Abstract:
Dreams inhabit liminal landscapes where time and place collapse, showing how
perception can morph fluidly across moments and spaces. In distinguishable
opposition to demiurgic waking perception, dreams collapse timelines, expand space,
and bleed in a non-linear way. This thesis seeks to investigate how the phenomenon
of time disruption (in particular) can inform the design of immersive interactive
environments. The research set out to position relative and absolute understandings
of space and how the flow of dream logic opens up a new understanding of a
different reality. The research expands on Gaston Bachelard's The Poetics of Space,
which links memory and imagination in spatial experience, as well as Juhani
Pallasmaa's ideas around sensory architecture and embodied perception. Using
qualitative methods as a mode of inquiry, the research was explorative and looked at
how altered states, such as lucid dreaming or spatial disorientation, could be the
catalyst for informing design of nonlinear and emotionally responsive environments.
As a form of exploration, immersive design opens a space for individuals to
surrender their will to a massively scalable product, allowing them to become co
authors in a dream-like immersion of space.
