Sam Lay
Has our attachment to nature constrained our perception of beauty?
This thesis critiques our tendency to use nature to reconcile the public with the presence of infrastructure in our built environment. Within modern infrastructure—such as water reclamation plants, waste treatment facilities, and energy production plants—we create projects that conserve resources and reduce environmental harm. Despite its importance, we choose to hide infrastructure behind a green veil and push it to the periphery.
Instead of alleviating the perceived impact of infrastructures presence through greenification, could we be convinced that it’s presence is not a problem? Through an exploration of infrastructure’s aesthetic potential, this thesis argues that this is not necessary, and will explore infrastructures’ ability to display allusive qualities that captivate the public as experienced with examples like Super-Kamiokande.
