Architectural Redeployment: Reestablishing Urban Identity in the Ruins of Renewal

Abstract

The town of Portland, New Brunswick, was hollowed by urban renewal and rebranded as the North End of Saint John, triggering the neighbourhood's downfall. With a second renewal on the horizon, occurring in the ruins of past plans, this thesis asks: How might an architect participate in the successful renewal of a neighbourhood? An exploration of place and placelessness as cultural conditions suggests that intuitively valuable urban fabric is most readily produced through a bottom-up construction that maintains a legible relationship between individuals and their architecture. To foster this high-energy individual investment, a valuable sense of localized urban identity is restored by reconstructing the town's erased primary element, St. Peter's Church. The ruins are reoccupied by a new town hall, redeploying autonomy and distinction to Portland. A fragmentary architectural design method is developed to help architects achieve the human density of detail and consideration that naturally emerges from place-based dwelling.