Tara Tayyebi Fard

Forget Me Not

A story about the invisible layers of the city

I’m fascinated by the stories that historical buildings tell; how they embody common memories and present a wealth of knowledge about the society we live in. Following this interest, I started my graduation project with a search for historical buildings in Amsterdam. In doing so, I stumbled upon three identical bath houses with a characteristic round shape built in the 1920s by architect Westerman. Today none of the three are functioning as a bath house anymore; one is transformed to a theatre, one is a drum studio, and the third one that stood on Wittenburg has been demolished.  

Looking further into that demolition, I collected various layers of archival materials and overlayed them with my own hand drawings and interpretations. This radically shaped my project as a visual narrative. An illustrated book that shows the multitude of truths about the same history, instead of dictating a definite one. A way to not only tell the story of the demolished bath house but also address the social and spatial changes in Amsterdam on an urban level. 

Using narration turns research and data into a story, through which we can connect, empathise and remember the information. Here, narrative also acts as a design tool to preserve the demolished bath house and shift its meaning to the bigger social and historical issues that follow us into the future. 

Forget Me Not is proof that narration, through design elements like storytelling, can shift a place’s meaning and therefore act as an architectural intervention. This design methodology is especially relevant now as the fast-paced digital world is taking over. It is a plea to look at the design brief in a new way and explore what we already have before conquering new landscapes.  


Graduation date: 27 March 2025
Graduation committee: Machiel Spaan (mentor), Bart Visser, Anna Zań 
Additional members for the exam: Lada Hrsak, Quita Schabracq