ok so thesis proposal due March 10th. Here is the rough *ROUGH* draft.
Destiny Manifests: The Search for a Frontier
In the caramel colors of the cowboy clichés, in the dark heart of Africa, in frozen deserts, in rainy mountains, in the forbidden and the foreboding, in the uncharted islands of our own minds, in graduating college. In a word: frontiers.
What is it about the calling of a destiny manifested that stirs in the human soul to leave comfort and convenience for the unfamiliar and the unexplored? In a world that is carelessly pulling down its barriers, are frontiers still physical places or have they all become psychological spaces? Is the “final frontier” the last great wilderness or are there frontiers that have yet to be dreamed of, let alone seen.
Are frontiers always brutal, lonely or brutally lonesome? How much do you give up obtaining real freedom and is it worth the price? How do you conquer a frontier, or is it a wild horse you simply run beside? Subsequently, how do frontiers die and how do we mourn them? Frontiers never collapse into a blinding supernova; instead they wither and fade into the banal and the expected.
For my thesis project I propose a study of the frontier as it relates to the contemporary scope. Whether the frontier is real or not, or is it, as it has often been, the romantic marketing of promises.
What initially intrigued me about this concept was with all the vast advancements in technology, we are seeing a connectiveness that the world has never known. However in gaining all this interaction we are losing the places of mystery and enchantment to have them replaced by a two page essay on Wikipedia.
It is my suspicion that the frontier still exists, that it may be in Outer Space or it may be somewhere here on earth that we have simply forgotten and need to rediscover. Also far more problematic and conjectural are the everyday frontiers in our own lives, the things we fear and the things that intrigue us.
There is also a duality in the Architecture of the frontier. The excitement of wilderness is that it is often unrestrained, so what happens when structure and regularity try to control it? Does the wilderness fight back? Who will win the battle of wills?
As for researching this topic I feel it would be prudent to explore many different kinds of frontiers, because as our world connects more and more, the concepts start to melt together, the undiscovered is no exception.
A frontier can be explored by taking a road trip across the path of Lewis and Clark, or by looking at the possibilities of Space Life and Travel or by reliving Jeff Chapman’s Urban Exploration and discovering the developed and forgotten.
Journal writing and first person narratives are going to be crucial in understanding the emotional and physical tolls that frontiers can take. As well as discovering the appropriate architectural response to these emotions. Does the Architecture enhance these emotions or mollify them?
In conclusion, it is my proposal that we rediscover and explore that danger and that drama, the romance and the lonely love songs that first brought people out of their homes and into the wide wild world. The life, death and rebirth of those things that first struck us with fear and admiration of our own existences. In a word: Frontiers.
