Architecture

The author examines architectural theories that lead to the founding of Bunriha Kenchiku Kai in 1920, in line with four phases focusing on the understandings of "expression". First of all, the notion of architecture was divided into "art" and "science/utility" when it was introduced to Japan from the West. Secondly, the "art" was relegated to a lower importance through Sano Toshikata's nationalistic view of architecture. Sano's follower Noda Toshihiko subordinates architectural design only to the theory of structural mechanics. Their understandings (...) of "expression" were unilinear. Thirdly, Goto Keiji, Noda's adversary in study, believed that principles of architectural design are to be rediscovered within architects' self: he became an predecessor of Bunriha. Moreover, a Bunriha architect Horiguchi Sutemi insisted on "life" and "faith" within one's instinct. But their discussions deemed architecture only as reflections of the "self/life". Finally, the integration of self and architecture took place when another Bunriha architect Morita Keiichi discovered "inner demand" in the "beauty of dynamics" of the building. However, his understanding of "expression" remained unargued by the surrounding architects due to the theoretical constraints. This has affected our view of Bunriha. (shrink)

The paper suggests that architectural making , a process of research in practice , and itself a bridging between the space of experience and the horizon of expectations , corresponds to phenomenology as a method of inquiry. This includes architectural phases parallel to epoché, phenomenological reduction, free variations, transcendental intuition of the essence, and description . The paper describes the in-between, its two edges, experience and expectations, and their mutual influences through the process of architectural making. Examples from the design (...) studio and professional literature illustrate the argumentation. The in-between is presented as structured, notably having a depth—the ineffable origin of creativity. In conclusion, the paper suggests that the edges and the in-between are temporary configurations in flux, wherein the architect makes use of his/her most inner resources, as a contribution to the metamorphosis and revitalization of his/her culture. (shrink)

This new edition further explores the connection between the cultural analysis provided by the contemporary philosopher Jean Baudrillard and the new ′star′ of global culture – architecture. In a world in which images have become a substitute for reality – i.e. simulacra capable of both stimulating and satisfying collective needs – the question arises as to whether architecture could be seen as a ′super–fetish′, capable of both mirroring and shaping western society′s culture and identity. The aim of this book is (...) thus to provide new methodologies and to suggest new meanings for the comprehension and development of contemporary architecture. In Baudrillard′s terms, architecture could be seen as the supreme medium of contemporary visual culture, especially in its potential to influence the individual′s perception of reality as a component of the mass–media system. This kind of cultural analysis of the built environment and its effect on everyday life is still a relatively new phenomenon – both in the fields of critical theory and even more so in mainstream architectural criticism. This book, which forms a significant resource on the work of an immensely important writer, should appeal to a wide range of readers. Through highly evocative writing, it provides a theoretical, illuminating pathway for everyone who, either directly or indirectly, is involved or interested in architecture, urbanism and related subjects. Show More Show Less. (shrink)

In den letzten Jahren ist verschiedentlich vorgeschlagen worden, die philosophischen Ansätze zur Architektur in einer eigenständigen Disziplin der Architekturphilosophie zu-sammenzufassen. Im vorliegenden Beitrag gebe ich eine allgemeine Charakterisierung der Architekturphilosophie, indem ich sie einerseits von der Architekturtheorie abgrenze und andererseits in der Philosophie verorte. Im ersten Teil diskutiere ich verschiedene Ideen, die Abgrenzung von der Architekturtheorie über autorbezogene oder über inhaltliche Kriterien zu leisten, und mache einen Vorschlag, der mit stärker formalen Kriterien operiert. Im zwei¬ten Teil wende ich mich der (...) Architekturästhetik und der Architekturethik als den beiden bisher am besten etablierten Zweigen der Architekturphilosophie zu. Ich charakterisiere diese, indem ich eine Liste von Fragen vorschlage, mit denen sie sich jeweils beschäftigen, und diskutiere, ob die Architektur eine eigene Bereichsästhetik und Bereichsethik erfordert. Abschließend zeige ich, weshalb es sinnvoll ist, für die beiden Zweige eine eigenständige phi¬losophische Disziplin der Architekturphilosophie zu postulieren. (shrink)

