04 Reading

Towards New Horizons in Architecture

I related to the idea of a crystallization of thought rather than a reduction of quality, and I think it’s an important distinction to make. The idea that taking several disparate elements and from that arriving at a stillness of thought or a sudden realization is fascinating. There are so many facets that can be applied to both architecture and urban design, and with that comes contradictory elements. With regards to water and nature in this project, how do we emphasize and abstract our relationship with water while not reducing its quality? I think relating the ways that we interact with water in our lives, the ritualistic procedures we follow, will allow for spatial restructuring of these elements.

The Phenomenon of Place

The Phenomenon of Place was another interesting read. I also was curious about the differences between existentialist thought and phenomenology, as they appear very similar. Both place values at the basis of human experience, but phenomenology differs from existentialism where the first person view is the center of all thought. The poem “A Winter’s Evening” gave very specific descriptions of space and elements. I echo Heidegger and Schulz’s comments about the concreteness of elements. People experience space through an amalgamation of these elements. For example, the chair is represented through a familiar set of pieces; the legs, the seat, the backrest. We perceive this through our consciousness as the object-of-consciousness while the object exists separately. This idea of thought could also be applied on a larger scale, to shape how people experience the space as a whole of its parts.