Reading Summary:

In Peter Jones’ article, “Building the Empire of The Gaze: The Modern Movement and the Surveillance Society,” he speaks about modernist architects and their ideals surrounding surveillance and visibility within architecture and the Modern Movement. The article talks about how sight is utilized as means of gaining knowledge and control, which was an idea from the Enlightenment that influenced the Modern Movement. The Modern Movement incorporates this idea of surveillance, meaning that in society we are constantly being watched. This is expressed throughout the movement and Michal Foucault’s work as modernist architecture focuses on the uses of glass and open plans. During the Modern Movement, it was believed that providing more visibility within buildings would give more emphasis on light, and overall better society through increased ‘surveillance’. Walter Benjamin believed that the uses of glass would achieve this through transparency, and provided a Utopian feel within society. Another common theme throughout modernism during the Modern Movement was this idea that surveillance within architecture coincided with discipline, meaning from visibility power is gained. Overall, throughout the Modern Movement, modernists developed this idea of surveillance and discipline within architecture as a way to strive for a better society through more effective spaces, layouts, and use of transparency.  

Building Interpretation:

T4 is a boba store in Eugene, Oregon, located close to campus, and acts as a common study/work spot for students and professors. The interior space offers an order/pick-up station as well as seating space with a variety of seating options. In the seating space, there is a large wall that is almost completely covered with glazing which relates directly to Peter Jones’ article. These windows provide lots of natural light in the space and open right to the sidewalk/street. This offers surveillance within society from both ends, as the people inside have direct access to what is going on right outside of the store, and the people passing by the store from the outside have direct access into what is going on within the store. Hence the idea that you are always being watched. In our modern world, many stores and restaurants have large amounts of glazing on the facade, providing people with the option to look inside and outside. This idea was developed from the Modern Movement and is expressed throughout T4, reemphasizing the idea that you are being watched at all time. ‘People watching’ is a very common term used in today’s world, which directly relates to this concept. T4’s design allows people to sit inside and enjoy their boba while watching people outside the window pass by. Overall, T4 is a great modern example of how buildings are designed to incorporate surveillance within society. 

This image shows the large wall of glazing within T4.