Since the beginnings of modernism, architects have often overlooked the mysterious and profound emotive influence space has on us. In the 18th and 19th centuries, scientific methods of drawing and simulating architecture were mathematically perfected (for example; a perspective drawing could be precisely constructed from a plan). In effect, these technological innovations reduced space to a measurable emptiness, and our conceptualization of space lost its premodern mysticism. (Pérez-Gómez and Pelletier, …the Perspective Hinge) In this thesis I use contemporary tools derived from these 18th and 19th century innovations to reveal that space is not a mathematical emptiness. Rather than considering space an empty void, I seek to rediscover its profound phenomenological effect.

My drawings, models, digital spaces, artifacts etc., are derived from the perception of digital cameras and sensors. I investigate how these machines perceive space from specific vantage points, and how they can be used to produce objects of thought. My work explores the limits of the data I can extract from them. This is done by translating this data into representational artifacts (drawings, models, digital spaces etc.) that hold onto qualities beyond description. In this process I reach a point where I am confronted by something utterly unfathomable, or where the initial qualities I am attempting to materialize are lost in translation. Ultimately, the phenomenological effect of space is difficult to fully grasp. This work manages to come into contact with perceptual qualities of various spaces from different angles, but never uncovers their mystery.