Building and Eventfulness

SAJ - Serbian Architectural Journal, 2019

Starting with a critical view of the general architectural and urban structures of today my paper will present buildings comparable to the body, thus their expression and the meanings they invoke will be presented as a language of form that affect the behavior and psychology of urban residents. Referring to the architectural criticisms of George Bataille, it is argued that the physicality of buildings are valuable insofar as they transcend materiality and lead to symbols and spirituality. Buildings are viewed as presenting different characteristics and attitudes depending on their form. Architecture is also viewed as the product of labour and thus a communal creation that has its roots in the origins of human culture. Each different institution has evolved historically from different senses becoming cultural articulations and resulting in architectures that connect people in enjoyment of shared interests. It is further argued that urban and spatial forms that are confusing as to the...

Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung

»Das Tun gebauter Räume beobachten. Ansätze einer Ethnographie der Materialität«. The paper makes a methodological contribution to the question as to which part built space plays in social practices. In doing so, we firstly use practice theory according to Schatzki as a theoretical basis to clarify the relationship between space and activity. For that, it is important to overcome with Schatzki (and Heidegger) the difference between subjective and objective space. This is made possible by making "lived space" not independent of or dependent on subjectivity, but dependent on activity. In a second step, we will use an example of ethnographic observation to show under which conditions and advertencies it was possible to recognize space's part in activity. We describe what appeared by chance in observation theoretically with the concept of atmosphere in the third part. This concept was introduced into the discourse on architecture by Böhme, it was rendered more precisely by Seel, and we try to connect it to our starting point in practice theory. After applying the concept of atmosphere methodologically on observation, we cautiously draw methodical consequences from this for observation of built spaces as part of social practices.

A|Z ITU JFA , 2012

Being attributed as one of the most significant examples of Modern Architecture, Barcelona Pavilion emerged as a prototype in terms of immateriality and the virtual dimension of space, as well as a distinguished case that juxtaposes the discourse and praxis of its epoch, which still remains as an inspiring example in today's debates. However, the pavilion was constructed in the glowing years of Modern Period, with its outstanding affiliation to International Style, this paper focuses on the pavilion as a milestone in which the intangible characteristics of the spatiality have influenced the constitution of architectural space. While declining the closed-box ideology of the conventional spatiality, this paper aims to discuss the emergence of an architectural embodiment through corporeal and incorporeal becomings (the transitive existence of architectural space as well as the interaction of subjects). This paper also interacts with spatio-temporal multiplicities, and appraises their transforming capacities in space, that enable the proliferation of the spatial relations by constituting the multiple actualization processes of endless potentials of the virtual. Besides the processes of deterritorailization and reterritorialization appear within the procedure of territorial shifts in the transition of architectural becoming and the immaterialization of the embodiment. Moreover, this paper also brings inside and outside relations into debate as well as notions of floating space and spatial continuity; visual continuity, reflection and surveillance, and furthermore the imperative affect of the image in spatial relations. In addition to all, this work is also keen at discussing these cited conceptions resonating with the concepts of contemporary theory, while speculating on the significant effect of the pavilion in contemporary architecture.

Published as small monograph, with a foreword by Ross Jenner, Auckland: enigma:he aupiki – Interstices|matariki editions, 2013; reprinted in Environmental and Architectural Phenomenology Newsletter, 2013

is article examines Heidegger's account of dwelling while placing it in the broad context of a wide array of his lectures and the constellation of his collected writings. e focus on this question is primarily ontological in character, in spite of the spatial signi cance of the phenomenon of dwelling, and the bearings it has on a variety of disciplines that interrogate its essence, be it in architectural humanities and design or in geography, which probe the various elements of its architectonic and topological underpinnings. e investigation of Heidegger's re ections on dwelling will be connected in this line of inquiry with his consideration of what he refers to as "the gathering of the fourfold," namely as "earth, sky, mortals and divinities," and the manner they are admitted and installed into "things," all to be set against the background of his meditations on the origins of the work of art, and on the unfolding of the essence of modern technology as en-framing.

