Date of Award
Spring 6-3-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Architecture (MArch)
Department
Architecture
First Advisor
Lafayette Cruise
Second Advisor
Zoe Samudzi
Abstract
Unearthing Complexity investigates conceptions of time and surface through geological stories of the water and earth. Building on theories of deep time, hydrofeminism, critical zones, and grounding, I hope to foster a deeper awareness of time scales other than our own and a more tangible understanding of the embodied experience of matter in the universe. Working toward a new literacy of the water and earth in which they are recognized as living, changing bodies to which we are inherently tied at a molecular level, the site of this multiscalar inquiry occurs in the coastal zones of the Narragansett Bay where water, earth, and the body meet. Mapping studies at the scale of the bay relate visual representation to human perspectives on landscapes, while surface explorations at the scale of the body highlight the importance of sensory perception in contributing to our physical understanding of and connection to the world. This series of multimedia representational experiments function as alternate metrics of time telling to highlight cycles of constant change as told by millennia of conversations between water bodies and the surface of the earth. Uncovering the hidden stories of our land and water tests the capacity for design tools and processes to reorient us toward new modes of reading, understanding, and activating care for our physical world.
Recommended Citation
Violet, Alexis, "Unearthing Complexity: Tangible Histories of Water and Earth" (2023). Masters Theses. 1068.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1068
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Included in
Architectural Technology Commons, Art Practice Commons, Book and Paper Commons, Geology Commons, Glaciology Commons, Interactive Arts Commons, Landscape Architecture Commons, Medicine and Health Sciences Commons, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons, Other Architecture Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Physiology Commons, Stratigraphy Commons
Comments
View exhibition online: Alexis Violet, Unearthing Complexity