The aim of this thesis is to build a paradigm to unravel the human mind’s fundamental kinship with the cosmos and its role as the vehicle of the universe’s unfolded meaning. The concept of ‘boundary’ is presented as a primary ontological force that drives, provokes and defines our thinking, consciously and subconsciously, in our attempt to achieve an understanding of self within the cosmos. It provides the hidden thread, the ‘limited concept’ that acts as a guide towards the building of this paradigm. Challenging its primarily physical interpretation, this thesis examines the concept of boundary from its genesis, imbedded in the primary moment of the birth of human consciousness within the universe, following it along its progressive complexity. Merging a primarily phenomenological with an epistemological approach by building on a number of essential evolutionary phases in our existence, through a synthesis of induction and deduction, we are confronted by how they are driven by boundary. Myth, religion, language, culture, philosophy, science, and even architecture are manifestations of humanity’s gradual attempt to understand, adapt to and transform our world and ourselves within it and in reference to it, displaying an inherent dynamic between our mind and our world. Bound in this dialectical creative opposition, our conceptualisations of the world are seen both as insights of our mind in its attempt to unravel the meaning of the cosmos, as well as the cosmos’s attempt to gradually reveal its nature within us, thus revealing their radical kinship. Ultimately, the aim is to reveal architecture and its embodied nature as a fundamental manifestation of our existence within the cosmos and to distil its message and purpose, its timeless task. Architecture is exposed as an existential medium, engaging the boundary between man and the cosmos, inviting us to read a model of the world while at the same time endowing us with our own sense of self and finally enabling us to coexist with our world in an interactive evolving equilibrium.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:575929 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Saridaki, Maria |
| Contributors | Ujam, Faozi |
| Publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/7592 |
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