The gothic space I chose for this assignment is my brother’s sunroom. I chose this space for two reasons; it fits one of the definitions for the architectural uncanny, and my fear of windows at night time. According to Vidler, the architectural uncanny “is represented by a feeling of anxiety in which there is a slippage and lack of clarity between what is homely and what is unhomely.” The sun room gives me a little bit of anxiety at night because it feels like a glass box in the middle of nowhere. It does not look or feel (in terms of energy) like the rest of the house so it has a feeling of unhomeliness, yet it is an extension of the house so it still feels a part of the home.
Vidler also states that “The very places in which we should be calm and confident (at home), we instead find ourselves unsure as to our identity, a feeling that Vidler believes emanates from fragmented, mirrored, reflecting, and transparent surfaces that we see and move through—and live within.” This room, like Vidler mentions, is a transparent room. You can see what is outside the room from the inside and what is inside the room from the outside. There is no sense of privacy which forces whoever is in the room to be in a state of vulnerability to whoever or whatever is watching them. You are being exposed from all angles, except for from below of course.
It gives me the same energy as the nursery room from The Veldt. Even though this room cannot be manipulated by one’s imagination, it still feels as though you cannot stop something if it is coming towards you. They know you are inside and you know it is outside. Even though you can go into another room, it has an idea of the house because it is able to look into it from this glass box of a room. It is also similar to Hill House in the sense that during the day there is sort of a sense of security but at night is when the vulnerable, anxious, paranoid and haunting feelings start to crawl into one’s mind.
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