Myth, Culture and Landscape:

Classical Identity and Interpretive Design at St. Bertrand de Comminges

Abstract

The ordering principles of the Gallo-Roman city of Lugdunum Convenarum rest dormant within its landscape; the antique city and its topographic orders obscured by time. Yet the continued processes of academic excavation reveal only dusty foundations. Disconnected fragments of classical form, impoverished through autopsy, serve to confuse rather than illuminate. The desire to understand and experience the nature of this fairly modest Roman outpost clearly demands other forms of interpretive engagement than provided by the practices of archeology alone. The challenge is one of method. This paper investigates the role of theoretical design as a means of appreciating the essential city which rests integral to the charged landscape of St. Bertrand de Comminges. Hypothetically this implicit presence can best be explored through careful intervention and extension. Indeed, perhaps it is only through exploring an imaginary future that the spatial power of the historic city may be investigated; its essential conditions revealed to experience. This hypothesis will be explored through considering a theoretical master plan for an archeological park. Grounded on substantial archeological field work, this project attempts to bring the implicit principles there discovered to visibility. Systems of order, spatial sequence, and ideals of urban intent are identified and reflected upon through their transformation. This proposes to celebrate the specific nature of Saint Bertrand de Comminges, its classical and medieval attributes, along with the less tangible aspects of its landscape and urban sensibility. By extension the notion of design as a form of research may be considered. In this case the project investigates the ephemeral qualities of a place, and their potential extrapolation within contemporary form.