Architecture

City As Archive
Memory In A Sense Scape:
A House For Eileen Gray
Design Thesis
Dublin 
2014

This thesis took the architectural proposition of A House for Eileen Gray, which aimed to provide both archival and exhibition spaces, under the umbrella theme of City As Archive. The work is the result of a simple observation of the nature of the city and the work of Eileen Gray. Both the city fabric and Gray’s work are a collection of sensory experiences that engage with the innate sensualism of the collective and the individual.
“Architecture is the art of reconciliation between ourselves and the world”
(Pallasmaa)
or in this case, ourselves and the city and ourselves and the work of Eileen Gray. This mediation occurs through the senses.

The entities of archive and memory are so inextricably linked and it is important to note that a sensory rich architectural experience, or the “polyphony of the senses” as Bachelard describes it, inevitably involves our imbedded space and place memories. The subtleties of sensory experience can release the opportunity for memories to surface. There is an interesting tension that emerges when personal memory and objective memory (experiencing the work of Eileen Gray) are experienced simultaneously.

The building was propsed to be sited at one of Ireland’s historic centres at Collins Barracks, Dublin, which currently houses the National Museum of Ireland.
As the work was carried out under the umbrella theme of the ‘City as Archive’ thesis group, the endeavour to explore the city as a sense scape emerged.

The bridge is a social offering, activating and connecting, and is generated from a city datum that provides an elevated landscape to experience this; one that weaves through the city fabric and over the monumental city quays. Not only personal memory is at play, but social and cultural memory too, as one skirts the city-scape taking in its sites, sounds and smells.

Early Concept Model

Sense-Scape

Context Plan

1:500 Context Model

Cross Section

Vignette

1:50 Model

1:50 Model

Interior Concept Image

Bridge Concept Image

Describing Architecture Exhibition 2015. Photo by Brian Cregan

Describing Architecture Exhibition 2015. Photo by Brian Cregan

Describing Architecture Exhibition 2015. Photo by Brian Cregan