Imposter
The Brighton boat repair and decommission station is designed to be a simple testbed to explore ideas of belonging, shadows, and displacement leading to the alias ‘imposter’- a building that doesn’t quite belong in its context. Brighton provided the perfect context for this, and allowed for two site visits during the relaxation of lockdown.
The project explores displacement by testing how boats undergoing restoration or demolition can become embedded within the schemes architecture in fragments, and how this acquisitional act allows the architecture to claim experiences it never had- if a barnacle is earned through venture at sea, what right does the workshop have to exhibit one? The project then goes on to explore how these jarring moments may be experienced within the building, simulating and rendering how the hulls, workers, context and structure may homogenise during the restoration process, leading to a structure that doesn’t just encourage displacement, but is displaced itself.
Finally, the project is designed to leave a ghost. Even without a hull in the Atrium, boats should always be present through the spacial negative of the building, as the workshop configures itself to prepare for the next vessel. Each restoration leaves its own shadow behind, as the project is navigated, the ghosts reveal themselves.
Unfolded Workshop Study
Compressed Plan
Exploring the workshops movement
Developing Adhesive Architecture
Calibrating Workshop Doors
X-STUDIO 