Vanquishing the Unknown

Abstract

Our contemporary desire towards infinite youth has created an overwhelming fear of death. The places holding reference to death are considered taboo and are typically avoided. Historically these are culturally significant spaces that currently lack careful planning regarding spatial and atmospheric analysis and application.

As the need for spaces for the dead is ever-present, it has become necessary to provide an architectural solution that considerately responds to the change toward the taboo.

This design-led research will seek an understanding of the perceived fear within spaces of death with the intent to mediate between the comfort of the familiar and the discomfort in the feared unknown.

The process-based work explores spatial conditions through various media: photography, drawing, artistic expression, installations, and architectural representations. Artistic exploration through making allows comprehension of physical characteristics of fear.

This thesis offers strategies to approach spaces of fear using principles of interior architecture with a focus on experiential and processional elements.