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The Contemporary Uncanny: An Architecture for Digital Postmortem

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2021, MARCH, University of Cincinnati, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture.
The architecture of today has consistently followed the common treatise of aesthetics, a dogmatic pursuit of the comfortable, attractive, and beautiful for the masses. Thus, architecture has been most complicit in the concealment of undesirable aspects of our world. In doing so, we are left disassociated away from entire portions and aspects of our lives. This subconscious effort of deterrence therefore leaves us blinded to critical effects of social, political, and environmental issues that physically shape our world. It is the duty of architects to manifest theory in built form for society to begin to address the underlying issues that affect our lives. If left unresolved, we may fall from these forces that have been alienated away to our periphery vision and suffer estrangement to our conscience leaving us unable to interact with past or future memory. By employing the theory of the Uncanny, we may begin to reveal the grotesque and undesirable aspects of the world and address their implications. Contemporary and future technologies are continuously developing and cataloging our digital lives as a counterpart to our physical ones. The relatively new typology of the data center now serves a greater purpose and meaning in this dissociative world. Housing a digital duplicate of ourselves, it persists after our death, an impression of our memory that will live on even if we physically perish. By employing the Uncanny, we can begin to reveal the implications of the data center in the contemporary world, as a funerary monument integrated within our built environment rather than hidden away.
Elizabeth Riorden, M.Arch. (Committee Chair)
Michael McInturf, M.Arch. (Committee Member)
103 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Garrison, J. (2021). The Contemporary Uncanny: An Architecture for Digital Postmortem [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1617109466087914

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Garrison, John. The Contemporary Uncanny: An Architecture for Digital Postmortem. 2021. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1617109466087914.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Garrison, John. "The Contemporary Uncanny: An Architecture for Digital Postmortem." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1617109466087914

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)