Lucas Stringer

Advisor: Terri Fuglem

The viewing device showing a scene of nature split into layers.
The viewing device showing a scene of nature split into layers.
The new Mount Botanie watch tower.
The new Mount Botanie watch tower.
The new watch tower with a whole building fire blanket deployed during a wildfire.
The new watch tower with a whole building fire blanket deployed during a wildfire.
Axonometric view of the residence for the watch person
Axonometric view of the residence for the watch person
Perspective view of the seasonal reapplication of the camouflaged branch façade on the watch person’s residence.
Perspective view of the seasonal reapplication of the camouflaged branch façade on the watch person’s residence.
Perspective section of the residence showing the minimal interior living space above the emergency fire shelter.
Perspective section of the residence showing the minimal interior living space above the emergency fire shelter.
Visitor’s shelters on the mountain top emphasizing the extreme windy conditions.
Visitor’s shelters on the mountain top emphasizing the extreme windy conditions.

Seeing Nature, Being Nature: Culture, Dominion and Boundary Making with the Natural World

Nature inhabits a conceptual territory that is simultaneously a physical reality and a construct of culture. In contemporary Western culture, nature is viewed in ways that objectifies and emphasizes its separateness from the domain of humanity. These attitudes have led towards an extractive and exploitative relationship that is unsustainable and threatening to the viability of life on the planet. 

To probe our conception of nature as a construct of culture, this thesis finds context in historical considerations around nature as represented in art, philosophy, literature and religion. As a metaphorical surrogate for nature as a whole, we can examine representation of the forest as either a threat to be conquered or a place of refuge and revival. Examples are found in the Abrahamic religion’s Garden of Eden, Greek Myths like the story of Prometheus and Vitruvius' telling of the founding of civilization. Further understanding can be found in the aesthetic sensibilities of the Romantic Picturesque movement and its enduring relevance as a system for organizing the natural world around cultural ideals. Each of these interpretations finds otherness in the forest, emphasizing a theoretical opposition of nature to the dominion of civilization. 

By investigating methods of observation, the work will seek to challenge the dominant model of objective one directional exchange. Specifically, it will explore how viewing devices can alter and enhance our perception to promote ideas of subjective embodied experience. The thesis will continue to investigate the constructed boundary conditions that form the conceptual division of nature and architecture, looking to subvert and reimagine them in ways that facilitate a more reciprocal and entangled relationship. Ultimately, this thesis aims to privilege ways in which architecture can embrace its role in redefining our understanding of nature and the ways in which we relate with it.