It has come to my realization that I should step back and "enter the front door" when presenting my proposal for this site in Castellammare. Below are two Key foci me that i am testing in my thesis.

I. Culture

A. Ritual- Language
B. Place - Climate
C. People- Reason for being (Raison D’ Etre)
D. Time- History

II. Experience

A. Design
i. Personal Experience
1. Italy Trips
2. Construction
3. Studio Competition/ Collaboration: failures and successes
4. Daily Routine/Lifestyle
ii. Knowledge based
1. Investigating how to educate yourself
a. Site analysis
b. Drawing
c. Photo
d. Video
e. Talking to locals
f. Observing
g. Mimicking:
i. Walking the walk (psychology?)
ii. Talking the talk (sociology)

III. Why keep Existing Structure?

A. Historical Integrity- Iconic Value
i. Through design we can effect the usefulness of an iconic site
B. The most sustainable building already stands.

IV. Why This Site?

A. Case Study (experience & culture)
i. Specific conditions: lacks experience & culture; opportunity to explore experience & culture.
B. Outside the U.S.
i. Interest in understanding the metric system
ii. Interest in unfamiliar culture
1. Including language barriers
2. Acute to other ways of learning
C. Familiarity
i. Past trips to same location

V. Objective for site?

A. Proposition: strength the connection of the site to the city
i. Builiding needs to physically sustain itself
ii. Requires city to survive
1. As opposed to grain, the ‘reason for being on the site’ must be people
2. Because people are necessary to bring place (site) into the existing and evolving culture.