story recording
adminstrative restaurant / pub
Thesis Proposition
Stories are an important part of our lives. They help us to form both our personal identities and the identities of the social groups that
make up our society. They help us to communicate our beliefs, our emotions, our knowledge, our perspective, and what is important
to us. Likewise, we absorb those very things from the stories of others. We receive these stories through a number of avenues: family,
friends, literature, poetry, religion, teachers, movies, art, music, the internet, and the list goes on. Through these avenues of
storytelling our culture is born and is sustained.
Architecture is an important defining element of our culture and as such, we must critically evaluate its essential role in the
communication of these stories. The built environment informs us through its position, massing, materials, among other elements,
what is important to our society. In Rome, the importance of St. Peter’s Basilica is communicated in a number of ways including the
fact that it is the tallest building in that city. The prevalent courtyard scheme in many ancient cities communicated to others that
privacy was important to them. In these ways and many others, architecture has helped define and reinforce what we value as a society
and as individuals – the creation of our culture.
How can architecture take a more active role in the passing of culture;
generally, figuratively, and more specifically, by encouraging and strengthening the
dissemination of a story or group of stories?
In our contemporary society, museums have taken the most active role in the storytelling process. They have sought to encourage and
strengthen specific stories and groups of stories in a number of ways. However, this was not always their main prerogative. In the last
30 years, there has been a shift from presenting real things to the production of experiences. Exhibitions have made the transition
from being object-oriented to story-centered. The transition in museum focus is explained and dissected by author and professor of
philosophy Hilde S. Hein in her book entitled The Museum in Transition. In short, she explains and describes the museum transition
from object to experience. With that she states that progress needs to be made in cultivating these experiences. The sense of stability
that museum collections once had is lost to the quintessentially transient and elusive collection of experiences. She urges that
museums amplify and sharpen their distinctions from one another, and concentrate on strengthening the message being conveyed.
As I presented previously, I believe architecture must play a more active role in the communication of these stories in this transitioned
museum landscape. The stability previously provided by the objects presented within museums, must now come from the architecture
that conveys and encourages these stories. These experiences must be strengthened and cultivated, paying special attention to the
emotions that we can help evoke by what we do architecturally, and by the relationships that we create in the various contexts that our
architecture is found.
histoire des passages : narratives of canadian immigration
observation deck
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drop-off celebration / reflection plaza
story recording
cafe security
gift coatroom
parking entrance
research
center
information
Thesis Abstract
My question is one that asks if architecture can take a more active role in the passing of our culture; generally, figuratively, and more ground level
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specifically, by encouraging and strengthening the dissemination of a story or group of stories. In our contemporary western
built-environment, museums have taken the most active role programmatically in the passing of our culture and stories. My thesis will
focus on this building type. Museums during the last 30 years have made a shift from presenting real things to the production of
experiences. In short, exhibitions have transitioned from object-oriented to story-centered. How can architecture better serve this newly
modified museum experience? Furthermore, what can architecture do to push this focus even further so that people are better able to
absorb these stories and experiences? h
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Before attempting to answer this question however, I must explain how my thesis question will be explored in actual terms. I will
investigate how the architecture of a museum can further activate, strengthen, and cultivate a set of stories important to our society and
nation as a whole. My thesis project will be a museum to house the narratives and history of passage to Canada as a nation and a land story recording
since its recorded history began. These narratives and history are critical to maintaining the identity of this land and nation. Canada
storage
has the highest per capita immigration rate in the world and remembering why people have made, and continue to make Canada their
home should be a priority to the nation as a whole. These stories help us to understand ourselves as a nation, and perhaps just as
equally important, they help us understand ourselves in relation to other countries.
Formal examples of buildings that are for the most part, similar programmatically include the American Immigration Museum at Ellis
mechanical the canada room celebration / reflection
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Island, the Australian Immigration Museum in Melbourne, and Pier 21 in Nova Scotia. However, the museum that I am intending to
create for my thesis project also differs in many ways from each of these examples. In all three cases, the building/building site was
chosen because of its historical importance. In New York the connection to the immigration process is obvious but although many
immigrants came through this processing point, it was only open from 1892 to 1954. However, many immigrants during this time also
came through the many other processing points that were once present in each state on the east coast, not to mention the west coast
or in other areas. Furthermore, the historical importance of this site does not address the innumerable faces that came before and
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continue to come to America after Ellis Island’s operational history. Pier 21 in Canada has a similar dilemma with the museum’s
architectural reference to history; it was in operation in an even less lengthy time period, operating between 1928 and 1971. However,
in its favor, the museum does not seem to claim to tell the other stories of immigration to Canada but rather, focuses on the stories of
c d
immigrants that passed specifically through its doors. For the most part, the museum at Ellis Island does the same, however, the line
is blurred a little by one floor of the museum, where immigration over the history of the America is put into perspective statistically. In
story
contrast to the previous two, the Australian Immigration Museum in Melbourne claims to explore the stories of immigration from the
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1800’s through to the present day. Although this is not a comprehensive history of movement to Australia, the scope is much larger
than that of the museums in Nova Scotia and New York. One more difference in this museum is that the historical claim architecturally
is less strict. The museum is located in the Old Customs House, which had a relationship to trade in and out of its port, and to a lesser
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degree, the people. In doing this research and visiting two of these museums, I found that although the architectural historical
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references can be quite useful, it can also limit the scope and breadth of the museum, impeding the visitor from discovering the emotion
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of the stories that can bring it to a personal level necessary for real understanding.
