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| Dalhousie architecture students are silhouetted at the work site on Spencer's Island. (Photo courtesy Roger Mullin) |
For the past three summers, Dalhousie has opened a satellite campus of sorts on Spencer’s Island, a rural community located on the Bay of Fundy just down the shore from Parrsboro.
It’s there where Roger Mullin, professor with the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, brings his students for their “free lab,” a class which complements normal studio-based learning through hands-on work in a group format.
As master’s student Paul Zylstra says, “It’s a real place with real people and not a theoretical assignment.”
For two weeks in July, the students camp out on the beach, meet with residents and expand on the concept developed by Spencer’s Island resident Laurie Currie, who wanted to find a way to highlight the area’s shipbuilding heritage. Spencer’s Island (which is actually on the mainland but named for a nearby island) is where the famed ghost ship, the Mary Celeste, was built in 1861; what happened to the brig and its crew is one of the enduring mysteries of the 19th centuries.
Spencer’s Island was an important shipbuilding centre during the latter days of the Age of Sail. Brigs and barques, brigantines, full-rigged vessels such as the Glooscap were built and launched from its bustling shipyards.
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| The Mary Celeste |
“Let’s make the Mary Celeste the foundation of what we can do here,” says Mr. Currie, a sixth generation resident of tiny Spencer’s Island. “Let’s be proud of what we have. Heck, we live in the community where the Mary Celeste was built and that ship is still an unsolved mystery. We live in a community surrounded by incredible scenery and with the highest tides in the world.”
“Let’s give people a reason to come here,” continues Mr. Currie, the father of three teenage girls. “Let’s give people a reason to stay here.”
In the first year of the collaboration between students and residents, an outdoor cinema was built on land donated by the Currie family. The 32-metre line of a hull and keel—evocative of the Mary Celeste—were recreated out of stone and salvaged wood to form a seating area. The ship’s double mast is suggested by the movie screen.
The following year, construction began on an interpretive centre, a shelter envisioned to act as an interdisciplinary arts centre by comprising classroom, gallery and market space. The building, long, narrow and open to the sky, is modeled after the community’s wharf.
“It has a geometry that’s familiar to people in the area,” says Prof. Mullin. “The wharf is a ‘hinge point,’ connecting the town to the rest of the world.”
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| Architecture students on a free lab assignment in Spencer's Island. (Photo courtesy of Roger Mullin) |
In the third year, the movie screen was improved and a live performance stage added. As well, the students kicked off the Foggy Lens Filmy Festival, which featured independent films and live music performances.
This summer, Prof. Mullin and the students will return to Spencer’s Island to continue work; they may decide to build accommodations on site, begin an artist-in-residence program or create interactive kiosks that will provide information on the history of the area and point out nearby attractions, such as Cape Chignecto Provincial Park, Joggins Fossil Cliffs and coastal hiking trails along the Bay of Fundy. And, another edition of the Foggy Lens Filmy Festival is already in the works.
Paul Zystra, for one, can’t wait. “It’s not like you’re in an office in front of a computer. It’s working with your hands, placing stones, nailing boards, building together.”
Prof. Mullin says the free lab experience allows students to look at architecture from perspectives other than the architect’s: “As an architect you’re often not aware of the implications of the environment, the building materials. So this is an invitation to think differently; you’re wearing the hats of the designer, the contractor, the craftsperson.”
Both Mr. Zylstra and Prof. Mullin are hoping to strengthen ties in the community and to get more people involved. “We’ve built a skeleton, but we’re hoping the people of Spencer’s Island will put the life blood in it,” says Mr. Zylstra.
Paul Callison, who owns a sawmill in the area, admits that community folk still look askance at the newcomers, but are gradually coming around. They’ve been encouraged by the return visits of former students, who’ve brought friends and family with them. He says he enjoys what the students bring to Spencer’s Island—their enthusiasm and genuine interest—and that they always end up surprising him. “Things have turned out not the way I expected them too,” he muses. “And that’s OK. They see things we don’t see.”
“It only grows from here,” adds Sarah Griebel, the proprietor of Wild Caraway Restaurant in nearby Advocate. “They come back with their families, and then the families come back with their friends. Good people bring good people.”