HEIDEGGER

PERSONAL _Heideggers statement – ” To dwell, to be set at peace, means to remain at peace within the free, the preserve, the free sphere that safeguards each thing in its nature.”  This ties the user with the building in a personal way – the building creates a sense of peace and protection so that one can “dwell.”  I think of personal interaction with a building as an action taken by a person/people using it that lies outside of the designer’s initial program for the building.  For instance, graffiti – using large concrete walls as paint canvases, or homeless people living under freeway underpasses or bridges. This personal interaction with these spaces redefine the designer’s intent of a particular building/construction.  A building that was a boring block of concrete, not particularly interesting to anyone on the street, attracts the eyes of the public.  Homeless people living under a bridge transform the bridge from a public space for cars and people into an intimate dwelling – and challenge public ideas of what are the “minimum” requirements of shelter and what is the “minimum” amount of shelter that society should provide its people.

AUTHENTICITY & PERMANENCE – One aspect of “authentic” design is taking into account the natural surroundings and materials local to the site of a building.

Heidegger states –

“To save the earth is more than to exploit, or even to wear it out.  Saving the earth does not master the earth and does not subjugate it, which is merely one step from spoliation.”  –

Use of local materials which are natural to an environment can assist with the durability of a structural design – insuring that the structure lasts for a long while.