Danqing Joyce Zhu

The thesis topic derives from Foucault’s idea of Panopticism, where the entire modern society has become a big prison. Power has changed from external watching to panoptic surveillance.

Modern surveillance technology has shaped modern individuals, sculpting them to be the product of surveillance. People have to remove their noncompliant parts and try to reproduce a subject that conforms to modern social norms. In the Panoramic City, surveillance cameras have created a technologically reconfigured reality which redefines the truth.

The thesis aims to imagine a space all about surveillance. The project starts with conceptual practices of an art installations and a pavilion, and then focuses on the design of a new media art center. By portraying and translating each nature of surveillance roles into spatial forms, as well as incorporating new media and screens, the architecture tries to arouse people’s perception of 'seeing' logic in essence.