The phenomenology of Wine is my master’s thesis. It explores concepts of dwelling and art of living well through architecture.

A pdf (4 mb)version of the thesis is available here.

The full online version will be posted soon.

Abstract:
In today’s environmentally conscience milieu there is a demand to live close to the downtown core where greater density is sought. The challenge is to provide a dwelling that meets the requirement for greater density, while providing a living space that evokes a sense of living well. In looking for a solution to this challenge this thesis looks outside of architecture to find inspiration in wine, which embodies the notion of living well. The experiential nature of wine, and its phenomena, brings to the wine drinker pleasure and happiness, which in turn reveals that when one is feeling happy they are enjoying life and thus living well. This thesis identifies the experiences and elements associated with wine to define a phenomenology of wine. Combined with the ideas of the 15th century humanist Alvise Cornaro, who identified a means to construct architecture that can sustain a positive state of mind, a series of guidelines are defined that help inform design decisions for the proposed Riverside Garden, a multiunit residential building. The site for this proposed project is an undeveloped and challenging urban site located close to downtown Ottawa. This thesis uses these guidelines to explore a design for living well by establishing how issues of greater density and a challenging site can be overcome to create a residential building that will invoke and sustain happiness, thus allowing the dweller to live well.