Abstract: The practice of architectural criticism is supercharged with ethical evaluations. But do they have any bearing on the architectural value of a building? And how are the ethical value of an architectural work and its aesthetic value related? I defend the following answers, which define a version of moderate moralism with respect to architecture: An architectural work will in some cases be (1) architecturally flawed (or meritorious) due to the fact that it has ethical flaws (or merits), (2) aesthetically (...) flawed (or meritorious) due to the fact that it has ethical flaws (or merits), and (3) ethically flawed (or meritorious) due to the fact that it has aesthetic flaws (or merits). (shrink)

Welche Rolle spielt ein Verständnis der Konstruktion eines Bauwerks für seine ästhetische Erfahrung und Wertschätzung? In diesem Beitrage argumentiere ich für die These, dass die ästhetische Erfahrung und Wertschätzung von Bauwerken wesentlich von einem Verständnis ihrer Konstruktion abhängt, und zwar selbst dann, wenn Bauwerke ihre Konstruktion weder direkt zeigen noch indirekt darauf anspielen. In einem ersten Schritt bette ich meine These in ein umfassenderes Bild ein, indem ich die ästhetische Erfahrung allgemein charakterisiere und die ästhetische Erfahrung von Architektur von anderen (...) Instanzen ästhetischer Erfahrung unterscheide. Danach untersuche ich am Beispiel zeitgenössischer Holzarchitektur, wie konstruktive Eigenschaften die ästhetischen Eigenschaften mitbestimmen und damit ein Verständnis der Konstruktion die ästhetische Erfahrung von Bauwerken beeinflusst. Ich kritisiere den Vorschlag, dass konstruktive Eigenschaften die ästhetischen mitbestimmen, indem sie sich in der Form eines Bauwerks ausdrücken, und schlage mit Bezug auf Kendall Waltons Kategorienansatz vor, dass konstruktive Eigenschaften die ästhetischen mitbestimmen, indem sie festlegen, welche Aspekte der Form eines Bauwerks üblich, welche variabel und welche unüblich sind für seine Konstruktionsweise. (shrink)

Summary. Does architecture allow for quotations in a precise and non-metaphorical sense? To answer this question, I formulate with Nelson Goodman for the clearest case, i.e. linguistic quotations, three indi-vidually necessary and collectively sufficient conditions and ask whether they can be satisfied by build-ings or their parts. On the one hand, I argue that in most cases which architectural theorists and critics describe as architectural quotations, what in fact is present is some kind of allusion. On the other hand, I (...) suggest to weaken the conditions for architectural quotations in order to be able to describe cases as quo-tations which share more similarities with linguistic quotations than with linguistic allusions. (shrink)

Architekturkritiker und -historiker verwenden eine Vielzahl von Ausdrücken, um anzugeben, was Bauwerke bedeuten. Es ist beispielsweise die Rede davon, dass sie etwas ausdrücken, repräsentieren, zitieren, manifestieren, darstellen oder aussagen; man kann von Gebäuden lesen, die mehrdeutig sind, als Metaphern fungieren oder auf etwas anspielen. In diesem Aufsatz frage ich, wie Bauwerke bedeuten können, um die Grundzüge einer Theorie der Bedeutungsweisen von Bauwerken und ihren Teilen vorzustellen, die als Rahmen für Einzelanalysen und historische Untersuchungen verwendet werden kann. Anstatt die meist unklaren (...) und oft einander widersprechenden Verwendungsweisen der erwähnten Ausdrücke in der Architekturtheorie vergleichend zu analysieren, präsentiere ich zumindest für einige von ihnen Vorschläge, sie für theoretische Zwecke durch technische Termini zu ersetzen, die in den relevanten Anwendungsfällen anstelle der fraglichen Ausdrücke verwendet werden können. Die Vorschläge beruhen auf der allgemeinen Symboltheorie, die Nelson Goodman in Sprachen der Kunst entwickelt hat, und interpretieren die Bedeutungsweisen von Bauwerken damit als Symbolisierungsweisen. (shrink)

