Emotion, myth and meaning in architecture : psyche's journey through a warehouse

Abstract

This thesis studies the creation of a series of forms to provoke physical sensations and emotional responses from the user. Designs were made that strengthened the meaning of the forms, and the emotional responses they illicit in relation to a sequence of physical experiences of form and space. This sequence was abstracted from the Greek myth of Eros and Psyche. To do this the thesis uses a family of forms, a directional form for movement, their material and structural qualities, and the inter-relationships established between each of these and with the site. The site is a set of three adjoining warehouse buildings on the East Boston waterfront. The major body of the text describes what I produced. This includes the introduction, which describes the formal considerations that are present in the final model. Next, a photographic essay describes the final model. The photographs lead the reader through the built sequence of events. The two parts that the thesis built on are then described: the myth, which is retold as reference for the previous experience and to help explain the genesis of the creation, and the site which is described. With the site description, the intervention is described in plan and the parts are exhibited.The last section of the thesis describes the process by which I moved from the myth and the site, into drawings, and through to the final model.