Sublime Follies: Unveiling the Realm of Multiple-Reality Architectures

Architectural and photographic representations have entwined territories of research where placebased visual production is used as a heuristic means to develop innovative spatial ideas. This thesis addresses a novel architectural approach resulting from their increasingly complex production of multiple superposed realities by focusing on a research stream operating at their intersection. The study of this stream, referred to here as digital follie studies, is of a pre-eminent symbolic contrivance aimed at freeing creativity from material and temporal constraints for the articulation of groundbreaking architectural assemblages. While significant scholarly work focuses on the theoretical and creative production of this stream, adequate comprehensive analytical instruments to address its complexity have not been developed to date. To fill this gap and provide a better understanding of the materials, processes, and meanings of these works, this thesis formulates a theoretical framework and develops a multilevel analytical model. This research deploys a grounded theory approach articulated through close reading methods. It identifies relevant theoretical underpinnings, such as Lefebvre’s concept of social space, Deleuze and Guattari’s assemblage theory, and Baudrillard’s thesis of hyperreality and simulation, to orient the analysis and determine the specific dimensions of the model. Five reading machines and a corresponding set of protocols enable this model to analyse in detail how these architectures articulate discourses on critical domains, such as space and culture and nature and artifice. Finally, to test the effectiveness of the model, a specific close reading is proposed. The analysis of an eminent set of cases, selected from Filip Dujardin’s photographic work, showcases the practicality and utility of this methodology for disentangling the complexity of the addressed production. It shows its capacity to enable a profound interpretation of the intricate nature of multiple-reality architectures, bridging the current methodological gap and providing the basis for further investigation and exploration of this ever-evolving field. The new knowledge created by this research in the field of hyperreal architecture instantiates how digital follie assemblages conceive new non-deductive realities and it explains the recombinant logics of associative transpositions of heterologous components, offering a deeper understanding of the intricate relationships between architecture and photography, and advancing the discourse on the contribution of digital representation to contemporary architectural practice.

Name thesis:degree_name

PhD

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Architecture

Grantor dc:publisher

ResearchSpace@Auckland

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Pretty, Annabel

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Manfredini, Manfredo
• Macken, Marian
• Jenner, Ross

Statement dc:rights

• Items in ResearchSpace are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/docs/uoa-docs/rights.htm

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/2292/70216

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:researchspace.auckland.ac.nz:2292/70216