A description of Barking Power Station as it is today should contain its past. The place, however, does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand, written in the casts that convey an impression of the original façade without faithfully replicating it, the structure, and the seemingly visible marks of its making that stand as an analysis or critique of the nature of memory.
When it comes to historic buildings, how can we, without being too nostalgic, investigate the volumes of opportunity and create new possibilities for the place? How can the history be preserved to create architecture that can accommodate an ever-shifting brief?
Weaving in commentary on monuments, ‘facadism’, memory and architectural aesthetics the project questions the role of memory in heritage reconstruction.
Can a carefully crafted intentional replica acquire historical value over the time, leaving its ancestor in the shadows of misinterpreted or untold stories? And above all, can this replica pose questions that the original would not be brave enough to ask?
