Of
the
thesis
entitled:56
Days
of
Solitude
Abstract:
Man
is
a
social
animal.
He
needscommunity
for
support
and
for
the
success
of
his
life.
Yet,
throughout
history,man
has
withdrawn
from
community
to
retreat
into
the
wilderness.
The
journeytakes
him
from
the
world,
into
solitude,
andthen
back
to
the
world
again
withthe
fruits
of
his
experience.
This
thesis
participates
in
thetradition
of
solitude.
It
begins
nearly
five
years
ago
with
a
sketch
in
anotebook
of
a
trailer
in
the
forest.
Below
the
drawing,
a
question
from
HenryDavid
Thoreau’sWalden:
“What
sort
of
space
is
thatwhich
separates
a
man
from
his
fellows
and
makes
him
solitary?”[1]Over
the
next
three-and-a-halfyears,
the
idea
for
solitude
is
cultivated
and
develops
before
I
transform
a1970’s
Grand
Air
Travel
Trailer
into
my
own
solitary
space.Then,
on
May
24,2015,
with
the
trailer
as
my
shelter,
I
withdrew
to
the
shores
of
the
SpanishRiver
in
Northern
Ontario,
learning
solitude
for
fifty-six
days.
When
I
returned
from
my
retreat,
forthe
next
four
months,
I
lived
out
of
the
trailer
in
the
driveway
of
mychildhood
home,
producing
this
book
by
assembling
entries
and
illustrationsfrom
various
journals
and
notebooks
I
kept
duringmy
isolation.
The
final
legof
my
journey
struggles
to
find
answers
in
my
retreat,
and
to
Thoreau’s
questions.
In
solitude,
therelationship
between
man
and
his
space
is
the
mechanism
which
separates
himfrom
the
world,
and
at
the
sametime,
the
stage
on
which
the
drama
of
hisself-discovery
is
played
out.This
thesis
explores
architecture
as
the
backdropof
solitude,
and
my
relationship
to
the
vessel
that
makes
me
solitary.
The
examining
committee
is
as
follows:
Supervisor:
CommitteeMembers:
DonaldMcKay,University of ݮƵ
AndrewLevitt,
University
of
ݮƵ
Robert
Jan
van
Pelt,
Universityof
ݮƵ
External Reader:
WilliamWoodworth
The
committee
has
been
approved
as
authorized
by
the
Graduate
Studies
Committee.
The
Defence
Examination
will
take
place:
WednesdaySeptember
14,
2016
1:30PM
ARC
Loft
Gallery
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.