Juhani Pallasmaa THE EYES OF THE SKIN ‘Architecture and the Senses Juhani Pallasmaa THE EYES OF THE SKIN ec ntte Sener Preface by Steven Holl aaa iit aadJuhani Pallasma THE EYES OF THE SKIN Architecture and the SensesPhotog trate a Saeco came et mor at ett ein ‘Sin wera corewbansthereane wit one ny ee Sees [ow snot Meter nao, Te salty Sane Te 20-2 @ Sarg ssn Sohne ure Goan nrc Fastin nl 205 Wey Acer in cf ey Sen eh ‘Stomatol Sehone Sia oar re Fenany2007 NGkeer hon Rap cous ainnrpeaoms rsa Ee Sey ea ey ae et mae set Te yan oor ts See had rine eo aed ame at 3 anon Ca Road ann WHT EUR nas Re se Rind tna Paar Mar ig'rw Raton soul soseaee end Beesen epnrt t ay aonb esse ct Wet izes POTe 8a ogc aia HER AEraiccmneaaCtre el rece couk tne a 2 HT is blends snr ard acnineieten ho Seon mata potted tones pete hee yer ae ttc th cea aarp pth shes Sache one Wie 04 Oe oni Sense 17 fe Sea Hon ML OTE, US seers, 0 Mt Sree Sin Fann CANO US Wier vray Groh oat 12 D850 arin, Geran tn Wiley Ser usta 32 Ped Mon Quem 4 Rela 2RmMNO Sar et Pe a 2 Carer Lgp 420 ng Dave. Sree to oe Wey 8 Sen Cra 2 Weer od Eick, Os Can MB Lt ner an oak ugh by Ards es Lon Pinter Gia ny Tra Law Crt CONTENTS Thin ee, Son Ht Touching the Wl, ne Patasnas Paar Vr so owe Cis Oscars The tarcesete wa Nic ye (raver Via pace ronal Atco Loss Pasty An dicteaeu of tal ager Mae nd ire Te Recon ot Abe's Wine ‘Ae sina Sentry Bence pant The Bein Cane Matisomoy Exerce The Saves a he Sado lege Mss and Bane aay oteton mess “Sscas a Maryan nsphton Ao hchescre ote Sees The isk cise seeeesearoegesPrerace THIN ICE Steven Holl ‘When Ist down to write thew notes in any New York City thinking of the fresh white now which ha jfile in Helin’ andl the eal hin ice I remembered stories of Flay cold inte where every year shorecut roads are improved acots the thickly fowen tosh les Monit latr asthe ce begins to thin, someone wil tke the gamble to Akiv actos the lake and crash eough imagine the lst ook out over hit ice cack spread by cold black water ring up ine the inking ar Finland i wage and mysterious beauty. Juhani Plasmas and I fst began o share thoughts abou the pee fnomenology of architecture during my Set vt to Finland forthe 5 Alvar Aalo symposia in, Jyh in August 190 In October 1992, we met agai in Helin’ when Twas thereto woe on the competion for dhe Museum af Contemporary Art, [remember | conversation about Meseay-Poty’s writings as they might be iter ted or directed toward spatial xquence texture material and igh, ‘experienced in architecture I recall ths conversation took place ove lunch below decks in a huge wooden bout anchored in the Helin’ Jharbous The steam ro in curs above the vegetable soup as the boat rocked sigh nthe patallyfosen harbour have experienced the architec of Jabani Palla, fom hi ‘wonderful museum adéons a Rovaniemi o his wooden samme. on a remaabl ite sone idan in the Turku Archipelago in oath western Finland. The way spaces fe, the soand and smell of these laces, hat equal weight tothe way thing look. Palla isnot jut a theoreticians; he ia brilistarchtet of phenomenological insight, He races the unanalysabe architect of the sents whove phenomenal Propet concrete his wings toward a philosophy of architecture. Jn 1983, flowing an incon from Toshio Nakatnira, we worked together with Albero Pérez-Gamer 1 produce the book Qin of Fonts Poona sf Aric. Several yats eer the publishers AY chose co repubih this lite book, ning its arguments proved importane ro other architects Johan Pallamaa's Tie Es of the Ski, which grew out of Ops 7 Papi, tighter, lear argument for the crucial phenomenclogial inersions of human experience in architeetue. Not since the Danish schtet Sten Fler Rasmussen's Brig rhe (1989) has there ben such a succinct and cleartext which coud serve students a archi tect at this eral die in the development of ZIst-centuryatciectute ‘Merdeau-Fonty's The Vi and he i, the book he was writing when he ded contains an astonishing chaper:"The Intertining ~The (Chia i an fact, the source of the mame I gave xy 1992 compe tion entry fr the Muscum of Contemporary Artin Helin - Cis ‘was change to Kissma, there being o ‘Cin Finish) Inthe chapter's text on the Horizon of Thing’, Meteas-Poty wrote, ‘No more than athe ly or te earth isthe hora a clleton of things