Researching Non-Conscious Dimensions of Architectural Experience

South African Journal of Art History, 2015

Noted contemporary architectural phenomenologists like Steven Holl, Juhani Pallasmaa and Alberto Pérez-Gómez insist on the fundamental role “architectural experiences” play in safeguarding meaningful “situatedness”; our ability to dwell in the places we create. The architectural value of lived experience seems unquestionable, yet the German philosopher, Martin Heidegger – whose writings have been instrumental to architectural phenomenologists – had doubts about this line of inquiry. In one of his “private manuscripts”, later published as Contributions to Philosophy (of the Event), he contemplated whether the notion of “lived experience” could be used to mask the ominous self-willing character of the modern technological mindset. Heidegger’s cautionary words may represent a serious indictment against the route followed by architectural phenomenology. This paper questions the primacy of “lived experience” in architectural phenomenology by interpreting the overlooked implications of Heidegger’s initial reservations. In contrast to the prevailing focus on lived (primarily spatial) experience, it argues that there is a more fundamental way to think about situatedness and experience ensconced in Heidegger’s concept of care (Sorge).

Dimensions

Editorial Summary In »Corporeality of Architecture Experience« Katharina Voigt examines the embodied knowledge in the perception and the exploration of architectural spaces. She highlights embodiment, experience, and sensation as primary fields of investigation. The interrelation of architecture and the human body is described as dependent on bodily ways of knowing and movement as access to sensory encounters with architecture. Relating to the practice of contemporary dance and particularly the work of Sasha Waltz, she regards the body as an archive, generator, and medium of pre-reflexive knowledge, emphasizing its resonance with the space. She exploits the potential which an investigation of the body-based, sensory experience holds when being explicitly addressed and regarded as an integrated part of both, the perception and the design of architecture. [Uta Graff]

International Journal of Architectural Engineering Technology, 2019

Until recently, architecture has been mostly evaluated over its stylistic and visual characteristics. Whereas, the architectural space is primarily vital and therefore, it should not be evaluated independently of its environment and users. Pallasmaa emphasizes on the significance of experience and connection with the environment in architecture. Phenomenology, which aims to create sensory perception, is about creating an abstract experience beyond tangibility. Sensing beyond physical entities in spatial experience deepens meaning. Buildings and cities, essentially provide the necessary view to understand and confront the human existence. It is, therefore, important for architecture to be seen as the subject of phenomenology. This paper explores the relationship between phenomenology and architectural space through experience, sensation, and meaning. It argues that the relationship between human and built environment will be strengthened to the extent that the mentioned features could participate in the space.

Philosophies

Following philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty's unique phenomenology of embodiment and his understanding of three-dimensional space as existential rather than geometric, the article claims that despite sophisticated algorithmic imaging tools, architectural space as a space of meaningful experience does not subject itself to both two-dimensional and three-dimensional representations and simulations. Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology is instrumental in helping identify a "blind spot" in contemporary architecture design process. Our experience of built space is always far more saturated (with regard both to the input of the senses and our cultural and personal background) than any sophisticated tool of representation. This paper draws a direct link between the invention of linear perspective and the use of digital three-dimensional visualization and the popular opinion that these are reliable tools with which to create architecture. A phenomenological analysis of Beaubourg Square in Paris serves as a case study that reveals the basic difference between experiencing space from the point of view of the actual subjective body who is present in space and experiencing designed space by gazing at its representation on a two-dimensional screen. Relying more and more on computation in architectural design leads to a rational mathematical conception of architectural space, whereas the human body as the actual experiencing presence of this space is overlooked. This article claims that in cases of great architecture, such as Beaubourg Square in Paris, the lived-experience of the built space is also the experience of bodily presence, which is a unique mode of existential meaning, which cannot be simulated or represented.

Over the whole Twentieth century, philosophical theories have dealt with the impossibility for the contemporary society to make authentic experience. Overwhelmed by an excessive amount of stimuli and data, metropolitan individuals become indifferent to the outer world. Amplified by this phenomenon but also by its very nature, architecture is perceived by non-architects in a state of distraction, as the soundtrack in the background of a movie. It seems that until now the only answer architecture gave to this statement was a desperate and uncoordinated request of attention resulted in the iconic and autonomous buildings identically erected from London to Beijing over the last thirty years. Perhaps it is time to reflect on how space affects its users and to find the link between the existing architectural “syntax” and its “semantics”, in order to better understand the meaning and the effect of architectural gestures. This essay aims to bring together these attempts to create a coherent theory on how architectural design influence people’s experience of space.

