Hadriana in all my Dreams is organized in three main ‘movements’. In musical composition, a fourth movement, or finale, is needed for a complete piece. In this architectural thesis, the fourth movement brings us to present-day Jacmel where Le Manoir Alexandra is transformed into a house-museum dedicated to the exhibition of Oath of the Ancestors (1822), a historic painting that reveals a narrative of European dominance in conflict with Afro-Caribbean heritage. Visitors’ movement through the house museum into its gardens follows a spiral pattern reminiscent of an iron spiral staircase, a common architectural characteristic in Jacmel that is in fact imported from Europe. The spiraling pathway ends in Le Manoir’s garden, where Jacmel’s dance academy studios are nestled in dense vegetation in an atmosphere recalling forest dance rituals during colonial times.
The Architectural Plans:
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Le Manoir Alexandra 