Reconstructed affects: Designing for the affective body

Abstract

In contemporary writing the emergence of the affective body is seen as a way to challenge the limits of understanding the body as a text. Through design, this thesis extends the contemporary discourse of an affective body to consider affect as a material and spatial condition that we can design for. Specifically, this thesis focuses on how design can be created from an exploration of the spatial dimension of the affective body. This thesis extends from the historical lineage of Spinoza, Nietzsche and Deleuze to define a theoretical position that supports an intensified engagement of the affective body. An exploration of the dynamic forces inherent with the affective body directs this thesis towards the theoretical discourse of cinemetrics and moving-imagery. The works of Diller + Scofidio, Jane and Louise Wilson, and SANAA are examined as case studies to identify a space that is activated through the medium of the body. This leads to a design process motivated by the impact of the affective body on architecture. A design method is established through a series of three experiments by recording human and nonhuman affects that are present within a site, applying a method of moving-imagery. Using a method of moving-imagery the physicality of the body is engaged as a generative tool for design. This research finds that by challenging a reciprocal relationship between body and architectural space there is scope to further reinforce affective characteristics inherent with architecture and the body. By focusing on affect, the result is challenging the historic divide between subject and object, dematerialising any barrier between the two. While the emergence of the affective body extends architectural practice and theoretical discourse it is arguable whether such a focus will achieve the paradigm shift associated with the textual body.