Encounter in Eye of the Beholder

View and architecture have a uniquely powerful resonance in tourism. With the invention of photography, places are now commodified into a piece of compelling imagery to be ‘consumed’ by the tourists. This gazing culture has now emerged into a formal strategy, the Archibrand in contemporary architecture. From non-place architecture to destination symbols, should a place image be entirely constructed on the tourist’s desire?

This project is interested in the gazing culture in architecture which aims to explore an inclusive planning strategy for a tourist place, allowing the coexistence of locals and tourists’ programs. Through studying the language of the scopic regime in renaissance painting and deadpan photography, this structure of ocular perception sets up a visual hierarchical spatial system, allowing the co-existence of prospect and occupation space. In reflecting to the cohabitation and interdependency nature between the tourists and the locals, the formal object is layered with a re-assemblage of iconic and mundane artefacts from St Kilda, as a proposition of the parallel experiences between spectacular and banality within a tourist place. “Encounter in the Eye of the Beholder” is a call for an inclusive tourist place, where integration is celebrated, not only the people but the experiences.