Title:
Towards A Historical Ontology Of Media Architecture

Abstract:
This project explores a recent phenomenon named "media architecture" and how we may understand the ontological foundation of such a term in a media-historical context. The project presents the thesis that the recent trends in media architecture represents a convergence from the parts of both visual media and spatial design. The screens that pervade our modern western society today in domestic, as well as urban, areas are a part of evolution of media, building on the heritage of television, cinema, photography and painting. All these mediums of representation have been created within the same visual paradigm: flat representational surfaces that portray the world from a singular perspective. This paradigm has, however, been challenged throughout history by various artists, who have produced works that critically pointed to the problem of representation or even offered alternative perceptual modes to the audience.
Concurrently, architects have been constantly experimenting with new means of expression that allows buildings to communicate and interact with their surroundings. Many remarkable buildings constructed within the last hundred years are highly expressive in both form and its surface. In a sense, architecture is becoming a medium as well.

The project explores the thesis by highlighting historical accounts of convergence within visual media and architecture, and then inserts these perspectives into a contemporary context in order to provide a deeper understanding of today's media architecture. This will also contribute to a more general perspective on modem day media and its architecture.