Abstract:
IN TODAY'S URBAN settings, people often consider the ways in which they become attuned to their surroundings. These environments often require more insightful ways of thinking about architecture and how it performs, namely its effects on the body's sense of orientation. Architectural theorist David Leatherbarrow argues that "the individuality of a building is measured by its participation in shared conditions, suggesting buildings are codetermined by conditions that are not of its own making." To become oriented with one's environment is to stand outside oneself to become located with that which is beyond the body. How does an encounter with an other outside us affect the body's performance in architecture? This design thesis develops two different approaches to the question of the body's orientation in space. One explores the value of an architectural narrative whose purposeful presence can provide a reassuring sense of orientation for the visitor. The other approach examines unscripted events that are encountered within architecture, which can also have a profound effect on the body. Exploring both these concepts allows us to reflect on a heightened engagement between space and its user towards a true sense of orientation for the body. These two explorations will be presented in a design for a School for Contemporary Dance. Here is a chance to reflect on a heightened engagement with architectural space and the infinite possibilities it can offer its users. It is not only the pre-determined nature of a building's programme, but also the unplanned performative qualities of its architecture which produces profound encounters for the visitor, beyond the architect's control. To become oriented with oneself and one's surroundings is to engage in a reciprocal relationship with that which is beyond the individual, towards other spaces and towards other bodies. Through an exploration of a visitor's movements through such spaces, a greater engagement is achieved between the body and its various uses of its architectural environment.