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p o c k e t s o f m e m o r y

e s m e f i e l d h o u s e

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3... the same piece of ground would be supporting the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva and the ancient temple over which it was built.1

Sigmund Freud

As this wave of memories fl ows in, the city soaks it up

and expands.2

Italo Calvino

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pockets of memory

introductionCities are webs of memory pockets; inanimate objects holding truths and untruths, a

concrete diary of what has gone before and the sequence of events, experiences and

emotions that lead up to what we see and feel now.

Through the construction of a thinking machine, comprising manifestations of the pockets,

I am igniting the possibility of parallel worlds existing. Memories are resuscitated

back to the consciousness and given present context so that they may exist as equally

as each other. I intend to uncover those things on the periphery that have been either

forgotten or hidden over time.

The pockets of memory are collections of images, stories, relics, maps and signs, a

patchwork quilt of events that have taken place over an indeterminate period of time

brought together in one place at one time. This concept of curated knowledge leads to

clues and routes which are based on emotions and narratives. The individual pocket

itself is a physical container, with the contents of each pocket signifying more than the

physical entity itself but acting more as a catalyst to further interpretation. It has

the potential to speak of the entire evolution of one place. The collection may be used to

work out what something was, what it could be, potentially a tool to predict memories.fi g 4

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fi gure 1initial investigation into the concept of memory pockets; photomontages superimposing possible events which have lead to a visible clue on an inanimate object

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I have taken inspiration from Diller and Scofi dio’s suitCase Studies and their innovative

use of media and presentation to represent ideas more complex and emotional than

statistics. The installation encompasses a suitcase for every state of America and

is an exploration into the tourism specifi c to each state. The cases are displayed

alphabetically and according to a grid, yet embody feelings beyond this order and relating

to the experiences of millions of people.fi g. 3

In creating and curating the pockets I have chosen to explore methods inspired by the

Situationists and their theories of psychogeography and dérive, which are based on the

thought that purely instinctively, particular emotions are attached to particular places. fi g. 8 I refer to experiments such as the Naked City which fragments the map of Paris to

highlight only those places with most signifi cance to social relationships.fi g. 2

The name itself, Naked City, seems to describe a process of taking something away or

removing a mask to reveal deeper truth and meaning.

Each pocket of memory has a story to tell; these are complex stories with twists and

turns, layers of language and meaning, traces scratched on top of each other. These

stories do not stand alone of course, they are merely sentences, in chapters, in whole

books; the memories create a narrative. At fi rst unknown and seemingly irrelevant, the

objects offer clues to what has happened before; the bricked up doorway, the painted over

road name, the dog whose owners moved house but left a sign of warning.fi g. 1+5

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fi gure 2A psychogeographical map by Guy Debord + Asger John of the Situationist International

fi gure 3Diller + Scofi dio’s Tourisms: suitCase Studies exhibition

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By considering timelines of single spots and objects, I can begin to imagine a world

where segments of time are pieced together and memories work together. Laws of time do

not permit one space to have two contents of differing era but the pockets hold the

possibility to allow this, by presenting one place yet layers of events and meaning. In

City & Memory 3, Italo Calvino makes reference to this concept:

As this wave of memories fl ows in, the city soaks up and expands... written in the

corners of streets, the gratings of the windows ... the poles of the fl ags, every

segment marked in turn with scratches, indentations, scrolls.3

Calvino’s Invisible Cities also speaks of ‘Hidden Cities’ and ‘Cities & the Dead’ as well

as of the unborn, where instead of air, there is earth, cities beyond those which we can

physically see and experience but exist just as validly.

I aim to continue on from Freud’s thoughts on preservation in the sphere of the mind

and expand the theory to a physical context, he puts forward the idea of Rome not being

a “human habitation but a psychical entity”.4 The pockets of memory are a catalyst for

imagining a city where since its conception, nothing has been destroyed and instead all

structures still stand next to each other, in dialogue and sharing stories. I pose the

question, will they even speak the same language?

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In order to explore my idea, pockets of memory, I will fi rst of all investigate the

different uses of memory employed in context with architecture and what ideas they bring

about. Following on from this initial investigation and through the use of some key

precedents, I will look at specifi c uses of memory as a tool in architectural design and

question the powerful nature of this tool. I will be investigating the possibility that

these ideas may lead to not only a heightened, more personal understanding of one’s urban

environment but that they may inform a sensitive design approach which employs the layers

of memory and meaning of urban sites.

