Heidegger: Too much thought

1. Rather than being merely possible, it is inevitable that personal interaction between clients and designers effects the built environment.  Interaction between clients and designers is the built environment.  Constructed efforts are collaborations.  The better the communication, the more relevant the end product.

2. Heidegger is taking great liberty with the meaning of the word bauen, connecting I dwell to I am.  “It is language that tells us about the nature of a thing, provided that we respect language’s own nature” is Heidegger’s own quote.  He is not following his own rule by assuming that similar root words indicate a similar meaning.  I’m sure he is attempting to be authentic with his assessment, but it feels like he is seeing only what he wants to see.  Authenticity can be achieved in architecture, but we must consider how we define authentic.  If we take authentic to mean not false or copied, then almost no  architecture would be authentic, as nearly all projects build upon traits and precedents set by previous constructions.  Conversely, authenticity also means having origins supported by unquestionable evidence, which would mean nearly all architecture built upon precedence is authentic.  From Ando to Zaha, every work is authentic.

3. As touched upon by previous blog posts, we cannot build with permanence in the physical sense.  However, great buildings become permanent in memory.  Great buildings of the past can impact design decisions today, despite the fact that their walls may have crumbled centuries ago.