The Great Indoors
Julieanna Preston
Massey University, New Zealand
Abstract: This paper locates an interior condition, The Great Indoors, relative to the The Great Outdoors via historical and contemporary notions of wilderness and its associations to awe, wonder, fear and chaos. Initially posited as sites of spatial retreat and protective shelter, such interiors are shown to be observatories of external weather phenomena. Extending beyond the conventions of the picturesque view given by overlooks or large expanses of window glass, The Great Indoors is considered as a temporal and political vessel vulnerable to contemporary (interior) storm clouds. The migration of atmosphere-forming weather and wilderness across the sill is most notably activated by the works of Henry David Thoreau, John Ruskin, Vladimir Jankovic, James Turrell, and New Zealand Architects, Stuart Gardyne and Michael Bennett.