Using Dundee as my theatre for experiment, it is not diffi cult for me to follow a series

of dérive and rely heavily on instinct to take me from one place to the next, due to my

limited emotional attachment to Dundee after only living in the city for less than half a

year. This allows a pluralist approach without conscious prejudice, although accepting

that who I am and all of my own experiences and memories will determine decisions taken

in some way. Consciously I will be on the lookout for understated beauty, the subtleties

of our urban environment.

The process of movement is signifi cant in the construction of the pockets, its function

as cognitive mapping which takes partial views of cities, that is only the parts needed

to connect a narrative. In her essay titled, Haptic Journeys, Giuliana Bruno refers to

the “touristic drive to survey and embrace particular terrain”, in order to orientate

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fi gure 4aphotos showing my fi rst exploration into the construction of literal pockets with the t-shirt representing one spot. [in this case, Bell Mill in Dundee] Each pocket contains memories according to particular types of clue [photos, resident interviews, signs, maps and relics]. The pockets represent a timeline of events, exploring the experiences of those who have used the building during its lifetime; Bill the pigeon who inhabits the derelict mill now, Kenny the mechanic whose business was located on the ground fl oor and Mary Slessor, the missionary, who worked at the mill in the 19th century whilst attending the church next door. These clues encourage connections between this pocket of memory and others as diverse as overfl owing bins in the centre of Dundee in 2009 to Nigeria in 1876, in the aftermath of the slave trade.

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fi gure 4bthe next step was to create a prototype of a pocket which could attach to others to form a patchwork quilt of memories, something which could accommodate an infi nite amount of pockets as I discover more places and other people make different interpretations. The pocket itself is sub-divided to house different types of clue, as explored previously. This particular pocket investigates the ruined cathedral of St. Andrews which offers a rich tapestry of events and experiences past, it also connects itself back to Bell Mell and the ‘Heaven and Hell’ area of Dundee through the Wishart family. Jute was chosen as the material with reference to it being the primary industry that drove the growth of the city of Dundee.

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oneself and our need to climb to the tallest points, whether natural or manmade, to

create a panorama; “fabricated spatial observation opening doors to narrative space.”5

I am interested in my project being part of the human need to make sense of things, to

order chaos to an extent, yet still appreciate the chaotic nature of something, as can

be witnessed in narrative structure, memory theatres and the labyrinth, to name but a

few relevant examples.

the relationship between memory and architectureI have chosen to present four discussions which explore the concept of memory applied in

architectural terms, diverse approaches illustrated in both theories and actual projects,

which in turn will have their own infl uence on the built environment. As Sébastien Marot

declares, it is no secret that memory has the potential to be an instrument, material and

dimension in architecture.6 I intend to articulate how I am reading and understanding

memory in creating the pockets.

traces triggering memoriesFirstly is the idea that inanimate objects, not excluding living things such as trees,

have the ability to outlive humans and therefore experience more than one person could

personally articulate. It was with this thought in mind where I began my investigation

into the pockets. In this instance, events from a generation ago, or more, leave their

mark and through observation of these scars, a memory is triggered of something occurring

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fi gure 5bphotomontage representing the constructed stairs that lead to an empty plinth, the memory of an architectural vision

fi gure 5aphotomontage representing the transition over time from temporary + functional to permanent + functionless.[the doors are even welded shut now]

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in the past using walls as unoffi cial gravestones.fi g 6

Stephen Bates talks of a design sensitivity which refers to “the associations derived

from experiencing an event of space contribute to the atmosphere which we sense, and over

time [and through absence] this becomes embedded in the process of remembering.”7

This point also introduces the idea of collective memory or as I would like to refer to

it, urban memory, as a more meaningful description than the word history, where it is

society’s experiences that shape our own behaviour and reactions.

