Speculative Aesthetics - Between Us and the Other

This research examines aesthetics of shared agency between human and non-human sources. Designs are worked on in physical/virtual space simultaneously, producing aesthetic results that combine the aesthetic agency of both human and non-human. The research is inspired by ideas in N. Hayles’s text Speculative Aesthetics and OOI (Object-Oriented Inquiry), which argues for a shift from human-centric aesthetics towards one where objects have aesthetic priority. It also is influenced by architects’work in the area, such as Michael Young’s incorporation of object-oriented approaches to architecture with Young & Ayata. This thesis develops the shared, human/non- human aesthetic approach further through design research investigations at three scales: in an installation, a house and in the design of a public building.

This thesis asks, “How does the aesthetic agency of inanimate entities shift what space is and how it is designed?”The design methodology developed oscillates between physical and digital processes, and employs various scales. Starting at the micro-scale, the materiality of“chocolate”was broken down and reassembled through physical and virtual aesthetic design experiments, in the installation.

This led on to a mezzo-scale, where surface was used as a means to explore domesticity of home, from a non-human-centric vantage point, a house design. At the macro-scale, the research was tested through the design of a New Zealand School of Performing Arts.

In these design investigations, the aesthetic agency of non-living things is incorporated into the acts of design at all scales, from conception to detailed design. The thesis conclusions are bound in to a proposed architecture that is aesthetically influenced by a shared agency between human and non-human.