Programmed path : the conceptual re-enactment of a Charlestown warehouse and dock

Abstract

Conceptually re-defining the role of a 100-year-old waterfront brick and timber warehouse structure, it is turned inside-out : interior becomes path. Programmatic functions imitate the physical characteristics of a conceptual dichotomy set in motion by the creation of two sides to the 'path'. Program ranges from flexible and transitional to static and massive, and is laid out laterally along the proposed line. Specific program elements become, relatively, physical archive and digital exhibition space. Denying the over-preserved role of distinct and bound artifact, the old structure attempts animation. The structural patterns of the original warehouse form the armature (interior grid) against which differences are registered. There is no longer bounding geometry but an interplay of landscape and transitional spaces - this is not a 'marker' or symbolic monument but a reconciliation between monumental artifact, material memory, and pattern via path. Traditionally static boundaries are re-interpreted as inverted and fluctuating zones that provide for new forms of spatial, programmatic, and aesthetic engagement.