Graduation Year

2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

M.Arch.

Degree Granting Department

Architecture and Community Design

Major Professor

Steven Cooke, M.Arch.

Committee Member

Ilene Frank, M.L.S., M.F.A.

Committee Member

Elizabeth Dunham, M.F.A.

Keywords

St. John’s County, St. Augustine, Memory, Hybrid Building, Experience

Abstract

Picture a historical library and a historical art museum coming together to challenge the interaction between each other to help experience, explore, and discover the past within the present. While it sounds like a good idea, it is rare to see a library and museum under one roof.

With the increasing population of tourists looking to visit places and buildings that reconnect with history, there is a higher demand for places to be able to 're-live the past' through art and literature. People enjoy visiting places where history was made and where it becomes part of a city's identity. With modern developments taking over, historical buildings are beginning to disappear. Designing a library and museum partnership is a solution to creating two institutions under one roof while preserving the space usually needed for both institutions if built separately.

In order to challenge the idea of a hybrid building within a historical city, there needs to be an element of culture and historical remembrance that creates a shield against that city's potential loss of identity. Memory has become a key element in our true identity, becoming a form of support against erasure. It is that sense of culture and historical remembrance that will create recognition of things past.

In order to address Florida's historical culture, the proposed site will be located in St. John's County, which includes America's oldest city St. Augustine. There are many different historical periods in St. Augustine that create its current cultural atmosphere. It is important to choose an environment where historical events took place because it allows the memory process of a place to create past experiences to be shared with new experiences.

Through a methodology of the historical culture and conditions of the site, this thesis project will honor St. Augustine's culture by integrating the past with the present and creating a modern hybrid institution for the city. Furthermore, integrating the past with the present will allow users to enjoy St. Augustine as it used to be and as it currently is today.

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