eld ogee, ‘or @ dass name, ofa logical posilty of conception, or a sytem of “potetiaty of consciousness a new ype of bing, a being by Poros, pregnancy or generality."Inthe fist decade of the 2st century thew thoughts beyond the horizon and "beneath the ski’. Throughout our world consumer goede ecplled by hyperbolic adveting techniques ere tose oar com sesousness and ise our rallectve capaci: In architcsure che applic ow of ne dial sxpeshanged ecniques curren ia he hyperbole. ‘With dhs noisy background the work of Palma evoker reece sal tude end resave— what he has once calle “The Architecture of Sen. Twig my sents to ed this work nd eflet on chou ne “Tada the "depth of our beng’ stand on thin lntaooucTion TOUCHING THE WORLD Juhani Pallesmaa In 1995 te etre a Academy Eons, London invited me to write 3 ‘lume of their“ Polemi’ sere, inthe Form ofan extended xy of 32 pages on a sbjet matter that I found pertinent inthe architectural die Course of the time The raat my lie book The Eyer of te Stn “hic nd be Sees ~ a published inthe lowing ea. “The second pat of my manuscript tok is basc ies fom an exay nse ‘An Architecture ofthe Seven Sense’, published in Aca + tbo, Questions of Poti Special ase, ay 1998, publication on Steven Hols arcitectral work, which also incaded essays by Steven Hol himself ad Albert Peres-Gémer.Asomeshat tr lecture give jn a seminar on architectural phenomendlogy atthe Royal Danish [Academy of Fine Arts in Copenkagen ia June 1995, where the three writers of Quen of Prspin presented lectures, provided the baie arguments and references forthe fist part ‘Seinen to my surpri the humble book was recived very pos ey anit became requced seadng on architectural theory courses itnumerous he facie and ht wl Ar ema, Sheet nat inter uy anne deer joy boat hacraed eeof etns pps ‘The pc yw ney bed el pe vw tol senior! tad rome ening col bo te ta ‘oration tthe erent one nan sap ‘coed ghd qe an abu ene dn ‘eal wary uae quia for dee snc? ang 10 ye dt have peed es Toe ts cre ine spears of teen ~ both pala i tems caer ling snd aching aber" hs pov pny (Ae ssa of i ne ofthe tety me en ot eee, hugh an conan nope eae a, bg sig and pot ory pens sa ough tence! a ane” ‘Wie eae eof he Si ied oe be iicace ot ete foro epee anders ere {abe tene re coma ne crabtree tentang eae ely of ah Sse the og et hat ead hat orn is ray. ape de ikng somber eedeurne do ent we yas ne “Taepincyof i adr ors ee noeatagh on The to a pip sdf vn ur bed epee ote vetlel weiner epee mary nt peers bu ae coke ny ae ie verpewene the et eps oe by hpiy a pepe wfc vison, ceed re ‘cafe with wot wares pra vector Meat te wo Apc ge the heya vo we sectors he rycen ol [AM he ty chig Vn re cette ws st ae pectin an ines al eyes se todo ttn in eed er Our oat wa wow takes place at dhe boundary pe of the self trough spciaised parts of or erelopieg memtran “The vow of Ay Montag, the antropolgi, bse ax medical exidence, cone primacy o the haptic eal 7 te ad dt sev of ou ergens oF tnedum of commie, don et fet pee Even thetanperetcomenef fe ges erin yale of maid in Tarhithe ptet of ob ee sea th Ite ese wicca diene oer af hat oem obese Tie inthe ape clon of ouch eter fe ene ® ‘ouch he every mode that ners or exec of the wad vith that of ou en vil perepions ar fied and integrated {oth api contiuum ofthe el ny body emer who Tamand vere arm cated in the werd My by ry te navel my wor notin the eneof the wing point ofthe ceva especie, bucashe SS oe Teis evident at lieenhancing? architects ha adres al the ene ularly an Sie out age of if wth ow epeince the word The eel metal ak of scectre i accommodation tnd integration. Aritecae anus the experiences of being inthe ftv andavengtens our seu fray and elf docs not mabe us inhabit worl of mer bration and aay” (ie se of sf engtened by a an architec, allows ws 0 Sage iyi te ental diersons of dreamin ad eie/ Bldg and ce rote he horizon for ee arvana one Gringo the human exten condo stead of ereting mere hye of val seduction, aches relates, meats and prec ‘beating The uate meaning of any bing beyond archectre ‘eects curconcouses back the wo nd wars our mn en tl and being/ignfean’ antec makes experince oucies ‘complet embodied and spn! eigs Ina tise reat fan tomo al meaning a> In the experience of arta pect exchange tes place