Fear Spaces, k(NO)w More

Abstract

In the United States approximately 17 percent of the population have suffered from panic attacks, phobias, or other anxiety disorders in the past year. Nearly 25 percent of the adult population will suffer from an anxiety disorder at sometime during their life. Yet only a small proportion of these people receive treatment. During the past twenty years, panic and anxiety have reached epidemic proportions.1 To compound this problem, there is an increasing demand for more spaces to meet the needs of our ever rising population. But what shapes and sizes will these spaces take? How will the new spatial environment impact on those who have ‘Spatial’ Phobias and already are hindered in their ability to function in everyday society? This poses the thesis’s critical question: The emergence of patients’ ‘spatial’ phobia occur in ‘uncontrolled’ spaces. Can the manipulation of architectural variables (environment and space) manifest ‘controlled’ phobic spaces that patients emerge from phobia-free? This question will be explored through the design of a Phobia Centre: Spatial Phobia Rehabilitation. The centre will provide controlled phobic spaces that aid in treating patients phobia and the centre will also promote education and awareness to immediate family and friends and the wider public. Fear Spaces, k(NO)w More - attempts to explore ‘Spatial’ Phobia and its application in the desensitization of the Phobia itself. The approach begins with the understanding that phobias as a complexity of an emergent system. This allows us to analyse the variables from the origin to immediate environment; and their relationships with one another. Manipulation of these variables will lead to further understanding of this system and will contribute to the manifestation of controlled phobic spaces – environments which aid in the treatment of ‘spatial phobia’ via exposure therapy (cognitive behaviour therapy); and promoting awareness. In order to produce our own complexities, we adopt emergence as a design tool to investigate spatial phobias from its origin, exploring their relationships, treatment methods, from clinical literature to precedent projects. We uncover rules and variables and discover the essence of all spatial phobia. As a result the spaces that manifest within the Phobic Centre: Spatial Phobia Rehabilitation, takes into consideration the patient’s occupation and the operation of the primary treatment method - Exposure Therapy, and provide the required environment for patients to emerge from phobic-free.