Ist die Architektur eine Kunst, obwohl Bauwerke meistens keine Kunstwerke sind? Was macht Bauwerke zu Kunstwerken und was bestimmt ihren ästhetischen Wert? Was ist spezifisch für unsere Erfahrung architektonischer Werke? In welcher Weise, wenn überhaupt, tragen Bauwerke Bedeutung? Was ist gemeint, wenn von der Identität von Bauwerken die Rede ist? Hat die Architektur eine ethische Funktion? Brauchen wir eine Ethik der Architektur? Die hier versammelten Aufsätze nehmen zu solchen Fragen Stellung. Der Band führt so anhand exemplarischer Positionen in die zeitgenössische (...) Philosophie der Architektur ein. Neben phänomenologischen und hermeneutischen Auffassungen kommt insbesondere die analytische Architekturphilosophie zu Wort. Die meisten Beiträge liegen hier erstmals in deutscher Übersetzung vor oder wurden eigens für diesen Band geschrieben. (shrink)

Diese Einleitung zur Anthologie Architekturphilosophie. Grundlagentexte präsentiert einen Vorschlag zur Abgrenzung der Architekturphilosophie von der Architekturtheorie, erläutert den systematischen Aufbau des Buches, verortet die einzelnen Texte darin und führt sie kurz ein. Jeder Abschnitt enthält (durch Schriftgröße und -typ vom restlichen Text abgesetzt) Hinweise auf laufende Debatten und auf weiterführende Literatur.

The profession of the master builder has become differentiated in the course of the technological developments stemming from industrialization, separating into the professional disciplines of the architect (in the modern sense) and the structural engineer. Ever since, the question has been about the relationship between architect and structural engineer and the nature of their collaboration. Differing responses have been propagated in architectural theory and exemplified by building practice. In this essay, I distinguish between the models of the monologue by an (...) architect or engineer, the soliloquy of the engineer-architect, and the dialogue between architect and engineer as equal partners. For the third model, upon which we will focus our attention, I characterize more precisely the method of collaboration and discuss two construction methods—shear wall-slab systems (also known as deep-beam/slab structures) and truss structures—that call for the method presented. Beginning with a clarification of the concept of tectonics, I conclude by examining whether, with regard to the discussed structures, one can speak of a “new tectonic culture.”. (shrink)

Gebaute Zeichen zeigt am Beispiel der Architektur, wie auf der Grundlage der Arbeiten von Nelson Goodman eine leistungsfähige Symboltheorie entwickelt werden kann. Neben der bisher umfassendsten Rekonstruktion enthält das Buch wichtige Modifikationen und wesentliche Erweiterungen von Goodmans Theorie. Die resultierende Symboltheorie der Architektur bietet ein weit reicheres Instrumentarium zur Interpretation von Bauwerken als bestehende Architektursemiotiken. Zudem entgeht sie einer Reihe von Einwänden, welche gegen diese vorgebracht wurden. Vorbereitend wird gezeigt, inwiefern Bauwerke und ihre Teile als Symbole funktionieren können. Der Hauptteil (...) behandelt die Symbolisierungsweisen von Bauwerken. Abschließend werden die Identitäts- und Persistenzkriterien für Bauwerke diskutiert. (shrink)

Im Zusammenhang mit der Museumsarchitektur wie auch sonst in der Architekturtheorie und der Philosophie der Architektur werden die Ausdrücke »Funktion« und »funktional« sehr häufig verwendet, aber kaum je expliziert. In diesem Aufsatz schlage ich eine Explikation des architektonischen Funktionsbegriffs vor, um am Beispiel der Museumsarchitektur ein Framework für eine funktionale Analyse von Bauwerken zu entwickeln. Im Anschluss an meinen Explikationsvorschlag, der es erlaubt, verschiedene Funktionstypen zu unterscheiden, behandle ich die praktischen und die ästhetischen Funktionen von Museumsbauten. Abschließend weise ich auf (...) weitere Funktionen hin und verorte das vorgeschlagene Framework in einer allgemeinen Architekturtheorie. (shrink)

Buildings are frequently described as ambiguous and, indeed, they often involve the ambivalence associated with ambiguous symbols. In this paper, I develop a theory of architectural ambiguity within the framework of a Goodmanian symbol theory. Based upon Israel Scheffler’s study of verbal and pictorial ambiguity, I present a theory of denotational ambiguity of buildings which distinguishes four types of ambiguity: elementary ambiguity, interpretation-ambiguity, multiple meaning and metaphor, which proves to be a special case of multiple meaning. Denotationally ambiguous buildings are (...) exceptions, because buildings usually exemplify rather than denote. I therefore add a theory of exemplificational ambiguity. The crucial distinction between mere multiple exemplification and genuine exemplificational ambiguity leads to two versions of each of the first three types of ambiguity. The resulting extension of Goodman’s symbol theory is of interest beyond architecture. (shrink)

