Thesis

Individuals identify their sense of place through memory and reading architecture’s constituent parts. There is a sense of comfort established between the individual and their relationship with the built environment. The individual identifies with architecture and becomes familiarized with its symbolic qualities. However, the level of comfort becomes de-sensitized by modern architectural aesthetics. These aesthetics, represented by standardization, lack of decorative elements, and timelessness, are inimical effects. This thesis is intended to disrupt modernity’s oppressive qualities. The Eidolon Mausoleum, located on Hashima Island, intends to explore the concept of the uncanny through acts of de-familiarization. Its uncanny qualities will seek to disrupt modernity’s effects, and promote the sublime within the viewer’s imagination.