Inspirational Quotes

" In this idea originated the plan of the 'Lyrical Ballads'; in which it was agreed, that my endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic, yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith."


-Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Biographia Literaria


"We Abolish the stage and the auditorium and replace them by a single site, without partition or barrier of any kind, which will become the theatre of the action. A direct communication will be reestablished between the spectator and the spectacle, between the the actor and the spectator, from the fact that the spectator, placed in the middle of the action, is engulfed and physically affected by it. This envelopment results, in part, from the very configuration of the room itself."


-Antonine Artaud, The Theatre and its Double

Thesis Statement: Revisited

Architecture, Theatre and the Willing Suspension of Disbelief

What is Theatre? Theatre is an event in which a performance takes place. This performance creates an inward nature of human interest or appearance of truth satisfactory enough to acquire a willingness from the audience to assimilate to a false reality. Conventional theatre relies on the coordinated aspect of the stage in order to separate the performer from the audience. This separation is a tool designed to aid the understanding of the satisfactory truth through translation of dramatic expression. However, modern theatre attempts to remove this intentional separation by engaging the audience directly with the performers and with the performance itself. This reconnection creates unexpected but intentional events to occur that enhance the suspension of reality. The intention of this thesis is to incorporate the ideas of theatre into the design of architecture whose own satisfactory truth creates a willing suspension of disbelief. 

Willing Suspension of Disbelief

Church of Light

John Hancock

Thesis Statement and Program Analysis

Thesis Statement:

Theater’s success lies in its ability to supernaturally immerse the audience within a performance. The performance evicts a human interest from the audience members, this then bridging the experience from reality to a willing suspension of disbelief. Some architects attempt to create a willing suspension of disbelief through the creation of computer-generated forms that exceed straightforward manifestations as buildings. However, these forms camouflage their failure to create a human interest. This thesis explores how architecture can create a willing suspension of disbelief that sparks a human interest and in turn triggers an imaginative experience.

Program Statement:

The program itself must not create a willing suspension of disbelief. This thesis looks at the combination of two programs. The architecture must bridge the gap between the two, this then creating a human interest. The program must first be different but similar enough to have a connection. Through the architecture, the program will interlock in order for both to visually and physically interact on a daily basis. The circulation cores will be separated and wrap around the activities of the related programs. With the architecture creating these important connection between program types, a human interest is achieved and an imaginative experience takes place.


Process:

Program Analysis Reinvestigated:

Point of View

Circulation Vs. Activity

Program Analysis:

Point of View

Activity Vs. Circulation

Adjacency

Things I Can't Live Without

Diagrams are a tool I use in every one of my studio projects to explain my ideas. When a critic looks at a good diagram the project should almost explain itself.

Visual Abstract and Idea Mapping: Redesigned

Idea Mapping

Visual Abstract

Things I Can't Live Without

This past week I went on a trip around Boston with my studio class to see the history of Government Center. When we went to the Historic New England site at the Otis House Museum we got to see all these original drawings and sketches by Kallmann Mckinnel as well as photos of Scollay Square, and the Boston Fire that took out the Financial District. It was extremely interesting to find out different things about Boston that I had never knew before.

In short, you can't design until you know the history of the place that your designing in.