Tom Stark
An Architecture of Emotion
GATEHOUSE EAST Model (1/200), walnut, sapele
An Architecture of Emotion acts as a critical reappraisal of the value and necessity of collective and solitary emotional space within the contemporary city.
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Modern life offers conditions and ideals that are far greater and more liberating than those which our ancestors had lived under for the entirety of human history. Yet, these freedoms have created a new set of challenges placed upon humanity - physiological and emotional afflictions generated for us by secular life. These unattainable ideals that were once satisfied or countered by belief in religious or spiritual order are now without antidote. Within an increasingly secular society, that offers few spaces in which our emotional needs are cared for or resolved, the geography of emotional space must be rethought and reconsidered.
The project proposes a revised typology that considers the future of emotion, contemplation and memory within the contemporary city. Seven chapels form a constellation at the heart of the block, fed into by four gardens which are screened from the street by a series of modest gatehouses - each addressing their immediate context. Each chapel serves to offer space in which one may seek comfort, solace or celebration: spaces that aim in atmosphere, scale and material expression to elicit and sustain an emotional and spiritual need.
Collaborators: James Faulds