Philosophy & Architecture (original) (raw)
This text is the result of an interdisciplinary reflection that tends to lay the foundations for a new concept of architecture, a new architectural paradigm. In light of the transformations occurring at an increasingly rapid pace in the world of science, the sectors of classical knowledge must review their structure and role. In this context, to rediscover its role and cultural meaning, architecture must review its position within the process of transformation of knowledge for which it must somehow account. In other words, to do this, architecture must re-establish the basic assumptions and redefine its specific universe of discourse. Author Graduated in Architecture in the 1970s, he taught at the Italian faculties of Architecture in Rome (Chair of architectural composition, years 73-77) and Naples (Institute of architectural methodology, years 82-83 and 2004) as assistant-presenter of seminars, working on the themes of semiology, representation and design logic. He is currently an independent researcher and for many years has been involved in epistemological and cognitive research on architecture with investigations, currently under development, with fMRI techniques aimed at analyzing the response of the human brain towards architecture.
Space between Philosophy and Architecture Derzawi 2021 12 23 Minor editings
Understanding space is one of the main components that construct any architect's/artist's process to produce designs. It could be said that the majority of contemporary minds were moulded in the cartesian emblem; The Contemporary Architect comprehends Space as Descartes represented it to Humanity. On the other side, another narrative is going on, the traditionalist narrative; Traditionalist Architect has another version of understanding Space that differs from the mainstream understanding of Space. Space will be discussed and elaborated from multi-points of perspective, Starting from the Greek philosophy, passing by the Islamic philosophy, and ending with the Enlightenment Philosophy. The impact of this understanding on the architectural design process will be tackled as well.
On the relationship between philosophy and architecture, recent and not so recent. To be pub. in Torino, Italy.
Understanding Architecture : Transforming Philosophy and Vocabulary into Architectural Marvels
JOURNAL OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS, 2018
JOURNAL OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS showcasing the changes which human race has faced. Since, decade architecture is relatively ignored by philosophers and is largely unsuccessful to draw persistent, detailed attention when compared with other art forms such as film or comic. Even today, principally ancient art forms are livelier and have philosophers focus them rather than architecture. Further, some philosophers have even dabbled in architectural projects: Dewey worked on the Chicago Laboratory School, Wittgenstein took part in designing a house for his sister, and Bentham sketched the Panoptic on design as a plan for prison reform. Architecture has existed since the recognition of civilization with its language analogy being as old as Vitruvius has flourished through the stages of development of human ABSTRACT : Architecture has existed since the recognition of civilization and its language analogy is at least as old as Vitruvius. Architecture and the human sciences such as philosophy, psychology, sociology etc. have always shared common interfaces leaving significant impersonation on each other. Architecture is not just an art but it is the reflection of social and cultural values of a society. Thus, through architecture philosophy is represented whereas philosophy is adopted by architecture for creating an edifice which showcases the prevailing human nature and need. This article offers an overview of concerns in the philosophy of architecture. Essential issues include introductory matters regarding the nature of architecture i.e. a. What kinds of objects are architectural, and what is it defined domain. b. Three Aspects-Beauty, structure and utility defining architecture and further dimensions may include space, sustainability, psychological or social features. Through this article, architectural status of various civilisations is discussed keeping in mind the philosophy and vocabulary of architecture. Renaissance enhanced the status of man in society and introduced Anthropometry in architecture. The Industrial Revolution was another of those extraordinary jumps which aid in erecting the high rise steel structure by using new building materials like cast iron, steel, glass, etc. Further, in the late of 1950s, boredom in architectural structure and look provokes distortion of regular architectural elements and objects calling this style deconstructivism. 'Mankind living and interacting with our environment in a way that can continue' lead to the evolution of a new but established thought viewed as Sustainable Architecture. In short, the paper is an approach to discuss about the philosophy and terms used by architects through their expedition from prehistoric times to the sustainability era.
Schwarte Prospect for the philosophy of architecture, KHOREIN 2023 I 2
Philosophy deals with aspects of architecture cannot be grasped by the established methods of history of art and theory of architecture, and proposes approaches which can help elucidate the key concepts of architecture, but also aethetic, ethical or social dimensions. My paper tries to sketch the scope of the questions architectural philosophy asks and give a short genealogy of its emergence. Furthermore, it argues for a specifically materialist understanding of the way in which architecture and philosophy correlate.
Editorial the Human in Architecture and Philosophy: Steps Towards an “Architectural Anthropology”
2018
We build for humans—for the most part. Temples, zoological gardens, and multi-story car-parks seem to be exceptions. They are built for gods, animals, or cars. But then, even they are indirectly for humans. They are meant to be used by humans who worship there, gaze at giraffes, or park their cars. So in the end, architecture will always have to consider human beings as its recipient, observer, and user. Architects simply cannot avoid thinking about the human being. After all, it makes a big difference, what characteristics and needs, necessary life circumstances and life forms, what expectations of privacy or ideal social life, and even what emotions, hopes, fears, and visions we take as central for human beings. Our understanding of human beings will be the focus for entirely different architectural forms and ways of building. But to reflect upon ourselves and who we are is, essentially, a philosophical question. According to Kant, “What is man?” is even the central question of ph...
Architectural Theory Review (21:2, 2017)
Architectural Theory Review, 2017
A special issue entitled "Anthropology and Architecture: A Misplaced Conversation," edited by Adam Jasper, with papers by Iman Ansari, Alessandro Zambelli, Dilshad Ara, Mamun Rashid, Ana Tostões, Paul Memmott, Cathy Keys, Eran Neuman, and Amanda Yates.
"Architecture's Historical Turn" Book Review (Long Version) 2010.
March of 2011. Regrettably, the original version was too long for inclusion in the journal, and my inexperience at the time led me to shorten it rather than submitting it elsewhere. Given my continued -if rarely explicit-interest on the topic, here is the longer version, which, contrary to the published one, may read better or at least unpack some unintended hermetism. In the first part I attempt a summary of the book based on the author's arguments and terminology. In the Jorge Otero-Pailos, a professor of historic preservation at Columbia University has written a history of architectural phenomenology. This is not a history of architecture and phenomenology but of an architectural movement that freely inspired by philosophical phenomenology surreptitiously provoked architectural postmodernism's "turn to history." This movement was not a unitary one but rather a "social assemblage" of authors, institutions, and networks, whose coherence and unity can be "only understood retrospectively." Given its elusive subject, the author employs a novel "polygraphic" (as opposed to monographic) method that aims at discovering and reconstructing its theme from disparate fragments. To give cohesiveness to this fragmentariness, the book is divided into four biographical chapters, each discussing one major "architectural phenomenologist" (Jean Labatut, Charles W. Moore, Christian Norberg-Schulz, and Kenneth Frampton), each providing an independent entry to the larger field of architectural phenomenology.
The Need for a Philosophical Anthropology of Architecture
2018
These remarks on architecture’s social function are taken from Giovanni Battista Alberti ́s De re aedificatoria, in which he searches for underlying principles behind the architectural categories and concepts of Vitruvius. This passage expresses both an underlying principle of social life and awards architecture a unique role in relation to society: Because four walls and a roof bind a group of people together they are a force that fashions a society.