In Search of Architectural Longevity

Abstract

In an era where the limited amount of natural resources and the endless technological advances struggle against each other in their uneasy relationship, it is unsettling to note that architecture is in fact liable for a subsequently large portion of the issues at hand. The prime duration of any given architectural style has decreased significantly over the last century, shortening the life expectancy of newly constructed buildings and costing society heavy carbon footprints and a great amount of raw materials. The fleetingness of architectural lifespan has simply become an unaffordable expenditure that the architectural profession as a whole has to address, as there now seems to be an uncanny tendency; an addiction to change things for the sake of doing so, not out of the need for an update or improvement. "Change has been divorced from the idea of improvement. There is no progress; like a crab on LSD, culture staggers endlessly sideways". During the process of writing this thesis the main objective was to study and explore the concept of architectural longevity by following a series of questions starting from how a built-lifespan is defined in today's context, and why it is so vital to redefine and regain architectural longevity. This research will also investigate the concept of transition, and how this has a large influence on the subject. Based on these discussions, the architectural typology of an archive is identified in this thesis as a programme that shares a similar set of problems and questions regarding the issues of longevity, transition and validity. An archive is, by nature, a complex typology; it is a highly structured and obsessive catalogue of collections from the past, an embodiment of the bias of its present organisers, and an attempt to transcend and pass itself on into the farthest foreseeable future. Due to this, the concept of longevity becomes the core objective to the creation of an archive; as both the content and the container need to survive long enough to prove and redeem the meaning of their relationship. By bringing together and exploring the common factors between these two elements in pursuit of longevity, few key ideas such as 'transition of medium', 'information overload' and 'duality of longevity' have surfaced . A corresponding proposition to develop an architectural response for a transitional film archive was decided upon after the initial research and consultation. In summary, this thesis aims to be a record of both questions and findings regarding the meaning and validity of architectural lifespan, specifically those of media archives. It hopes to not necessarily change, but rather, challenge the way architects define architectural longevity in a transitory era where information and physicality clash with each other in surprisingly numerous ways.