Heidegger

1) Is it possible our personal interaction affects the building? Does our interaction as designers and clients affect the building?

I believe our interactions affect the building. Heidegger’s theory essentially states that dwelling is building, and building is dwelling. A building may exist without human interaction, but it does not feel lived in without a certain human presence. I think that designers, if they do their job well, affect how we perceive a building, the surrounding space, and each other. However, if a building is designed poorly, it can have deleterious intentions, and often spaces are used in exactly the opposite way as was intentioned.

2) Is it possible that Heidegger’s search through the old language for meaning is a search for authenticity? Is it valuable to search for authenticity in designing/building architecture? What is one example?

I believe Heidegger’s search through ancient language is more of a philosophical and scholarly pursuit. While the definitions of dwelling and building and their context is useful and gives meaning to the profession of architecture, I do no think it adds authenticity to all designs. He states that “language is the highest and everywhere the first.” But through his investigation of words, he loses the experiential and intangible nature of existing in a space, or dwelling. I found his thought’s highly stratified, but very interesting.

3) Mortals dwell in that they save the earth. Mortals dwell in that they receive the sky as sky, the sun and moon their journey, the starts their course, the seasons their blessings and inclemency. They do not try to change what they were born into and will continue when they are gone. Can we design and build with this same sense of permanence?

I would like to think that modern building can attempt this permanence. However, ‘our’ continued use of flimsy materials and poor urban planning has set a precedent in modern times to the opposite. To be sustainable, buildings must remain for much longer than the current time-frame, and it is my goal to design and build in order to ‘save the earth’.