Title: Narrative Contradictions in Space: A study of architectural simulacra, displacement and re-enactments

In the tendentiously visual culture of our times, scholars such as Daniel Boorstin (1961), Dean MacCannell (1973) and Juhani Pallasmaa (1988), have called for a renewed search for identity and authentic experiences. Interestingly, if we look at contemporary landscapes, such as the One City, Nine Towns project in Shanghai, China and the Smurf village (Júzcar) in Andalusia, Spain, we find spatial settings that question or even contradict issues around the authenticity of the place and its cultural contexts; yet, unquestionably, are tailored to create the narrative of an experience of locality, culture and identity. Therefore, Pallasmaa’s proposition, that we gradually begin ‘to live in a fictitious and fabricated culture’, gains currency. This raises the questions whether such built environments are adequate to be inhabited, moreover, how this spatial phenomenon reflects and impacts our society and our world.

Anna’s doctoral research focuses on the critical issues related to the architectural manifestations of narrative contradictions. Her investigation into the current spatial phenomena involves a critical and systematic research on architectural and urban design history. By using precedent studies, it examines such built environments with the purpose of underlining the differences and similarities between the past and current phenomenon, as well as bringing order, structure and a deep understanding of what could be called architectural simulacra, displacements and re-enactments in contemporary spatial settings.