On An Invisible Architecture: An Antidote To Ocularcentric Space

Invisible; something that is unseen, unnoticed, or ignored. Related to the awareness or recognition of an object as opposed to its actual presence, the problem with the invisible is the unknowingness of its very existence. While our bodies occupy diverse spatial conditions, they absorb a variety of visible and invisible information through the senses. As the geography of our increasingly digitized urban landscape creates conditions of solitude and alienation, the other senses become suppressed, manifested through our obsession with the eye, vision, and image. Identifying the non-place and its effect on inhabitants will serve as a point of departure in exploring the potentials for an architecture to become invisible — that is, for a space to exist beyond our infatuation with its aesthetic or visual character. Designing an atlas for the senses between the urban and natural context of Toronto and its ravines, this thesis aims to reintroduce architectural meaning through the body’s sensorial apparatus. In progressing beyond our current

ocularcentric state, we can use the senses as perceptual mechanisms to begin a dialogue addressing the non-place-ness of urbanity. In doing so, architecture becomes more relatable, engendering new spatial, perceptual, and emotional relationships within the memory of space.