This thesis explores the notion of creation through the acts of destruction in relation to Freud's Life and Death Drive

Through the act of destruction can something be created? In turn, does the act of demolition serve to preserve something? Sigmund Freud’s theory of the Life and Death Drive states that within the human psyche there is a constant state of tension between the impulse to preserve and create life and the instinct to destroy. Within architecture, the same terms apply; there is a dichotomy between preserving cities and destroying them.

Within his essay, The Birthplace of Psychoanalysis, Viennese-born psychologist Bruno Bettelheim argues that Freud could have only theorised the Life and Death drive living in Vienna. The city’s socio climate and it’s pitted aristocratic history, marred with tales of sex, unrequited love and death, provided the parameters for Freud’s musings and eventual analysis. In the same way that Freud’s hypothesis could only have been created whilst living in Vienna, this thesis can only be explored within the realms of Viennese history and culture.

This thesis examines characteristics of the Life and Death Drive in relation to the Narrenturm. Constructed in 1784, a large circular building comprised of five floors of 28 cells, the Narrenturm was the first purpose-built insane asylum in Europe. A signifier of propelling psychological care, the Narrenturm was designed by Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, during the pinnacle of the Hapsburg empire. Though grounded in values of societal reform, the building’s design was shaped through the constraints of numerology and iatrophysics.

However, though originally deemed pioneering in psychological care, the Narrenturm quickly became outdated and now houses the largest pathological anatomical collection in the world. The design proposal is a combined work, uncovering the Narrenturm’s mystical anatomical structure and medical history.

Through the acts of excising, incising, splitting and destroying, the Psychological Institute aims to preserve the Narrenturm’s past and create a new anatomy. The Psychological Institute houses both Vienna University’s Psychology department and a sexual health clinic, as well as retaining the existing anatomical collection. Through its reinstated purpose, the Institute explores the tension between the Life and Death Drive as well as the dichotomy between preservation and enlightenment.

The thesis explores different forms of preservation. The act of experimenting with materiality through recycled brick tests the notion of creation and preservation through destruction. Furthermore, surgery allows the Narrenturm to both evolve and preserve itself at once, whilst the incision of the building’s skin serves to reveal and emphasise the structure. The anatomical collection remains as it is, preserving the biological history of Vienna. Finally, the numerological intricacies of the building are preserved. As a result, the life of the building has been preserved through varying acts of destruction.