Speculative Heritage

This project was undertaken as my master's thesis during the final year of study at Chalmers University of Technology in Göteborg, Sweden.

This was an individual project and all the work produced here is my own.

I explored what I perceive to be one of the main difficulties involved in architectural heritage practice. Our current approach towards preservation prioritises qualities in an inequitable manner and this results from a misconception about the singular correct interpretation of a buildings essential character. In conventional historical procedure there is a prevalent concept that the best action is to preserve structures in stasis. This interpretation posits the idea that an architectural construct occupies a single state of correct intelligibility. I believe that a historical edifice is never one thing, it always embodies multiple readings simultaneously.

Using emergent technology, I highlighted the subjective differences that proliferate in the individual comprehensions of a buildings form. By contrasting subjective interpretations of the monuments against objective recordings I commented on what lies at the centre of proclamations about their correct conservation. The reason for undertaking this investigation was to critically consider how we understand and engage with the physical manifestations of our past. It is important to revaluate how we work with this information given the accelerated rate of change caused by both climatic and social conditions which are resulting in the irreparable loss of countless artifacts.

Acknowledging the delicate finite quality of historical edifices, we should contemplate and simulate potential scenarios for legacy structures whilst reflecting on our own phenomenological attachments. It is my conjecture that emergent technology allows for a new and exciting means of exploring and questioning our actions while hypothesizing possibilities which traditionally would be considered contentious. What qualities do we aim to preserve and how might this be done in the most suitable manner? If all understanding of heritage is a personalised filter can technology allow for the sharing of this perspective. I proposed a speculative approach that asks what is embedded in built heritage and our interpretation of it.

I explored the possibility of manifesting subjectivity through emergent technology to allow for a more representative and inclusive demonstration of our historical narrative and how it relates to heritage.