A rural enclave hunkered down on the craggy coastline of southwestern Nova Scotia provided the home for the tenth Ghost International Architectural Laboratory in the summer of 2008. The two-week design–build workshop for architecture students and practicing architects, organized by Brian MacKay-Lyons of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects of Halifax, not only marked the tenth session of the program, but fittingly heralded the publication of the book documenting the first nine, Ghost, Building an Architectural Vision (Princeton Architecture Press).
While the name “Ghost” seems unusual for a pragmatic architectural experiment requiring participants to work with their hands, it arose for at least two reasons: first, the structures resulting from the process are usually celebrated at the climax of each two-week session by an evening party where they are lighted from within, glowing eerily with a scintillant presence on the landscape. Second, the design lab architecture often recalls, in materials and construction, the vestigial remains of former farm houses and fishing structures in the Upper Kingsburg area. They act as ghostly reminders of the history of a place and its resilient architectural identity.
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