Digital Detox: A Retreat Typology. Part 2 Project 2012 Oliver O'NeillJames FosbrookAdam John University of Liverpool | UK Digital Detox is a project that explores the influence of digital technology on everyday life and the way in which reliance on digital media is set to influence human experience of people and place in the future.Set in 2032 in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh, the project bases itself on projections of urban life in the near future. The term ‘augmented existence’ describes how technology is set to become the mediator between ourselves and the world and people around us.The projects response to the pressures of this future digital saturation questioned the notion of ‘retreat’ in architecture and its potential in a near future scenario. Precedents including monasteries and Roman Thermae identified retreat as a cultural activity of the past and informed a proposal for a future typology.The scheme as presented houses a temporal community for individuals to engage in a digital detox. Re-engagement with the body and senses is central to the design of the retreat that centres on a subterranean mineral spa or Balneary.As opposed to a digital ‘blackout’, the retreat celebrates technology and its potential to enhance the physical experience of space via interactive environments that amplify the occupier’s connection to the elements, space and people around them. Tutor(s) Dr Richard Koeck