ARCHIVE OF ENTROPY

On the Isle of Sheppey, stories have layers that must be peeled off to reveal corresponding fragments. These fragments can be found scattered throughout the landscape—like the breadcrumbs left behind by Hansel and Gretel, which one must follow in search of the whole. Is that whole the gingerbread house found at the end of the breadcrumb trail? Or maybe it is like the castle in Kafka's novel? As fragments multiply, one leading to the other, the amalgam—the whole made up from these fragments—gives the impression that it will materialize into one monumental structure: the essence of history itself. But in fact, like the castle, it can never be reached. The landscape of the Isle of Sheppey is a palimpsest on which historic traces are read. In totality, they make up only a fraction of the island's narrative. Ruled by the laws of entropy evident on a basic physical scale, the island is impregnated with an intangible rhizome of narratives too complex to be experienced simultaneously, creating the very phenomenon of tenuous reality. Narratives, however, are subjective and reliant on who they are told by, allowing the creation of a subjective and physical archive that enables an understanding of the secondary level of entropy existent on the island—metaphysical entropy. This condition can only be observed when context is given to a found fragment. Three sites were identified that serve as starting points for the historic rhizome. The theory of entropy and chaos theory became the conceptual inspiration for the logic of the project, as they strongly relate to Situationist and Deconstructivist architecture. Each site represents a type of entropy present on the island, allowing the formation of a historic network. All sites have historic links to the three origin points and, in turn, some links between one another. In some cases, it is the imprint that is moved and the original fragment remains intact; in others, it is the opposite, and the fragment remains supported by a steel or scaffolding structure. When scattered, the objects gain a new function: a fishing point, a bench, or an ocean-tide capsule, creating a trail of breadcrumb-like ghost structures around the island. Making passers-by question, and perhaps ask those around them: What was here? Where and why was it moved? Igniting an exchange of history. The present on the island is fleeting and intangible, but through the telling of history it becomes a commodity gifted to the listener, momentarily disrupting the natural flow of entropy. No narrative is identical to another, but through them all, the present is both observed and created at the same time.

Materials

QGIS, Rhino 3D, Illustrator, Google Earth, 3D model, hand drawing, 35 mm film (7 min)

Context

Research at the Architectural Association

Dimensions

93 km²