Ruin-Ophilia: Preserving Cultural Narratives of a Lighthouse Through Controlled Ruination

Once vital aspects of safer navigation routes and icons of industrial development, the Imperial Towers of Lake Huron and the Georgian Bay dominated over the Bruce Peninsula coastal landscape for almost two centuries. Their contribution to the development of their respective regions rendered them cultural landmarks and embedded them in the larger cultural narratives of their locales. However, advancements in technologies, like many other engineering works, led these structures to become obsolete. Among these is the Nottawasaga Island Lighthouse, now with all alternative use options exhausted, awaiting its end. This thesis explores a way to turn this ruination process into an architectural experience. Through “controlled ruination” the transmission of larger cultural narratives is enabled while the man-made melts into nature.