Beyond Big: an examination of contemporary space

Publikation: Bog / Antologi / Afhandling / RapportPh.d.-afhandling

Abstract

In the 1990's the focus in the field of architecture shifted from limited and defined works of architecture and planning to areas of vast and undefined space characterised by large scale, dissolving borders and flux. This Ph.D. thesis examines a contemporary situation in which large scale has become an architectural parameter challenging the way architectural space has traditionally been regarded and experienced. A multidisciplinary approach employing socio-cultural, architectural, and aesthetic discourses is developed into the theoretically based chapters, Urbanism, Space and Aesthetics. The summation of these preliminary chapters uncovers a situation in which the descriptive vocabulary used to characterise the spatial and perceptual aspects of contemporary space is based on both negation and excess. Terms such as 'underspatialisation', 'non-place', 'anti-form' and even the 'concept of the sublime', examined in the thesis as a potential descriptive tool, address large scale contemporary space from a negative position – a position from which it is hard to find words. In an attempt to find words, the analysis object of large scale contemporary space is further specified in the final chapter, Airport. An empirical examination of airport space as a relevant case for the study of how enormous scale and flux challenge traditional spatial and perceptual understandings of architecture is undertaken through an alternative historical mapping which traces the airport through 3 metaphorical developmental phases; 'field' – 'port' – 'city', and via the 'Airport Hop' - a round-trip tour of 5+ international airports in Europe and North America. The physical large-scale of airports is addressed cartographically while the perceptual large-scale of airports is examined with film recordings, interviews with airport architects and on-site observation and experience. Film is used in this thesis as both a registration, as well as an analytical tool, and an edited example of the airport recordings is presented as a part of the thesis on a CD-rom.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
UdgivelsesstedÅrhus
ForlagArkitektskolen Aarhus
Antal sider225
StatusUdgivet - 2003

Emneord

  • large scale, stor skala, airport, lufthavne, urbanism, aesthetics
  • byplanlægning; arkitekturteori

Kunstnerisk udviklingsvirksomhed (KUV)

  • Nej

Citationsformater