Architecture of Hedonistic Controls

Control. Freedom. Two polar opposites that define our most pressing fears and fundamental desires. Our fear of control, to be oppressed and regulated as individuals or a society, contrasted to our craving for freedom, to be able to do as we please and live life according to our own salacity. However, what is to emerge if the two were to be combined at the extremes; complete societal control through the use of our desire for pleasure?

In Aldous Huxley’s seminal novel 'A Brave New World', he explores a society which amalgamates the two seemingly contrasting ideals by analysing their distinctions as well as their compatibility and efficiency as a device for order. The result is a dystopia regulated by desire and pleasure, one in which governmental control allows its inhabitants to live a life of mundane gratification and manipulated freedom. 

This thesis is an investigation and discussion of the role and involvement of architecture in a hedonistically controlled society. Through the examination into current paradigms of hedonism and control in existing architecture and theory, this thesis speculates on the extents of which this method of regulation may be pushed to.