Immersive Architecture

Abstract

This seminar proposes a collective investigation based on immersive architectural projects, ranging from theaters, dioramas, cabarets and clubs, to virtual reality arenas. Based on targeted research and the collection of various documents, we will draw up an atlas of projects that go beyond a classical tectonic reading of architecture to explore different ways of simulating the environment.

Objective

Broaden historical knowledge and architectural culture. Develop critical and theoretical reflection on environmental simulation techniques. Enhance research and hermeneutic skills. Students are encouraged to pursue in-depth work on their research topics by writing an essay.

Content

Beyond any metaphorical conception, this seminar explores the genealogy of the current understanding of immersion and other related notions (illusion, simulation, phantasmagoria) commonly used in art and architecture to describe blurred perceptual experiences of space through the use of the most diverse media. By placing today’s immersive architectural practices, often associated with the use of virtual and augmented reality, in their historical development, this class will try to go beyond the sharp divide between the technical and the cultural spheres in our current understanding of architecture. If architecture is the original form in which the immersion of humans in artificial environments has been developed into a culturally controlled process (Sloterdeijk, 2006), it is our intention to systematically investigate a corpus of projects to corroborate this stance. The seminar will be structured around two main axes. On the one hand, we will study and discuss key theoretical literature in order to build a common context and open up our hermeneutic and critical capacities. On the other, students will work in groups to gather material and produce a final presentation on singular projects and immersive techniques. This will include an initiation to research methods. The corpus of projects will be selected from different periods and geographical contexts from the late 18th century onwards, and students will be guided to gather original archival documents from a wide range of sources.

Resources