Date of Award

Spring 6-4-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Architecture (MArch)

Department

Architecture

First Advisor

Amy Kulper

Second Advisor

Malcolm Rio

Abstract

Sacred Pleasures emphasizes human connection and experience. The transcalar use of the erotic and play in spatial design can redefine the current cultural value of production and capital. The proposal addresses three scales of these socioeconomic and spatial conditions: system, architectural, and human scale. The erotic is used as power and resistance. Play is used as a method to achieve agency and to mediate human connection.

The thesis resists from within the context of Puerto Rico, an island product of colonization by two entities, Spain and the United States of America. It addresses the relationship between Puerto Rico and the propagation of the imposed urban condition of plazas de recreo, or public plaza. The ritual is anchored by the material culture of two textile techniques, mundillo lace making and the cyanotype process. The patronage festival subverts the relationship of the colonist origins of plazas de recreo and Catholicism through the power of erotic, play, and procession. Sacred Pleasures displays how colonized bodies reclaim material, space, and autonomy.

Comments

View exhibition online: David Dávila, Sacred Pleasures

Included in

Architecture Commons

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