Creative City Design, 2020

The studies on contemporary architecture based on the scientific or positivist methods are mostly expanded on measurable quantitative, not able to achieve the qualitative dimensions and hidden meanings of phenomena in perception of space. The studied phenomena in this field are based on the user experience about the space and creation of its memories in his/her mind that are seen in many architectural studies. So, it is important to replace a new alternative method with the old positivistic approaches in architectural studies. One of the alternatives in this field is phenomenological research method. The present qualitative research, by descriptive-analytical method, attempted first to explain the phenomenological research methodology and then determine the nature of this method, different types of it, and its applications for study the perception of space in contemporary architecture. Later, the first-person, existential and hermeneutic methods of phenomenology were explained. Finally, the results of discussion showed that phenomenological research methods study the true essence of the things and follow inter-subjectivity support of the studied phenomenon and this leads to the deep understanding of some phenomena such as perception of space.

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PHENOMENOLOGY, 2025

This entry reviews the conceptual and applied relationships between architecture and phenomenology, which is here focused via what is called an architectural phenomenology, defined as the descriptive and interpretive examination of architectural experiences, meanings, and situations as constituted by aspects of both the architectural environment and human life. The entry illustrates phenomenological possibilities for architecture via the three themes of environmental embodiment, place, and architectural atmospheres. The entry concludes that a major aim of architectural phenomenology is a self-conscious understanding of human lifeworlds in their architectural and place aspects. By drawing on a phenomenological perspective to consider the lived significance of architectural elements and qualities normally taken for granted, architects may better envision future buildings and places.

Cloud-Cuckoo-Land, 2022

The book Experiencing Architecture, published in 1959 for The MIT Press and written by Steen Eiler Rasmussen (1898–1990), a Danish practicing architect and urban historian and writer, represents a little-known chapter of post-war architectural theory. Although not conventionally included among the milestones, the essay reached a certain notoriety in the States at a time when the world architectural debate was focusing on new themes to overcome that ‘modernity’ that in the eyes of the masters themselves, showed the apparent signs of the crisis. Concerning this change of perspective, Rasmussen deliberately presented the book not as a ‘manifesto’ but rather as a popular text, launching (perhaps unconsciously) a more ambitious challenge, that of laying the foundations for an architectural culture ‘after’ modern architecture and, from a functional point of view, more in continuity than against it. Therefore, we aim to investigate the issues addressed as well as the the method employed to present matters. The scenario in which the author moves is that of spatial perception starting from “solids and cavities” and their effects which Rasmussen illustrates to the virgin eye of the reader, an interest, that also involves contemporary architects at the turn of the Fifties and Sixties belonging to very different geographical contexts. Retracing the steps of this short but intense book can contribute to reconsidering the origins and period of the ‘postmodern era’ by pointing out a broader meaning concerning what is commonly intended.

for The Routledge Companion to Contemporary Architectural History, edited by Duanfang Lu and to be published by Routledge, London, 2023

In this chapter, I encapsulate the complex, shifting relationship between phenomenology and architecture by speaking of an architectural phenomenology, which I tentatively define as the descriptive and interpretive explication of architectural experiences, situations, and meanings as constituted by qualities and features of both the built environment and human life (Otero-Pailos 2012; Seamon 2017). In demonstrating that architectural phenomenology has significant research and design value today, I first describe the phenomenological approach more fully, highlighting two key phenomenological concepts relevant for architectural understanding—lifeworld and natural attitude. Second, I overview the complicated thread of events whereby architects and architectural theorists became interested in phenomenology. Third, I discuss two phenomenological topics that have come to have value for architecture and briefly discuss their significance for architectural thinking: (1) environmental embodiment; and (2) architectural atmospheres. Last, I identify some key criticisms of architectural phenomenology and suggest what value it might have for the future of architecture, particularly in regard to the imminent arrival of virtual reality, virtual places, and virtual buildings.