the memory of an objectsSecondly, a concept which implies the possibility that what the object has witnessed has

created a memory of its own and it thus has the potential to tell many stories. This

thought in opposition to the physical nature of the fi rst point, where the memory itself is

born from simply observing a corporeal thing. Aldo Rossi talks of the city as a “theatre

of human events” that absorbs feelings and events, each new event containing a memory of

the past and potential memory of the future.8 The pockets I speak of share similarities

with Rossi’s ‘locus solus’, unique spots within the city, determined by space and time

as the result of a series of events. This introduces the challenge that if we could

somehow learn the language of the object, we could listen to those stories. In his Lamp

of Memory, John Ruskin alludes to this by suggesting:

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fi gure 6Through historical research and fl ights of the imagination, I have been able to attach more meaning to the buildings I live next to, including the discovery of the nickname ‘Heaven and Hell’ for the area in reference to the location of Wishart Church above the John O’Groats public house, now a nursery and plastic retailer respectively.

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... it is not until a building has assumed this character, till it has been entrusted

with the fame, and hallowed by the deeds of men, till its walls have been witnesses of

suffering, and its pillars rise out of the shadows of death, that its existence, more

lasting that that of the natural objects of the world around it, can be gifted with even

so much as these possess, of language and of life.9

mnemonics and movementThe third idea involves the role that architecture plays in the art of memory and

mnemonics. After all, the memory theatres of Robert Fludd and Quintilian among others

involve routes through pieces of imagined architecture.fi g. 7 As Frances Yates explains in

her book The Art of Memory, sequences of rooms in whole houses or municipal buildings,

decorated with images and ornament, allow the participant to walk a route and articulate

an ordered speech, using their mind only. Of course, in an age of printed scripts and

electronic autocue, this does not seem like such an achievement but the thought that a

person in a time predating the printing press could memorise, off by heart, a speech

that lasted for an hour reveals there are perhaps aspects of human capacity that we have

forgotten over time.

The signifi cance of movement is not to be underplayed in the realm of architectural memory,

nor my project. Richard Sennett once described urban history as being constructed of

fl esh and stone and the motion of the city being intrinsically linked to the circulation

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fi gure 7Robert Fludd’s Memory Theatre, pieces of imagined architecture

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of bodily fl uids, an analogy which appeared with the humanist thinkers and the integration

of object and subject.10 I am inspired by Georges Descombes’ method of mapping impulse,

a process that by description of what is there and what is not there, begins to allude

to a prior condition. Indeed, Israel Rosenfi eld describes the understanding of our

surroundings as “exploring it with our hands, our eyes and the movements of our bodies;

our recollections, and recognitions of the world are intimately related to those very

movements we use to explore it... in fact we are all ‘redoing’ the past.”11

the architect’s memoryYou won’t fi nd a new country, won’t fi nd another shore.

The city will always pursue you.12

C.P.Cavafy

The fourth and fi nal point I wish to explore is the inescapable truth that architects will

always apply a certain amount of their own memory to the projects they design, in a way

taking a memory from one place and attaching it to another. This is with the ambition

to capture that desired emotion to be experienced whilst in a particular space, to even

enforce a particular feeling, whether positive or negative. Daniel Libeskind’s Holocaust

Tower springs to mind in this instance and his clear intention to instil at least a tiny

fraction of the doomed procession associated with the holocaust into the experience of

the visitor at the museum-cum-memorial.

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fi gure 8an interpretation of Guy Debord’s ideas on psychogeography to illustrate Bill the Pigeon’s personal relationships to particular places in Dundee and the connections between them:“Spatial development must take into account the emotional effects ... the atmospheric effects of rooms, hallways, streets, atmospheres linked to the gestures they contain. Architecture must advance by taking emotionally moving situations as the material it works with.”

Guy Debord, SI

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Georges Descombes suggests that any person experiences a city through their own personal

memory of and association to somewhere else more familiar; being in one place, remembering

another, it is almost like being in two places at once. Whilst discussing the work

of Descombes, David Cooper, in reference to Gertrude Stein, made the statement, “each

structure both (obviously) has a history and (less obviously) is a (his)story.”13 + fi g. 9-10

It is this less obvious individual memory I am interested in uncovering.

memory as an architectural toolSever the connection between memory and architecture and you

rob students of their most signifi cant reservoir of ideas.14

In reference to Marot’s proposition of his neologism, sub-urbanism, my concept, pockets

of memory, is best articulated with the understanding that any site today (whether urban

or rural, but perhaps more signifi cantly urban) is almost saturated with history, events

and memory. The pockets address the notion that it is actually neither acceptable nor

intelligent to ignore these factors or indeed neglect to use them as a tool; that a place

is not one thing at one time but part of a process. Adam Caruso, in his essay titled

‘The Emotional City’, explains that theories of the future city are irrelevant without

discussion about how the real city emerged.15 The current state of affairs involving

single developers taking over vast areas, once owned by several hundred land owners is

responsible for the heterogeneity of cities being slowly scraped away.

