Architectural implications of mobile privatization : re-establishing place in mediated environments

Abstract

As our way of life becomes more mobile and dependant on our mobile technologies, many of our everyday experiences become electronically mediated. Concepts such as `home' and activities like shopping change as they are separated from their physical geographic locations, and the sprawling architecture of the cultural landscape strengthens this mutation of sense of place.The first part of this thesis explores the technologies and social conditions that have led to the nascence of mediated environments (i.e. the rise of the automobile and the Internet). The second part contains a case study that describes an acute example of this technologically-borne placelessness: recreational vehicle enthusiasts that travel the highways and camp in parking lots of `big box' stores, searching for the `American dream'. The final part of the thesis describes an architectural design project created to reconnect these people to each other and to the communities they wander through.