Norberg-Schultz is drawn to Heidegger’s writing on phenomenology because of Heidegger’s analyses of language in understanding what makes human existence meaningful — especially human existence in the form of “dwelling” (and the relationship between dwelling [buan] and being [bin]) as it relates to architecture. He draws on this idea of dwelling from Heidegger to explore and discuss the phenomenology of architecture, which he felt was lacking among the studied topics of phenomenology. Norberg-Schultz tries to understand human experience and relationship to “place” by using the approach of “returning to things” and interpreting poetry. He starts by studying “A Winter Evening” by Georg Trakl — a poem that Heidegger himself has analyzed deeply — to understand how man creates boundaries and defines his relationship to nature. From there, Norberg-Schultz breaks down the fundamentals of the experience or the phenomenon of dwelling into “space” and “character” which can also be thought of as “orientation” and “identification.” He feels that human connection to “space” and “character” expressed through the art of language — i.e. poetry — reveals the experience of place and existence. In the end, he agrees with Heidegger that it is poetry that makes dwelling meaningful, and concludes that the purpose of architecture is to help man dwell poetically.

Earth Sky World Diagram

—Tina