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fi gure 9 Bijlmermonument, Amsterdam by Georges Descombes and Herman Hertzberger

fi gure 10b walls + seats wind around the tree that “saw it all”

fi gure 10asite plan showing point of impact by aeroplane + subsequent destruction of

buildings

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As the Memory Theatre unintentionally demonstrates, the human mind is a powerful machine

and is more than capable of imagining a city where all things from throughout history,

destroyed and survived, were to stand together; what stories could they tell us? What

advice would they give? Would heterogeneity be reborn?

As Freud observed when writing about memory, nothing perishes once it has been created

in the mind. I believe we must not let the notion that time physically prevents such a

city existing distract us from realising the relationships between points on a timeline

and how one affects the other.

in situ interpretationWhilst designing his urban park in Lancy, Switzerland, Georges Descombes refered to ‘re-

defi nition of site’ which draws on his own very personal memories of his childhood spent

there but also the collective, urban memory of the town itself; the disparate houses

which once stood there previous to being wiped out for vast residential projects of

suburban sprawl, the stream and ancient boundary lines which dissected the sites before

the motorway covered them.fi g. 11 Descombes actually intended to use all these things to

inform the landscaping but essentially to leave it up to the ‘in-situ’ interpretation of

the walker and their ability to navigate four-dimensionally.16

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fi gure 11bthe pedestrian tunnel emerging from under the main road which wiped out the site’s original

dissections.

fi gure 11aDescombes’ drawings of the different segments of the adventure park to be negotiated by the user.

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the art of forgetting“The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.”17

As a result of working on a competition entry to masterplan the Lancashire town of Bacup,

it occurred to me that we have reached a peculiar time where urban situations have arisen

such as civilisation initially surrounding itself around a river, for proximity to

drinking water, a food source, defence or transport, or all of the above; over time the

river dictates road orientation and location of amenities, even place names. Then the

town grows so much, there is not enough space for the river anymore so it is culverted

underground to allow for more road and more building. The memory of the river is in the

layout of the town and the names but it is nowhere to be seen. This phenomenon has been

studied by students of Sheffi eld University in the nearby town of Accrington.fi g. 12

I have predominantly discussed the resurrection of memory as a positive process in

architecture, a cure to urban amnesia so prevalent today amongst prolifi c inner city

development. However, I would not want to ignore the concept of the ‘art of forgetting’,

where the severance of a memory is in fact the primary objective, in order to bury pain

and loss associated with a certain building or place where echoes of experiences before

are too much to bear. I recognise two main methods of dealing with this; the morphing of

a certain building or object, metaphorically suppressing the power it once represented

and the total annihilation of the object, including its rubble, as is witnessed with the

houses of notorious murderers.

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fi gure 12Richard acts as ‘gutter fi sherman’ in the town of Accrington, identifying the presence of the river Hyndburn culverted under the shopping streets, arousing intrigue from the public.18

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An example of the former I have witnessed in Berlin, a city that within my lifetime was

divided in two and forced to coexist, worlds apart. During a recent visit, I decided

to walk the route of the Berlin wall as much as my legs would take and was fascinated

to observe different reactions to its tragic past. Firstly, the desolation of the wall

within central areas and its replacement by a line of cobbles, parked on by coaches of

tourists, its once forbidding height physically, but perhaps more symbolically reduced to

two dimensions. Secondly, the discovery that amongst disused rail tracks and industrial

sheds, large portions still stand, still wearing its political graffi ti but removed of

all its fear and power.fi g. 13

For now, the city seems to be adhering to an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ philosophy.

memorialisationIn contrast to objects designed to forget, there are also those objects designed

specifi cally to remember either an historical event or fi gure; what I refer to are

memorials. Rossi spoke of there being two main permanences in the city, one being

districts of housing and the other being monuments. He comments on the unique nature of

the monument as having a function which relates solely to time and not to use and blames

this so-called pathological quality on hindering the process of urbanisation in that

area. This suggests that when using memory as a tool, it is important to remember it is

exactly that, a tool, and part of a much bigger, more layered, picture.

