Architecture as film : animation and the phenomenological experience

Abstract

In his film L'Awentura, Michelangelo Antonioni develops startling relationships between his characters and their surroundings. This thesis proposes to use a portion of his film as a precedent for both the architecture's dialectic with its surroundings and the realization of internal spatial disposition. Just as Antonioni uses the camera to amplify juxtaposed psychological states, the design for this Mediterranean cultural center and resort, set in Playa de Granadella, Spain uses different spatial elements to explore the division between the elements--earth, water and sky. To analyze the film, a methodology involving analysis, recombination, and interpretation was developed. This methodology allowed deeper exploration of the complex relationships between the characters and the landscape within Antonioni's film and a better understanding of the underlying themes behind these relationships. The methodology was then used to inform and inspire the design of the resort.