Anamnesis

Anamnesis: Connective (Re)Collections' is a speculative design project based in Lisbon, Portugal, and investigates the connective agent of storytelling in architectural drawing and social practices.

The working methodology for the project derives from the idea of working with object, and fragmented forms . Through re-appropriating these entities , a process of Anamnesis, is exercised in collecting the old to creating the new. The typewriter is collected, fragmented, and reassembled to materialize the Bazaar. This process is also symbolic of deconstructing existing social strata's and linear narratives towards a city where authorship is shared among many voices. The Bazaar itself is placed in a liminal site between the Baixa grid and the bottom of St Jorge’s castle. Upon entering the Bazaar the user Embarking on a transformational walk the user is invited to call into question perspective: reflecting on themselves, the ‘other’. Within this labyrinthine form, curiosities are stimulated through cultural, social, and linguistic collisions and their consequent serendipities. In gaining insight and familiarities with one’s neighbor, the architecture catalyzes a shift in existing perceptions amongst its users, generating empathy, understanding, and connection. As users collide the exchanged stories are recorded and sent to the repository tower. The repository tower is the central body of knowledge and takes form in a vertical structure and transitional point connecting the Bazaar to St Georges castle. Within the tower the recorded stories are collected and stored within data repositories. These stories are then retransmitted from the tower to the surrounding programmatic immersive experiences to be retold constantly throughout the city. The tower takes a Metabolic approach in that in continues to grow with the collection and is never complete. As more and more stories are exchanged within the Bazaar, the tower constantly grows and evolves with its knowledge base, its growth mirroring the strengthening of relational ties below. The Repository tower marks the metaphorical conclusion of the user’s journey. At the end of their transformational walk in discovering themselves, and the ‘other’ the user transcends upwards, to discover the city and the Bazaar at an elevated viewing platform.