Information versus Meaning: Reconnecting Mankind to the Built Environment Through an Oasis in the City

Abstract

Mankind’s physiological detachment from the built environment is the result of rifts between empirical information and contextual meaning, after Jean Baudrillard. This is the probable byproduct of today’s information age, which is driven by virtual connective platforms and high-technology. Yet mankind still requires great architecture to sustain it economically, socially, and environmentally, all while considering the speed of population increases. This thesis establishes a theoretical basis through ‘reality,’ ‘truth,’ and ‘perception,’ detailing how they relate to architectural space. Corresponding ideology is presented to bridge gaps between quantitative and qualitative factors from sources within architecture, as well as linkages to neuroscience, psychology, and anthropology. To combat sensory depravity in architecture, narrative experience is used to combine information with meaning. Two narrative structures are reviewed from the precedents of film and theatre, and juxtaposed to neuroscientific perceptive frameworks, after Malnar & Vodvarka and Rodaway. This thesis primarily stands to discuss the feasibility of utilizing subjective sensory percepts to establish an anti-Cartesian sensory-based design methodology. To envoke further discussion, this methodology is applied to a site along the Quay Street corridor at Auckland’s waterfront, however this remains a secondary focus.