Meditations upon durations

Abstract

The content of this thesis confirms my belief that architecture is able to create remarkable effects upon human emotion. It is my opinion that human emotion becomes apparent when two opposing states of reality are intensified within time and space. Today in the Western Culture we live upon two opposing states of time. One is mechanized and ridged, and the other is sequential and durational. The first seeks to break things down into parts and understand them as they relate to a human scale. The other seeks to find the potential in what exist in the in-between and around. Together each of them function. But, are simultaneously different in how they are perceived. The dichotomy and diversity of these two opposing states is where things become intensified within our environment. Through the understanding of this relationship I propose to develop ideas which intensify the two, rather then seeking to find a definitive convergence. This thesis will actively discuss the nature of our condition within the construct of mechanical time vs. durational time. This approach is meant to be an intense experience, one that seeks to find the harshness of the two realities. Upon the ending of this thesis, this harshness will be tested upon a site that connects the visitors to the two opposing states of reality.