Reflecting the instant : information, image, architecture

Abstract

A response to the growing importance of designing in an environment that is composed both of physical and non-physical characteristics, this thesis explores a process whereby information is given a visual form through image so that it can be rendered as a site for architectural design. Sited in Times Square, the proposed building responds to the unseen forces of the site, forces which are latent in its physical and visual form, and which are embedded in our experience of the site, but can only be directly grasped in their totality through an armature information. The project is directed by my interpretation of Henri Bergson's notion of virtuality- that is, a notion of the totality of possibility as something that surrounds the actual, but is accessible to our minds as mere fragments. The initial stage of the project uses this notion to translate information about the physical site into virtual images: images which depict a full range of potentials simultaneously, graphically retaining a rich complexity akin to real experience. Emerging out of this process, the proposed building is a mechanism for visualizing virtual characteristics of Times Square in the form of image.