In der Architekturtheorie ist häufig von der Identität von Bauwerken oder Städten die Rede. Der Ausdruck „Identität“ bezieht sich dabei auf etwas, was man „spezifischen Charakter“ nennen könnte. Wir schlagen eine symboltheoretische Explikation dieses Identitätsbegriffs vor und zeigen, in welchem Sinn ein Bauwerk verschiedene, sich verändernde oder gar konfligierende Identitäten haben kann. Identitäten von Bauwerken werden oft als mehr oder weniger klar, positiv, angemessen oder stark bewertet. Solche Attribute diskutieren wir, indem wir epistemische, materielle und strukturelle Bewertungen von Identitäten unterscheiden. (...) Abschliessend weisen wir Wechselwirkungen zwischen Identitäten von Bauwerken und Identitäten (im Sinn des Selbstverständnisses) von Personen und Gesellschaften hin. (shrink)

Heidegger’s sense of the holy is an important aspect of his thought, especially in the form that it takes in his later work. By juxtaposingHeidegger’s thinking on the sacred with traditional metaphysician René Guénon’s examination of the symbolism of the sacred pole, we can bring both elements into clearer focus. This paper undertakes to draw together these two radically disparate thinkers not to undermine either’s project, but rather to demonstrate one way in which the sacred can be more thoroughly understood, (...) especially in light of our increasing disregard for the experience of the divine in the modern world. The Heideggerian event of the sacred is played out in a way that is uniquely informed by polar symbols in the architecture of the great gothic cathedrals, and these prove to be a site for the opening up of the holy within space. When these elements are drawn together, they serve to reciprocally inform one another, deepening our understanding of the performative and spatial dimensions of our experience of the divine and opening the possibilityof a relationship with God that is not bound by onto-theological constructions of the Godhead. (shrink)

Architectural Philosophy is the first book to outline a philosophical account of architecture and to establish the singularity of architectural practice and ...

The subject of this dissertation is Father Carlo Lodoli, an eighteenth century Venetian philosopher, teacher, and architectural theorist. The purpose of this study is to reconstruct Lodoli's theories about architecture and locate these theories within the development of Italian Humanist thought. ;The dissertation begins with an examination of the work of Lodoli's students. They include Francesco Algarotti, Zaccaria Seriman, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, and Andrea Memmo. The work of Lodoli's contemporaries, philosophers and scientists, are then examined as sources of influence as (...) well as parallel, interdisciplinary thought. They are Giambattista Vico, Antonio Conti, and Roger Boscovich. ;The second half of the dissertation locates Lodoli's thought within the conceptual framework of humanist philosophy and architectural theory. According to the first humanist treatise on the art of building by Leon Battista Alberti, architecture is an exercise in philosophical rhetoric or eloquence. Architecture as a rhetorical exercise is related to wisdom in terms of dialectics, memory, divination, and the achievement of good fortune. Topical mathematics, the mathematics of discovery and the origin of metaphor, is defined and discussed in terms of the study methods of Alberti and Vico. ;The final chapter of the dissertation is a brief examination of the development of mathematics, physics, and their application to architecture from the fifteen through eighteenth centuries in Italy. Three periods are identified and presented in brief according to the work of one humanist mathematician or natural philosopher and one paradigmatic architectural program. They are Peiro della Francesca and Donato Bramante's Tempietto, Galileo Galilei and Guarino Guarini's SS. Sidone, and the Baconian-Vichian Carlo Lodoli and Andrea Memmo's Prato della Valle. (shrink)

