DETOUR
An invitation to escape the busy, comercial shopping strip to a hidden meeting point
Intermediate work: film Hiding Spot
MASTER 2
Reverse Perspective
Prof. Wim Goes
When hidden, bodily and sensory experiences merge with the materiality of the surroundings. There's a switch in state of mind: going from ‘doing’ to ‘being’ by un-rushing, slowing down and becoming aware of your surroundings and yourself.
DETOUR is a heterotopic space that interrupts the economical agenda of the shopping strip Langemunt (Ghent). People who wander off to the secluded alleys will find a path on the water. In this excersise the architectural idea or concept is left behind. Instead, the site simply focusses on allowing the community to play, meet, engage and appropriate. In the winter people can sit on the benches in the evening sun, their backs against the warm brick walls. In the summer visitors can catch a breeze or dip their toes in the water. The structural joints give the dock the flexibility to move up and down according to the water level. The waves of the water become tangiable. The poles are made from water-resistant wood, after about 40 years they will eventually need to be replaced. And so the dock becomes part of the ritual of maintenance, similarly to the way the old foundations of water-houses of Ghent need caring.
