Of
the
thesis
entitled: Three
Minutes
to Midnight
Exploring the
Role
of
Dystopia
in
Architectural
Representation
Abstract:
In the
early
20th century,
architects
and
planners,
dissatisfied
with the
overcrowded
and
deteriorating
state
of
large
cities
and
inspired
by
the seemingly
infinite
possibilities
offered
by
new
technologies,
began
to
propose their own
visions
of
the
ideal
city
that
they
believed
would
cure
all
of society’s
troubles.
Boldly
described
and
drawn,
many
of
these
proposals
were considered
breakthrough
solutions
and
inspired
generations
of
architects.
But like traditional
utopias,
these
idealistic
planning
schemes,
though
undeniably influential,
failed
to
acknowledge
the
realities
of
the
contemporary
city
or its
inhabitants,
inspiring
the
creation
of
some
of
the
most
disastrous
and widely-criticized
projects
in
architectural
history.
In
response
to
the
widespread
failure
of
these
projects
and
believing
that their
implementation
was
responsible
for
the
creation
of
static
and
lifeless architecture,
a
new
generation
of
architects
proposed
provocative
theoretical projects
that
challenged
traditional
architectural
design
methodologies
and re-examined
the
relationship
between
architecture
and
society.
Their
goal
was not
to
impose
their
visions
for
how
the
world
should
be
but
rather
to express the
world
as
it
is
in
order
to
foster
new
ways
of
thinking
that
could
inform
a more
dynamic
architecture
in
tune
with
the
realities
of
its
inhabitants.
Today, the
disconnection
between
the
idealized
image
of
utopia
and
reality
is
most commonly
found
in
the
proliferation
of
hyper-realistic
architectural renderings.
Advanced
digital
manipulation
technologies
have
given architects the
unprecedented
power
to
“realistically
depict
the
impossible,”[i] leading
“clients
and
the
public
at
large
to
expect
from
architecture
and architects
a
degree
of
quality
–
perfection
–
that
is
impossible
to
deliver
in the real
world”[ii] which
is
putting
the
profession
of
architecture
at
risk
of
becoming
less relevant
through
its
reduction
to
a
purely
aesthetic
role
that
does
little
to address
the
more
troubling
aspects
of
contemporary
life.
This thesis
is
an
exploration
of
the
disconnection
between
the
idealistic presentation
of
the
world
as
depicted
by
utopian-fueled
architecture
and
the everyday
reality
of
human
behaviour.
By
combining
the
power
of
dystopian fiction
with
architectural
representation,
this
thesis
is
an
attempt
to
imagine the
world
that
architecture
doesn’t
want
to
represent
but
never
the
less creates.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
Supervisor:
Committee Members:
Andrew Levitt, University of Waterloo
Marie-Paule Macdonald,
University
of
Waterloo
Val
Rynnimeri,
University of
Waterloo
External Reader:
Jonathan Tyrrell
The
committee
has
been
approved
as
authorized
by
the
Graduate
Studies
Committee.
The
Defence
Examination
will
take
place:
Wednesday September
7,
2016
12:30PM
BRIDGE
Centre
for
Architecture
+
Design
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.