AV俱乐部

As AV俱乐部 gears up to celebrate its bicentennial anniversary, many may be wondering what the university looked like at various points in its history 鈥� back 50, 100, even the full 200 years ago.

As one of many activities in place to commemorate Dal鈥檚 200th anniversary, Eric Rapaport, an associate professor in Dal鈥檚 Faculty of Architecture & Planning, is helping lead a large-scale project in his Faculty that will take people back through 鈥渟pace and time鈥� to showcase how the footprint and history of the university has evolved over the last two centuries.

鈥淲e鈥檙e looking at how the landscape has changed at Dal, and how the buildings and properties have developed across our campus,鈥� he says. 鈥淪o we鈥檙e creating an online map where people can click on different buildings at Dal and get information about the property (i.e. history, architecture and design).鈥�

Some of Rapaport鈥檚 former students have already started working on these聽. Eventually this virtual 鈥渢ime machine鈥� will include any building that Dal has owned since 1818, including ones that have disappeared from the landscape because they were demolished over time.

鈥淲e鈥檙e going to trace how AV俱乐部 has grown and taken over the space that it now occupies, which is Barrington Street all the way up to Coburg Street,鈥� says Prof. Rapaport.

In doing so, the Faculty of Architecture & Planning is collaborating with several partners on campus including Facilities Management, Dal Libraries, Dal Archives and Dal鈥檚 GIS Centre.

The first phase of the project will involve building the online maps, and for that, Rapaport and James Boxall of the GIS Centre have been trying to collect old historical maps and historical air photos from different periods in time. They鈥檝e been working with Master of Planning student Cam Robertson to scan and geo-reference images and put them into a geographical information system.

鈥淚t is a lot of tedious work, but we try to have fun. We even聽,鈥� says Prof. Rapaport.

The next phase of the project will involve learning the history of each building, and collecting photos and ephemera materials to tie into the maps.

鈥淵ou鈥檒l be able to click on a particular building and see how it鈥檚 changed over time,鈥� says Prof. Rapaport. 鈥淭hese pictures may include photos of very important people. So for example, my office is in Sexton House, which used to be the president鈥檚 office. So we may have a picture of the first president when it was TUNS and the Technical College.鈥�

Prof. Rapaport says that although Dal have done a remarkable job in archiving photos of their own buildings, he鈥檚 hoping to enlist the help of the public in completing the project.

鈥淲e have this idea of taking the historical maps and setting up a crowdsourcing site so that the public can load up their own memories of their time at AV俱乐部,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey鈥檒l be able to upload their photos of places at Dal to help us celebrate our 200th anniversary.鈥�

He says the online map won鈥檛 just appeal to Dal alumni, but anyone interested in learning more about the history of Halifax.

鈥淭his project shows us where we have come from and illustrates where we鈥檙e going. It also gives a sense of how the fabric of the environment has changed over time,鈥� he says.

鈥淚f you look at University Avenue, you might think that it鈥檚 always been University Avenue. But Morris street used to go all the way up to LeMarchent street. When University Avenue was created they took out a lot of buildings. So there鈥檚 a lot of changes that we鈥檝e lost track of.鈥�

Prof. Rapaport says the project will also be a great way of showcasing Dal鈥檚 pivotal role in the evolution of architectural design in Halifax. Elizabeth Loeffler, a lecturer in the School of Architecture, is assisting with this portion of the project.

鈥淒al in itself has some very exemplary buildings. For example, the聽: this is representative of Buddhist architecture. It鈥檚 a piece of design that we don鈥檛 see very much in Halifax,鈥� says Prof. Rapaport. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot information we have about our buildings but they are not tied to their location even though they are well documented.鈥�

Although the 200th anniversary project will help educate the public on Dal鈥檚 history, for the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, the project will serve an even greater purpose.

鈥淲e鈥檙e very interested in the future and how things are going to look. But in order to look into the future, we have to look into the past. We look at how a site was once used, and we also look at the surrounding areas to better understand what the architectural form and design was,鈥� says Prof. Rapaport. 鈥淪o even though this is part of the 200th celebrations, the databases that we鈥檙e building will probably be used in our courses and research as well.鈥�

As other groups around the city prepare to celebrate milestone anniversaries, such as the opening of the Public Gardens, the Halifax Explosion and Africville, Prof. Rapaport says he hopes Dal鈥檚 project can be expanded to help showcase the history of other important events in Halifax.

鈥淲e hopefully will inspire other groups to continue this type of work and create an atlas of city changes over time,鈥� he says. 鈥淗istorical geographical information systems are one way we can reclaim our past.鈥�

Prof. Rapaport says the public can follow the progression of the聽. Once complete, these maps will be located on the聽Faculty of Architecture & Planning website聽as well as聽.