Advocating Silence
Abstract
The buildings people inhabit everyday frame their existence and provide a backdrop for life.
This relationship is inextricable and, as such, begs the question as to whether buildings can
function as more than mere containers for life or whether they, at some point or in some
capacity, can begin to bare influence over the life or quality of life of their patrons. This
project is an intention to explore this qualitative, unquantifiable aspect of building.
Through a manipulation of volume and mass, constriction and expansion, solid and void,
light and shadow, and the qualities of interiority and exteriority an occupied space will
begin to impress itself upon the user. The main objective of this project is to use these
architectural properties to create a place that fosters introspection through self awareness.
By choosing presence over practicality and content over convention, the construct
proposed in this thesis attempts to create spaces that are imposing and unfamiliar
yet somehow emotionally reminiscent. Confronted by these contradictions and juxtapositions,
this building will stand as an object, in opposition to the occupant, and through
that opposition inspire and promote a greater awareness of, and possibly a reflection
upon, normally unconscious thought processes.
Collections
- Masters Theses [19615]