Abstract:
This thesis responds to the issue of how in the technological age of the 21st century, there has been a shift in the way we are choosing to engage with architecture. It is evident that western architecture has never been more visually bias than it is today and this is fuelled by a technological culture privileging sight above the four other senses. Architecture is turning into the production of eye-catching imagery, engaging with its users on a purely visual level instead of with complexity and meaning. The existing built environment is facing a new dilemma trying to keep pace with the idealised and constantly evolving virtual world and there is a need to stimulate us back into the present. Of late, it seems that technology has begun to disintermediate the human experience of architecture. People are increasingly choosing to engage with their devices instead of with their physical environment as consumerist experience seduces us into an exciting but isolated online world. This poses a threat to architecture. It is in this light that this thesis has honed in on phenomenology and how architecture holds the ability to project emotional and physical meaning upon us. By addressing all of our senses and placing a greater emphasis on the human body, architecture may facilitate exchange and engagement in a way that the online world cannot. To counteract these issues, my architectural proposition is centered around the construction of a 1:1 scale folly in Hahei, Coromandel Peninsula. The structure was designed with no program or practical purpose, and set out to question the parameters of what constitutes architectural experience through a series of design strategies. The folly provokes conversation on how we can better stimulate individuals’ interest and establish a relationship between space and user in a way that is personal and engaging. By building at 1:1 I am reacting back against the reductive quality of 2D representation, creating an architecture that can be rationalised through the human body and the senses, instead of through our prejudiced sense of sight. Like architects who venture into the artistic realm of experimental archetypes, this project has provided an opportunity for awareness and learning, in seeking answers that will benefit future architectural outcomes.