Affective reasoning: adaptation of a dilapidated workshop

This output comprises the adaptation of a 300-year-old dilapidated workshop located on the Isle of Wight, and the process through which this adaptation occurred; and a journal article, ‘Affective Reasoning – Hidden Interiors,’ that reflects upon and further disseminates this process. The submission is framed through a strategy of affective reasoning, where the close analysis of a found built object is used to inform its conversion into a domestic residence. The project asks: can a designer intuit the latent atmosphere of a space? Developing a set of tools and tactics for exploring this question, it extends previous investigations into the value of a nuanced, intuitive methodological process to making and remaking within the field of art and design practice as research (Disney, 1996). The output builds upon Norberg-Schulz (1980) to articulate an understanding of ‘place,’ and is positioned in relation to Ruskin’s proposition that buildings ‘talk to us’ (Ruskin, 1851). Working collaboratively, Disney and Lanyon-Hogg developed a programme of enquiry to map and examine the essence of the found object, taking their lead from established methods of observation, such as ‘slow looking’ (Tishman, 2017); as well as interrogating the habits, rituals and patterns of behaviour that inform their own occupancy of the space. The output includes the documentation of this process. Recognising a shared value system with the building’s original makers (Bardt, 2019), their methodological approach to adaptation cherishes the scribe of a stone mason and pays close attention to the marks and traces that persist as a reminder of the tacit knowledge found within the craftsman’s hand. Validating a ‘knowledge of not knowing’ (Yarrow, 2019), this submission translates the authors’ reading of the existing building into a readily accessible built text to be shared and disseminated with fellow researchers as a prompt for further enquiry.

A multi-component output consisting of:
(1) An adapted original building - The Workshop, Church Street, Niton, Isle of Wight.
(2) A journal article titled 'Affective Reasoning: Hidden Interiors' published in IE: Studio (4), 11, pp. 70-77.