Architecture as Dance: Choreographing the Body in Space

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Architecture as Dance: Choreographing the Body in Space

Submitted to the Department of Architecture in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture at the Wentworth Institute of Technology, April 2021

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title: Architecture as Dance: Choreographing the Body in Space

creator: Alva Daja Shkoza

subject: Architecture, Human factors; Human body; Motion; Choreography; Ferry terminals, Designs and plans; Wentworth Design Excellence Award winner (2021)

description: Our bodies are in constant dialogue with the built environment. We move to experience architecture, and in turn, are moved by its presence. Movement, engaging the proprioceptive, kinesthetic, and haptic senses, is intrinsically linked to how we experience our buildings, yet seldom explored as a primary driver in making architecture. A focus on architecture as a physical object rather than space prioritizes formal qualities over spatial experiences. By investigating strategies for design processes that enhance theembodied experience, we can turn to the theory and practices of dance, an art form whose primary focus is on the body moving within space. This thesis explores Martha Graham's modern dance technique as a case study, translating her dance principles to architecture to design a choreographed, corporeal experience. Sudden, sustained, and suspended movement creates angular and soft gestures as she contracts and releases her body core. Throughshifting her torso, head, arms, and feet, Graham traces the limits of her limb's extensions, and by also redistributing her bodyweight, explores vertical space. Additionally, the thesis investigates Architecture Principe's "Function of the Oblique," considering theorganization of tension and balance to challenge our perpendicular relationship to the ground, integrating oblique surfaces to enhance the experience of gravity while moving or in stasis.

publisher: The Douglas D. Schumann Library and Learning Commons, Wentworth Institute of Technology

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date: 2021

type: Thesis

format: .pdf

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language: eng

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rights: https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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