Otherworldly Thresholds in Architecture and Cinema (Based on a study of Shinto shrines)

There is a place where the human body and its surroundings come close to convergence, almost to the point of being one. This convergence is the threshold condition, when one body crosses from one physical space to another. As a point of entry and a point of departure, the threshold acts as conduit from one space to another. In terms of this intimate space, the threshold affects the human senses and possesses a certain energy, aura and movement. The Japanese Shinto shrine becomes a critical lens to study the phenomenon of “otherworldly threshold” due to the culture’s close relationship between the ideologies of the sacred versus the mundane. In contemporary Japanese urban culture, the existence of the otherworldly threshold is an essential element around which cities grow and develop. In the case of Tokyo, the otherworldly threshold is a typology that has existed before the founding of the city. The Shinto shrine is a stable and stationary element of the urban fabric. The city has to design with and around this preexisting condition. The threshold is observable in the strange contrast between the ancient and contemporary structures that have developed in the city of Tokyo. Using Tokyo as a location of research with its gathering of sacred sites, this thesis analyzes how the concept of “otherworldly threshold” is altered in accordance with the present day evolution of the city. How do the otherworldly and the mundane intertwine through the existence of threshold?

Grantor dc:publisher

State University of New York at Buffalo

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Phan, Matthew

Contributors dc:contributor

• Tauke, Beth
• Media Study
• Architecture

• architecture
• cinematography

Statement dc:rights

• Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.
• Copyright retained by author.

Language dc:language

eng

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10477/78107

OAI record oai:identifier

https://ubir.buffalo.edu/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=qdc&identifier=oai%3Aubir.buffalo.edu%3A10477%2F78107