ENDURING MEMORY: An approach to Timeless Architecture

Abstract

In every expression of architecture, there arises a fundamental contradiction between constancy and change. This innate quality of relative permanence is paradoxical to the obstinacy of spaces that are considered to be "timeless". Is a timeless space ageless and locked in it's time or one that is supposedly infinitely viable and is constantly in flux? Over time, many architectural ideologies about 'Timelessness" have been expressed, some carrying forward human tradition and ancient techniques, while others solely pushing for architecture that updates itself in a machine-like manner. The question arises whether timelessness is perceived as a characteristic of viability or as a stagnant exhibition of insensitivity to the tangible and temporal context. As fundamental human needs coincide with the evolution of behaviour, an architecture of adaptation that caters to these ubiquitous, basic experiences is needed to be designed. Through the course of this thesis, thorough literary research, architectural analyses and case studies of "timeless spaces" led me to a relatively balanced and approachable understanding of the timeless qualities of architecture. Spaces that exhibit an evolving experiential appeal as well as a permanent functional appropriateness are most easily characterized as timeless. As per the application of this approach, the site of intervention needed to exhibit a connection to the history and memory of the city, while at the same time have timelessness expressed through its architecture or context. The abandoned site of the once prominent NAFDEC Cinema was selected as a timeless work of architecture in of itself. Using the architectonic language of this existing site, the intervention took care to retain the structure and to enhance it with an expansion. The new structure will be derived from the grid of the original, composing the volumes that displays a homogeneous relationship between the old and new, while maintaining an appropriate degree of contrast. The old and new stand together as both products of the technological capability of their time but also as a revival of a lost function and a unified embodiment of the past, present and future; all ceaselessly aging and ageless.