Heidegger, Norberg-Shultz, Pallasmaa
From: Heidegger
Heidegger makes it clear that building and dwelling are not the same thing.
(p. 147) I dwell, you dwell. The way in which you are, I am. (we are the same)
he who dwells nearby (neighbor)
to cherish and protect
to till the soil and cultivate the vine
Is it possible our personal interaction affects the building? Does our interaction as designers and clients affect the building?
The notion of personal interaction with the built environment drives architectural adaption and subsequently evolution. Human interaction is the essence of architecture. I don’t necessarily believe that the success of a building lies in the quantitative summation of people who have experienced space; rather the success of space relies on qualitative reciprocity each individual has with a particular space, or sequence of spaces. The ability for designers and clients to be sensitive and receptive to the qualitative aspects of architecture, then collaborate and furthermore reinvent these qualities, is crucial for the improvement of Architecture.
It is possible that Heidegger’s search through the old language for meaning is a search for authenticity (trustworthy, not imaginary or false). Is it valuable to search for authenticity in designing/ building architecture? What is one example?
Authenticity is invaluable to design. I believe that Heidegger’s search for meaning in the old language possesses much validity. He aspires to search for the derivations by which our language dictates dwelling, living, and building. In order to understand anything fully one must seek the foundations that initiated that understanding. Otherwise it’s merely arbitrary.
(p.150) 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 stars their course, the seasons their blessings and inclemency. They do not try to change what they were born into and it will continue when they (we) are gone. Can we design and build with this sense of permanence?
As we continue to make more advancements and discoveries about our physical world and universe, the concept of permanence presents itself as a paradoxical idea. Everything physical which exists abides by the law of temporality or continual change. Physical Objects are only more temporary or less temporary (permanent). Therefore permanence can only be considered in a time scale relative to the human perception of time. In the Heidegger 4-fold we understand the cycles of sky and divinity as less temporary or more constant, and the cycles of earth and mortality as rapidly changing or more temporary. We can design in a way that accentuates or further illuminates the processes or cycles of sky and divinity as they inextricably relate to the 4 dimensional circumstance of earth and mortality. Through this connection one might feel the deceleration of time and an enlightened sense of their elemental part (human/mortal) to the larger composition (universe/devine), therefore invoking a beautifully spiritual and memorable sense of permanence.
From: Christian Norberg-Schultz the “Phenomenon of Place”
Why has this author been drawn to Heiddeger’s ideas as they relate to today’s architects and their work?
Norberg-schultz finds himself in a paradigm-shift crisis. On one side the modernist thesis combats the rising post-modern antithesis. Heidigger has disseminated a cohesive antithesis to nullify both prevailing sides. Architecture is not the symbol of cold industrial simplicity and advancement of technology, nor the complex contradicting neo-historicizing exemplifications of society. Architecture is the emotive art which facilitates expressions of human interactions through positive influences. It’s the poetry which moves and nurtures the human condition.
From: Juhani Pallasmaa “The Geometry of Feeling…….”
How can we understand and determine a person’s experience of architecture?
…By observing the authenticity by which a person experiences the space. On the contrary, even the nature of inquiring with others though verbal discourse about an experience, a bit of fabrication may occur. Yet as you carefully evaluate how a person/people interact with space in their natural realm and by their own autonomous exploration, you are able to gather a more unbiased hypothesis pertaining to their sincere interaction with the environment. Watch first, Ask second.
How do you interpret Pallasmaa’s ideas about the following?
All art emanates from the body…..
Yes, that is a fair assessment. Information enters the mind through the sensations detected by the body, conjures up ideas through appropriate compilations of these senses, then art ensues from these ideas via expressions of the body. The consistent correspondence and dialogue between body and mind is the primary concept here. Ideas should be purely linked to the senses, since they are the only ideas which can be unequivocally trusted.
Early childhood memories inform us and form us as we grow up….
We gather a far more pure and honest interpretation of the world as children, because we rely mostly on our senses. Let’s for instance consider a simple object such as a penny. The (representational) thoughts that have already crossed your adult mind are “one cent”, “Abraham Lincoln”, and maybe the color. Place that same penny in the hands of a young child and with- in a minutes they have intensely felt its smooth tactility, instinctually determined the density, tasted its copper essence as they, without second thought, plunge its contents into their mouths and probably attempted to lodge it in their nose (olfactory). They have dropped it, spun it, flicked it, and driven it into the ground as the acoustics resonate into their ears. In that small time they have unlocked the essential properties of copper. In lieu of Rene Magritte “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” this is not a penny but a piece of copper. Every child understands it in this way and it informs our understanding of copper, but much of the intuitional exploration to understand the genuine experience is smothered by the later prescribed adulthood preconceived notions of how we should determine an object, in this case a seemingly insignificant penny.
Other arts create the importance of place and experience…..
Place, Experience,…and Time create the importance of all arts.
Loneliness and silence of buildings…….
Every environmental experience is technically exclusive for each individual and when there is a lucid understanding and legibility between two counterpoints nothing superfluous must be further expressed, a solitary tranquility develops. The occupant stands captivated.
Henry C. Smith