces will be the primary purpose of the building, but there will be additional studio spaces to be rented by artists, archaeologists, historians, cartographers interested in documenting via different mediums the experience of place.
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PROGRAM ELEMENTS:
Gallery Space Fixed Exhibit Space Rotating Exhibit Space Visitor Services Restrooms CafĂŠ Counter Lobby & Sitting Area Archives Regional Records Maps and Documents Audio Records
Artist Spaces Private Workrooms (for 4 artists) Basic Woodshop Open Studio/Communal Workroom Back of House Mechanical Room Cafe Kitchen Janitorial Supplies Administrative/Curatorial Office (Anticipated saff of 3) Break Room
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Presentation Panel Presented April 23, 2019
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Schedule of Requirements
INTRODUCTORY REVIEW First Week of Classes
DESIGN DEVELOPMENT REVIEW Ninth Week of Classes
Existing Conditions: Elevations, Plans, Topography Short Essay: Methods of Preservation, Past, Present and Future PRELIMINARY REVIEW Third Week of Classes Methods of Translation: Diagrams Exploration of Experiments in Preservation: Test Models Develop Program Edits and Revision to Essay 01 SCHEMATIC REVIEW Fifth Week of Classes Program Defined Floor Plans Sections Sketch Renders Building Experience
Developed Floor Plans Developed Sections Elevations Short Essay: Means and Methods of Preservation and Translation FINAL REVIEW Thirteenth Week of Classes
Final Floor Plans Final Sections Final Renderings Final Elevations
FINAL BOOK DUE December 9th, 2019 PROJECTED GRADUATION Spring 2020
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APPENDIX III: RESUME
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megan f. kinneen megan.f.kinneen@gmail.com
Education
203.984.7504
The Boston Architectural College Candidate for Master of Architecture
33 Park St, #42 Malden, MA
About Me I’m a current M.Arch candidate at the Boston Architectural College. My background is in theater design and illustration which fed my passion for non verbal storytelling and creating emotional, evocative environments. My interest in architecture stemmed from a desire to bring the magical enviroments I created onstage to life outside of theaters and into the public realm for everyone to experience and enjoy.
Emerson College BFA Technical Theater and Design, Cum Laude
Fall 2016-Present
2007-2011
Awards: Alumni Scholarship - Thesis Award, Boston Architectural College, Spring 2019 Steffian Bradley Scholarship, Boston Architectural College, 2018
Work Experience Wolf Architects || Junior Project Manager 2017 - Present
Provide client services including project management, construction documents, code and product research, permit applications, city and state review applications in addition to additional project administration. Additional office management duties as necessary including software purchasing.
Cramer Productions || Environmental Designer
Skills
2011-2013 & 2015 - 2017
Created designs and renderings for corporate meetings, events, tradeshows, lobby exhibitions, activations in a fast paced agency enviornment.
Freelance Boston Theater Designer 2010-Present
Worked as a set designer, scenic artist or props master for comapnies including Stoneham Theater, Actor’s Shakespeare Project, Northeastern University, Hub Theatre, Brown Box Theatre, ART Institute, Apollinaire Theatre, Boston Public Works, Revels North (Hanover, NH), Suffolk University, Speakeasy Stage Company, Cycoscenic Studios, BeNT Productions, Boston Children’s Theater, Central Square Theater and Compay One. Sketchup, Layout, Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, 3D Studio Max, MS Office Suite, AutoCad, Rhino, Revit, hand drafting, model making, rendering and illustration (traditional and digital mediums), scene painting, mural artwork, faux finishing, trompe l’oeil, foam carving, intermediate sewing, basic carpentry
Boston Playwright’s Theatre|| Props Master & Scenic Artist 2011-2016
Dorset Theater Festival || Scenic Charge Summer 2015
Glimmerglass Opera || Scenic Art Apprentice Summer 2010
Cobalt Studios || Scenic Art Apprentice Summer 2008
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