Most of recent anthologies on architectural theory concede that the encounter between architects and the derridean philosophy of deconstruction has marked a kind of turning point in our architectural practices. Yet this specific episode of our late history seem still provoke a kind of discomfort in the French-speaking part of the contemporary architectural debate. It is as if no one could take on what this disciplinary crossing of the mid-eighties both has produced and has not succeeded in producing. So now, (...) thirty years later, how to be the heirs of such a theoretical experiment? “Inheritance is never a given; it is always a task. It remains before us”. The present paper will attempt to develop what is at stake in the question of the inheritance of deconstruction in architecture. But if inheritance is a “task”, the concern is not here to simply describe it but to take on this task; the concern is to take part at the always ongoing building of this theoretical inheritance. Based on a thesis research still in progress, the paper will present some of the methodological experiments set up in order to build an inheritance for deconstruction in the French-speaking part of architectural debate, and more specifically the original French translation of Wigley's essay, “The Architecture of Deconstruction: Derrida's Haunt”. The translation is here to be understood as an artifact from which new ways to inherit this historical turning of architectural theory can be built. But how to build such an inheritance in a way that doesn't erase its contradictions? And what does it mean to build it today? The entire methodological apparatus of this attempt of translation will be display as a speculative process, considering theory as a living material for architectural creation. (shrink)

Martin Heidegger and Vincent Scully, writing from very different positions, agree that the enclosure of human life and the disclosure of a moral universe are the chief functions of architecture, and they agree further that the traditional house best exemplifies the first function and the Greek temple the second. The culture of technology has emptied the home of many substantial engagements, and it has reduced the monumental structures, the high-rises and expressways, to instrumental status. Architects need to understand the cultural (...) force of technology, the ways buildings shape the conduct of our lives, and the responsibilities that follow from the comprehension of contemporary culture. (shrink)

The contemporary architectural rendering, digitally engineered and published in advance of construction, has come to resemble an image of an existing building so closely that it is hard to tell future from past. In constructing an appearance of an existing lived reality, which previously arose from the camera's re-presentation of the trace of past circumstances, has it now become possible to speak of the trace of future events? With regard to property as commodity, the more believable these projected forms, the (...) more capital may be invested, and the more likely it is that the depicted building will be constructed. Notwithstanding the possibly deceptive intentions of the image-maker, excess of signification becomes directly linked to the eventual existence of the building in that the more realistic it appears, the more likely it is to become reality. (shrink)

To highlight care in architecture, I resuscitate Epicurus’ valorization of friendship in philosophy, contending that friendly love of wisdom is a practice of well-being, ataractic know-how. I emphasize the body as the instrument of the ataractic project of living. John McDermott and architect Christopher Alexander argue that affection has a place in contemporary design: what a person feels love for in the initial situation guides design. I argue that friendship with things leads us to care for and repair them. Repair (...) familiarizes one with materials, makes one a maker, increases bodily skill. Reparative architecture revivifies natural human affections for place. (shrink)

Basandomi su (Harvey 2012) argomenterò che la struttura architettonica della città deve seguire un determinato modello morale: gli edifici devono adattarsi alla persone e alle loro esigenze, e non il contrario. Definita la città come un particolare tipo di oggetto sociale, difenderò la tesi della possibilità di cambiamento “qui e ora” delle strutture architettoniche delle città sulla base del modello che, come mostra (Sudjic 2011), è attualmente ribaltato in una situazione in cui gli agglomerati urbani seguono sostanzialmente una struttura che (...) sposa le sole esigenze dei costruttori. Una volta argomentato che la città deve tenere conto degli interessi di tutti, modificando di continuo le proprie strutture, mi baserò su (Frau 2009) per sostenere che la città deve anche trasformarsi in un luogo in cui anche i “ diversi” (malati mentali, ecc.) trovano un loro spazio non dissimile da chi è definito “normale”. (shrink)

This dissertation is an investigation into the architectural meaning of Kasimir Malevich's suprematist works and, more specifically, into the meaning of his Architectons of horizontal and vertical constructions. A critical "rewinding" of the diverse and seemingly contradictory suprematist periods--starting with the artist's chef d'oeuvre, his Funeral-Performance and moving backwards to the figurative works, the Architectons and then, to the 1913 Black Square, in its beginnings in futurist Zaum poetry--makes patent the fragmentary nature of the meaning of those periods and introduces (...) Suprematism-as-Architecture as the meaning of Suprematism in its entirety. Malevich's extensive written work is the guiding thread we follow in trying to demonstrate how the full meaning of Suprematism echoes, in the context of our Nietzschean world, Martin Heidegger's presentation of questions concerning building. Suprematism-as-Architecture equally opens up avenues of questioning concerning modern man's relation to the attainment of an architectural meaning, i.e., of a thinking-dwelling. (shrink)