That is not to say that the designers of memorials in recent years have not begun to shift

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fi gure 13Big chunks of the Berlin wall still standing as they did in less populated areas of the city. Some pieces lie abandoned on their side for anyone to climb over.

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away from the purely iconic or nostalgic. There are examples where rather a more subtle,

relevant solution is produced, one which resonates with those affected and looks to the

future as well as the past. Once again, I refer to Georges Descombes, this time working

with Herman Hertzberger on the Bijlmer memorial in Amsterdam, where Descombes described

the appropriate response as a process of revealing, not inventing.fi g. 9+10 One wonders where

the inspiration comes from for such a project memorialising as contentious an event as a

plane crash within a city, the answer; simply the “tree that saw it all”.19

conclusionDerrida asserted that the city may never return to nature if it becomes uninhabited

because of being “haunted by meaning and culture”.20 As architects, we are facing the

challenge that any given spot in a city is now congested with layers of memory, many of

which will have been forgotten or hidden over time by an infi nite amount of blank canvases

that others have assumed.

I conclude that it is memory which brings meaning to experience, meaning which allows

us to articulate in our minds what we are seeing and what we are feeling, in essence

orientating us. Aldo Rossi attributed the soul of the city to memory, I consider memory to

be the personality of the city. I propose that it is memory which transforms a building

or enclosure into architecture and as designers, we should take responsibility for being

part of the process, with a past and a future, and not just in one moment of time. Each

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move we make will leave its mark and create its own memory.

I believe that buildings and cities should offer more questions than answers. David

Littlefi eld, in Architectural Voices, speaks of there being no reason why the imagination

should cease as soon as the design process ends. We follow routes prescribed to us and

do not allow for individual instinct and emotions as more relevant guides. The pockets

of memory are the roots for a process of discovering the meaning of our surroundings and

creating unexpected connections. It will be individual interpretation that is the force

which continues the idea through a winding path.

Through the exploration of memory pockets, I have captured a starting point to the design

process which encompasses a combination of thorough and factual research with active

imagination. I believe these to be two essential ingredients that can happily co-exist

in a symbiotic relationship. The next step in this process will be to include the

knowledge and imagination of others in order to introduce a stronger sense of collective,

or urban, memory and bring greater meaning and attachment to our cities.

Why should we be obliged to prefer a nostalgia for the future to that for the past?

... Could not the ideal city, at one and the same time, behave as both a theatre of

prophecy and a theatre of memory? 21

Colin Rowe/Fred Koetter

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bibliography

Andreotti, Libero; 1996; Theory of the Derive and other Situationist Writings on the City; Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona; Barcelona

Bastéa, Eleni; 2004; Memory and Architecture; University of New Mexico Press; AlbuquerqueBevan, Robert; 2006; The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War; Reaktion Books; London

Betsky, Aaron; 2003; Scanning: The Aberrant architectures of Diller + Scofi dio; Whitney

Museum of Modern Art; New York

Bruno, Giuliana; 2002; Atlas of Emotion; Verso; LondonCalvino, Italo; 1997; Invisible Cities; Vintage; Londonde Botton, Alain; 2006; The Architecture of Happiness; Penguin; LondonDescombes, Georges; ed. Tironi, Giordano; 1988; Shifting Sites; Gangemi Editore; RomeFord, Simon; 2004; The Situationist International; Black Dog Publishing; LondonFreud, Sigmund; 1963; Civilisation and its Discontents; The Hogarth Press; LondonHejduk, John; 1998; Such Places as Memory: Poems 1953-1996; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Cambridge

Littlefi eld, David; 2007; Architectural Voices; Wiley-Academy; ChichesterMarot, Sébastien; 2003; Sub-Urbanism and the Art of Memory; AA Publications; LondonRossi, Aldo; 1984; Architecture and the City; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Cambridge