Although widening the scope of the museum can seem to make the architectural response more complicated, it can also open up new
doors for an architectural approach that must form from a broader vantage point. Many new museums are taking on these larger
subjects, such as, the War Museum in Ottawa, the Museum of Civilizations in Ottawa, the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C., and
even a the Museum of Human Rights that has been proposed in Winnipeg. Out of these examples, the United States Holocaust Museum
seems to make the most story-centered architectural response. Although visitors are called to make their own interpretations of the
stories, the architecture through subtle metaphors and symbolic reminiscences, is a vehicle for thought and introspection. In the words
of Freed, the architect for the Holocaust Museum, “There are no literal references to particular places or occurrences from the historic
event. Instead, the architectural form is open-ended so the Museum becomes a resonator of memory.” From this research and visits to
these examples, I began to form some additional ideas about the investigation of my thesis question.
With my testing ground for my thesis question nearly complete, I had yet to explore a site appropriate for the scope and message of my
museum, with my thesis question in mind. First however, I thought it necessary to investigate from a broader perspective the stories
that my museum would represent. After some research, it seemed that the constant organizing principle of these stories was that there
are both push and pull factors to any story of immigration. The push factor would be the motive for emigration from the country of
origin. The pull factor would be the reason by which foreigners desired Canada as home. The main pull factor for each of these stories
was a hope that made them believe that Canada was a better place to live. Hope then would become my main organizing principle. I
broke down the push factors of the stories into five broadly defined categories that are outlined below:
[Family] [Opportunity/Education/Land/Exploration/Adventure] [Famine/Epidemics/Natural Disasters] west elevation
[War/Politics/Crowding/Poverty] [Religious Persecution/Ethnic Persecution] scale 1:250
The first two of the categories ended up being much more positive then the other three. This categorization helped me think about an
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organization of the stories that would help further my thesis idea of strengthening generally the story, setting it apart from a certain
date in time, and focusing on the emotion involved.
Through exploration of the stories, I discovered that the museum would benefit from a relationship to the water and to the St. Lawrence.
This relationship would help in two ways: it would reference on a larger scale the scope of the stories by referring to the St. Lawrence as
being the original main artery of immigration to Canada. Secondly, it refers to the main organizing principle of hope. As I began to take
my focus even further, I found that Montreal was the city that is and still continues to be a place were Canada takes in a larger percentage
of immigrants. After much investigation, I found a site in Montreal suitable for a relationship both to the diversity of the city and to the
symbolic relationship with the water. This site is located on the Jacques-Cartier Pier in the Old Port area of Montreal. This area has long
been the social, economic, and cultural soul of Montreal. The pier was the first of the larger piers and was built in 1899 with an
extension in 1950. This pier is suitable for my museum not only because of the strong and dramatic relationship that is established
between the St. Lawrence and the city, but because it wasn’t a site that had any specific or well-known history that might distract the
visitor from the broader ideas of immigration. Currently, the pier serves as a flat space for larger scale seasonal events but is largely
unused for most of the year. I intend to inject some energy and use into this unused federally-owned-land with my proposed museum
dedicated to the nation of Canada.
Now that I have explained in essence the formulation of the testing ground for my thesis and its implications on the programmatic and
site based issues, I will briefly explain how my building itself addresses my thesis issues. Through my research, I have discovered that
there are at least three things – separate from the selection of the site and consideration of curatorial issues – that can be done so that
architecture can encourage and strengthen the dissemination of a story or group of stories. Architecture can create a narrative with the
route through the building, helping the visitor to realize the importance or relevance of the story in relationship to their daily life.
Architecture can also create environments for introspection, reflection, and celebration of the stories. Lastly, but perhaps in a way most section c-d
evident physically, architecture can create symbolic relationships with the story so that it becomes, as Freed said about his Holocaust scale 1:250
Museum, ‘a resonator of memory.’
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section a-b
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section e-f
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architecture thesis - mcgill university - professor pieter sijpkes final review - 13.12.2006 - shaney mullen