Abstract:
Beige expression; the appreciation of the everyday sordid. In the
everyday ritual of aestheticism there is a recognised accomplishment and
adoration of the idealistic beauty and unnoticed pull towards materiality. I
believe this pull towards materiality distracts us from the humble beauty in
the everyday. Wabi Sabi is an ineffable philosophical belief centred on the
acceptance of transience and imperfection, which prioritises above all else, the
amalgamation of man and nature. This thesis seeks to explore the embodiment
of the philosophy of Wabi Sabi through an exploration of the metaphysical.
The nature of the metaphysical spoken about in this thesis, has taken its
influence from Leonard Koren’s observation of nature; the imperfect, the
incomplete and the impermanent.
Through systems of photography, writing, digital modelling, rendering
and physical composition, a design output has been realised. It is an
architectural realisation of the physical properties of Wabi Sabi as an aesthetic
sense, formed from the desire to understand its contextual presence and
principles of design. The assemblages of images and writing are endeavours to
understand the beauty in the unconventional and the evanescence of creation.
The architectural intent of this thesis seeks for a simple freedom from the
vexations of the modern world, it is the design of a sanctuary for one to
consecrate themselves with an undisturbed adoration of the everyday.