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Ruskin, John; 1894; The Crown of the Wild Olive; Ballantyne, Hanson & co; EdinburghSadler, Simon; 1998; The Siuationist City; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; CambridgeSchama, Simon; 1995; Landscape & Memory; Harper Collins; LondonSteiner, Rochelle; 2000; Wonderland; The Saint Louis Art Museum; St LouisVirilio, Paul; 2000; A Landscape of Events; Massachusetts Institute of Technology;

Cambridge

Wheeler, Michael and Whitely, Nigel; 1992; The Lamp of Memory: Ruskin, Tradition and Architecture; Manchester University Press; Manchester

Yates, Frances; 1966; The Art of Memory; Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd; London

Caruso, Adam; 2000; The Emotional City; http://www.carusostjohn.comRasor, Mitchell; 2006; Well-timed: Site Works of Georges Descombes; http://www.mrld.net/pdfs/descombes

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images

fi gure 1 photomontages by author

fi gure 2 Ford, Simon; The Situationist International; Black Dog Publishing; 2004

fi gure 3 p.66; Betsky, Aaron; Scanning: The Aberrant architectures of

Diller+Scofi dio; Whitney Museum of Modern Art; 2003

fi gure 4a+b photographs of thinking machine process by author

fi gure 5a+b photomontages by author

fi gure 6 photographs of thinking machine process by author

fi gure 7 p.55; Yates, Frances; The Art of Memory; Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd; 1966

fi gure 8 map by author inspired by Guy Debord’s Psychogeographic methods

fi gure 9 p.2; Rasor, Mitchell; Well-timed: Site Works of Georges Descombes; http://

www.mrld.net/pdfs/descombes

fi gure 10a+b Article, ‘Growing Monument’ by Georges Descombes and Herman Hertzberger; AA

Files 1999 No. 39; Architectural Association

fi gure 11a+b p.69 + 71; Marot, Sébastien; Sub-Urbanism and the Art of Memory;

AA Publications; 2003

fi gure 12 p.150 + 151, Littlefi eld, David; Architectural Voices; Wiley-Academy; 2007

fi gure 13 photographs by author

1 Quote taken from Freud’s Civilization and its Discontents; Chapter 1

2 Extract from Calvino’s City & Memory 3 in Invisible Cities

3 Ibid

4 Quote taken from Freud’s Civilization and its Discontents; Chapter 1

5 Quote taken from Guiliana Bruno’s essay, Haptic Journeys, as featured in the

exhibtion catalogue entitled Wonderland

6 In reference to Marot’s introduction to his thesis on Sub-Urbanism and the Art of

Memory

7 Quote taken from Stephen Bate’s essay, The City of Things, as featured in the

book Papers 2 by Sergison Bates

8 In reference to Peter Eisenman’s introduction [and quote] to Rossi’s Architecture

of the City, The Houses of Memory: The Texts of Analogy

9 Extract from §10 in John Ruskin’s Lamp of Memory

10 Referred to by Guiliana Bruno in her essay, Haptic Journeys, as featured in the

exhibition catalogue entitled Wonderland

11 Israel Rosenfi eld, The Invention of Memory, quote taken from Bruno’s Atlas of

Emotion

12 Extract from Cavafy’s poem, The City, taken from Eleni Bastéa’s introduction for

Memory and Architecture

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end notes

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13 Quote taken from David Cooper’s essay in Descombes’ Shifting Sites

14 Quote taken from Eleni Bastéa’s Memory and Architecture

15 In reference to Caruso’s essay, The Emotional City, found at:

http://www.carusostjohn.com

16 In reference to Georges Descombes in Shifting Sites

17 Quote taken from Milan Kundera’s The Book of Laughter and Forgetting

18 Univsersity of Sheffi eld students Richard Gaete-Holmes and Kirstin Aitken’s site

exploration as described in Carolyn Butterworth’s essay, Of All We Survey,

featuring in Architectural Voices

19 Quote taken from Rasor’s interview with Descombes, featured in his essay, Well-

Timed: Site Works of Georges Descombes

20 Quote taken from Derrida’s Writing and Difference, used in Eisenman’s

introduction to Architecture and the City

20 Quote taken from Rowe and Koetter’s Collage City, featuring in Shifting Sites by

Georges Descombes