Master of Architecture Thesis Rice University 

i. attention + distraction


[f1]
Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility (second version),” 40. Of the thousands of daily visitors to the Louvre, many are headed to see the Mona Lisa – swiftly passing artwork lining the walls full of equal detail and beauty. For most, the intention is not to analyze the painting itself, but rather to snap a photo proving they were in the painting’s presence for a quick moment. Those who want to see the detail in the painting will likely resort to documentation rather than attempt to fight through the crowd of tourists. 
[f2]
Ubiquitous Site, 1994 
Arakawa Gins
[f3]
Installation view of the exhibition “Italy: The New Domestic Landscape,” 1972
Attentive and distracted — two states one will straddle between throughout life.  The degree of attentiveness and distraction will vary throughout one’s day, shifting as the activities an individual is doing change. Habitual actions often parallel distraction, while specific tasks or activities require attention. Walter Benjamin explains this concept in detail in his essay titled “The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility,” first published in 1935. He explains the concept simply through discussion of viewing art in museums, and eventually states that, “Architecture has always offered the prototype of an artwork that is received in a state of distraction through the collective. The laws of architecture’s reception are highly instructive.”(1) One could argue that the most successful architecture is also the one experienced in the most distracted state. People, people being those who are not trained in design, often do not notice the parts of a building that work well. That is the expectation. The moments that bring attention are when something does not work “the way it should.” As designers, the intention shouldn’t be to design so beautifully that it disappears, but rather that it is recognized and provokes attentive states without being problem-prone.

Benjamin emphasizes the importance of understanding attentive and distracted states relative to architecture since it is an art form that has forever existed for humans. He states how buildings are digested in a binary, tactually and through observation. He pairs tactile interactions with behaviors resulting from habit and observation to attentive states. In addition to Benjamin’s behavioral pairings in architectural spaces, it is also important to note the factor of scale. Although this is not absolute, spaces and things smaller in scale may lend themselves to be experienced tactually, while those larger are only accessible visually through observation. As designers, the intention should be to draw out attentive states associated with distant observation to intentional moments of tactile interaction that typically go unnoticed through habit.

The interest of provoking attentive states through interacting with architectural spaces is not a new one. A collection of designers have experimented with the standards and widely accepted expectations of architecture through parallel stances, achieving various effects. In the late 1960s and into the early 1970s, designers from Italy were quickly recognized internationally for their radical design movement. Designing objects for day-to-day uses that looked nothing like their mundane counterparts. Around the same time, Arakawa Gins started their experimental designs and continued until their last project in 2014. The couple was convinced that architecture could have a hand in resisting death, developed through their reversible destiny theory. A solo artist recognized as Absalon, who surfaced in the early 1990s, experimented with designs intentionally avoiding standards when it came to spatial dimensions. The nature of these works will be distilled along with Walter Benjamin’s conversation on attention and distraction.

(1) Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technological Reproducibility (second version),” 40. 

Feyza Mutlu
Master of Architecture Thesis
Rice University School of Architecture linkedin.com/in/feyza-mutlu
fnmutlu1@gmail.com
@fnmutlu1