Towards a second reading of site : reinterpreting heritage recording and information

Current heritage recording and information management centers on recording the building as

"object", partly driven by the pretext that this will elicit an "objective" reading of the site. This

object-based interpretation of an existing building risk eclipsing the inherent intangible or

experiential values associated with that place if treated as the foremost source of information.

This thesis proposes a method for reinterpreting existing buildings and their heritage

information adapted from biblical exegesis. The interpretational framework defined by

exegesis allows the building itself, along with its physical documentation, to stand as the socalled

"first-reading" of the site, which gives way to the subsequent typological, moral, and

anagogical levels of understanding. The design phase of the project completes the

interpretation process, standing as a sort of "survey of the future" that calls upon the findings of

the reader's study of the existing building to form his or her own prognosis of the site