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' Imbuing Memory ' Shop for the Artifacts of Life

Part 1 Project 2009
Richard Wood
University of Lincoln Lincoln | UK
'Imbuing Memory' Shop for the Artifacts of Life.

Locard stipulated in his forensic exchange principles that every mark leaves a trace of being - An imprint of the marker imbued on the architectural surface and a mode of grasping an understanding of time. The project developed to understand such ‘markings’ as the paternation and creation of memory. It endeavoured to bring narrative to the otherwise mundane, to make visible the otherwise invisible. An outhouse on the edge of Lincoln was analysed in order to find such memories in its interactions - a mark left by someone, something, a telling of history, a scaring on its surface.

The investigation moved to smaller and larger contexts, fuelling an obsession with the left over actions of an instance. The table installation provided a store of the interactions through a day. The ‘object’ was then studied for its ability to collate memory. A shop in Horncastle is explored as a collection of countless life – the memorabilia from forgotten people clutter its labyrinthine corridors.

The traces of a human interaction are visible frequently in the landscape. The project moves to a site in Castleton in the peak district- Mam Tor. The fragmented road which now drapes its slopes, is the remnants from countless attempts to support the landslide which destroyed it. The proposed building is as much a museum as it is a shop- a building for the store of the objects of countless local lives. A true representation of locality, storing the memories of lifes otherwise lost. Through retail the collection of the repository will inherit the same ephemerality as the landscape in which it is situated. The building itself, derived through a response to the road, will slide and trace its own history; Doors close and open through time, walkways slide to new entrances, buildings conceal in earth, all to trace a past existence, through this imbuing its own memory in the surrounding landscape.



Richard Wood


The departure point for this remarkable project is an exploration of a disused out house at the bottom of a garden in a domestic dwelling.

The project explores ideas of Human contact, memory and the passing of time all of which have been rigorously investigated, documented and integrated in to the detailed resolution of a building which seeks to both halt and accept the process of time.

Richard is an exceptional student of architecture who has produced a delightful building, which speaks in a beautiful way about both its use and the way it inhabits its shifting landscape. It communicates of our desire for longevity, but ultimately accepts the temporary nature of our fragile existence.


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2009
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