In the modern city, the life of the modern man is increasingly dictated by the mobile device. It gives us access to billions of potential social partners, an endless stream of information and data, and compensates our time and attention with social validation. Whether we like it or not, we often find ourselves glued to our phones. But perhaps on a more infrequent note do we ask ourselves why that is. We might blame ourselves for our short attention spans, or lack of focus, discipline, and willpower. We may feel unworthy and ashamed, wondering why we let our thoughtfulness and relationships slip away, yet a short buzz from our pockets brings us right back to staring at the deep and dark abyss of the glass screens. Whether we like it or not, our behaviors are being manipulated by our phones, and they are subtly ruining our quality of life.
Smart phones are not inherently bad. An appropriate amount of smart phone use can be beneficial, since it is without a doubt incredibly useful being connected to the internet and having access to what seems to be an infinite stream of information and data. However, the thesis argues that smartphone overuse is detrimental, not the act of using smart phones itself. Smartphone overuse is a well-researched topic, and is by no means a novel concept. The argument is that the combination between ritual and space, with architecture acting as an abridgement between the two, can mediate our relationship with our digital devices and reconnect us with our physical and spiritual selves. In a modern era that is only becoming more digitalized, the thesis argues that it is now more than ever that we need a separation from our digital avatars. And it is here where Architecture’s instrumentality can be reinvigorated and revived.
Historically, spirituality and serenity have been strong themes in religious architecture. Churches constructed incredibly high ceilings and domes to bring the sunlight inside, inviting the divine into the same space as the mortal, and encourage the masses to look up at the sky and communicate with the heavens. The poetics behind the juxtaposition between looking up at the heavens to connect with a supernatural entity (spirituality) and looking down to connect with a digital network of images and information (spectacle) is hard to ignore.
What the thesis proposes is a new typology which brings the arid boredom of the mundane yet necessary habits we perform every single day of our living lives, and imbue it with the richness, purpose, and divinity present in many religious rituals. This does not mean that the typology is now a religious space, nor does it preach any specific god. But it does envision a future where, at certain times or whenever one wants, our daily acts are enriched and transformed into rituals which liberate us from our love-hate relationship with our technology. It investigates architecture’s role in remedying the disturbing relationships we have with our digital devices, specifically using the human body as a framework and mundane physical rituals as a method of extracting underlying desires to construct and speculate spatial narratives. Weaponizing the speculative power of architectural drawing, modelling, and image-making, it methodically sculpts the disinterested concrete blocks we occupy into a novel dwelling typology.
