The project proposes a new landscape above the Natural History Museum which excavates into the Natural History Museum, creating an open deck for the making of fictions and the exchange of ideas; the Institution of Un-Natural Fictions.
The project proposes a landscape above the Natural History Museum which acts as a space for the exchange of ideas and the making of fictions, inspired by the artefacts below in order to act as a inspirational catalyst for research conducted below.
Cameras are attached on to a bicycle to create a film. The mechanics of the machine are altered to convert it into a projector to view this film; A machine for perception.
Science has disregarded fiction as 'fantasies of imagination'. It has, however, been used as a research catalyst for some of the most extraordinary scientific exploits of the past century. The project looks to disrupt the gradual evolution of the Natural History Museum with a 'sudden cataclysmic event', altering the function of the institution.
The Natural History Museum is observed as layers of sediment. Clay excavated from the site was used for the terracotta facing. The basement holds historical artefacts excavated from the ground, where they are speculated upon. Above is the exhibition space which presents these speculations as knowledge. The project proposes to break free from these layers to create a fourth level, one for the making of fictions, using the sediments below to inform the proposal; the Institution of Un-Natural Fictions.
The project proposes 'sudden cataclysmic event' of the Institution of Un-Natural Fictions, a re-interpretation of the iconic Waterhouse buliding's architecture, materiality, and construction method, in order to create a new landscape above, an abstraction of the site.
The lattice towers create a vertical link between the Natural History Museum and the Institution of Un-Natural Fictions. The sudden cataclysmic event of the lattice towers excavates into the site .
The two institutions are informed and drive each other in their research. The common aim is to speculate on natural history, with their contrasting methods being the scientific speculation or fictional speculation. The two modes of thinking are both speculative and credible.
The elevated landscape acts as a space above Albertopolis for the making of fictions and exchange of ideas.
Rooms of privacy for intimate exchange of ideas, portals for admiration of the Natural History Museum as landscape.
The Natural History Museum is altered, but continues to function with its original purpose as a scientific institution of research and exhibition of findings.