ARENA Journal of Architectural Research, 2020

This essay examines the way in which Bernard Tschumi understood and discussed the concept of space during the 1970s, interpreting it in conjunction with his relationship with the so-called 'London Conceptualists' whose concern was to embrace spatial experience. Tschumi's exchanges with the conceptual and performance art scene in London are pivotal for understanding his conception of space at the time. Special attention is hence paid to a number of exhibitions that epitomized the cross-fertilisation between architecture and art, such as 'A Space: A Thousand Words' held at the Royal College of Art in 1975 and co-curated by Bernard Tschumi and RoseLee Goldberg. The importance of this exhibition for comprehending the role of space in Tschumi's thought lies in the fact that it aimed '[t]o reveal a change in attitudes towards the theories and the language of space', and thus to reinforce the contact of architecture with the very reality of spatial experience. The essay examines the evolution of Tschumi's concerns about spatial praxis, addressing core issues of his 1970s pedagogical and design practice. Particular emphasis is placed upon his teaching strategies at the Architectural Association (AA) in London, and on an ensemble of projects on which he worked during his first forays in the United States of America such as The Manhattan Transcripts, The Screenplays and The 20 th Century Follies. The main objective of this essay us to render explicit how Tschumi's conception of urban experience as simultaneously space and event is closely related to his intention to challenge the cause-effect relationships dominating Modernist views of the city. Of great significance for his understanding of urban conditions is Tschumi's claim that in architecture the materialisation of concepts coincides with their simultaneous visual and social expression.

The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 2011

From the Things Themselves: Architecture and Phenomenology, 2012

This book, made in Kyoto, includes 21 papers relating architecture to phenomenology, and vice-versa. The philosophies of Husserl, Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty are revisited and experienced through a large array of architectural realizations: from the virtual world of Second Life, the poetical and spiritual worlds of Greek or Zen temples, Cistercian or Baroque churches, Chinese and Japanese gardens, to the work of contemporary architects. To the philosopher, it provides a precise analysis of concrete cases, thus permitting a testing of the relevance and effectiveness of salient concepts, both aesthetical and ethical. The architect, on the other hand, is presented with a reflexive gaze on everyday work, as well as the tools with which to rethink the reality of architectural practice. Texts by: Ross ANDERSON, Karan AUGUST, Jason CROW, Sylvain DE BLEECKERE, Hubert L. DREYFUS, FUJIMORI Terunobu , Phoebe GIANNISI, Vincent GIRAUD, Karsten HARRIES, Lena HOPSCH, Benoit JACQUET, KAKUNI Takashi , Rachel MCCANN, Santiago de ORDUNA, Alberto PEREZ-GOMEZ, Fernando QUESADA, Gilad RONNEN, Adam SHARR, TAKEYAMA Kiyoshi Sey , Dermott WALSH, Joanna WLASZYN, ZHUANG Yue.

South African Journal of Art History, 2015

Noted contemporary architectural phenomenologists like Steven Holl, Juhani Pallasmaa and Alberto Pérez-Gómez insist on the fundamental role “architectural experiences” play in safeguarding meaningful “situatedness”; our ability to dwell in the places we create. The architectural value of lived experience seems unquestionable, yet the German philosopher, Martin Heidegger – whose writings have been instrumental to architectural phenomenologists – had doubts about this line of inquiry. In one of his “private manuscripts”, later published as Contributions to Philosophy (of the Event), he contemplated whether the notion of “lived experience” could be used to mask the ominous self-willing character of the modern technological mindset. Heidegger’s cautionary words may represent a serious indictment against the route followed by architectural phenomenology. This paper questions the primacy of “lived experience” in architectural phenomenology by interpreting the overlooked implications of Heidegger’s initial reservations. In contrast to the prevailing focus on lived (primarily spatial) experience, it argues that there is a more fundamental way to think about situatedness and experience ensconced in Heidegger’s concept of care (Sorge).

From the Things Themselves: Architecture and Phenomenology, 2012