end iy ‘motions and asciason tothe ware and the space end ei ata, which entices and emancipate my peters and though. An ache ‘ectural work isnot experienced asa were of isolate ei pctures but in es filly integrated materia embodied ad spiral exvnce I lis pleasurable shapes and suvfaces moulded forthe touch of the eye and oer senses, bute alo incorporates and integrates physi and mental structures, giving our existential experience a strengthened coherence and siifcance, ibex working, bot the att and craftsman are dey engaged with (ei bodies and thei existenal experiences rather than foe a external and objected prolem/A wie architect wks with his/her ‘etre body and ens of self. Wile wrkingon a biling or an objet, {he architec is simultaneonly engaged ina reverie perspective, his/her seltimage~ or more precisely, existential experience, In creative work, « powerful ientiction and projection take paces the ere bay an rental consiution ofthe maker becomes the ite of the work Ludwig ‘Wingenstein,whoee plop ends tobe detached from body imagery acknowledges the interaction of both philoophical and architectural work vith the mage of se "Wook on pilorphy ke work in rchieczue in many respects it aly more a wsk on eae On oom nereeta toy, On ew on see ins." ‘computer i ually seen a solely beneficial invention, which eras human facasy and fates fcent design wock [wish 12 2 expres my serious concer i this expect, at lest considering dhe ue 4 rent oe of the computer in the design proces. Computer ging tends to flaien our magnificent, mulaensrysmianeous and synchronic ‘apaiies of imagination by ea the desgn proces int & passive nual manipulation, acetal journey. The computer erates a distance between the maker and the objet, whereas davig by hand aswel as ‘odelamakng put the designe into & hap contact withthe cbt or space. In our imagination, the object is simultane held in the hand sind te hed adhe aged and poe pl mae Sosa yw i Wee alo fe erat ie ‘te ne Crete wo cl fay ad en eatin, tpt sd compen A / rena er nthe expr of eign ne ry ad hap he debra spre arp ose oa “Ths teary ented he oral dene ode techie orig cots bbe nese in sed wo, tcxcbarneaety nal peepee prac Poca ailing ar cnr age of feed gers ee iy of an adel realty sem ped Eades on he nae of peer aon whch lth bjt th ce Ae cone diye arc 'pee prove ample il fr pnierlvsn a hoe mtg cen nth ery pace. The eons percept ey wich ‘Speenced ous he perf fosed ve eae ob at ‘moran esenaly a he fou imal fh hee mel cece da papal von he higher ply in pean toa janel yee? (rs carts ge ha ne he eas why hadi tur snd uta seting ef ourtine ed to male ws ke ever, in comparion with he fel mona engagement fata bil setigy, thr prey inthe Feld perp von Uncoricos peripheral pecptin arf renal grain tl and bodily expres. Perel von igre with sac whe Syed von pes us owe the spe, ing mee ec (stein a eid geo te, bene by ey creon may evenly open up new rein of ion and though fed of the implice desire of the eye fr contol and power. The lot of “+ ous can berate the ye from i ioral patrizchal domination,"Tihs want ges wet ces” Johann Wotgang von Gosh The sas sai is.” Ploich Niza “Y the bok had bum sir din, nobody wd Save hog tha eh a ind” Richard Rony? The ta of theo Bas te ata of te ft th te loth ta sii ay. trys te et tng of or and es a th Bs of smb intone ages Of ab, What is eesti he thc ct he lh abot ise ni a comes a cach aig” “owe Lis Borge “Vea te ait o tot ers anything ete ha is enn wit de eo” Maat Mesea-Pony® PART 1 Vision and Knowledge ‘Western culture, sight hs historically been regarded asthe noblest of the snes, and thinking iuelf hough of in ers of serng, Already in ‘Savieal reck hough, certainty was based on vision and isi. The jes are more exact witnesses than the eas wrote Heracius in one of| bis xgrents Pato eegarded vin as mani’ greatest gif” and he fnssed that ebial univer must be accessible to ‘the minds eye* “Avsotle,Hlewse, considered ght as the most noble of the senses "becane it approximate the ielect mos closely by vite of the fla tive materiality ofits knowing’? ‘Since the Grek pilosphical weings ofall times have abounded ‘with ocular metapors to the point that knowledge has become alo (ous wth lar vision ad light x regarded as the metaphor forth. [Aquinas even applies the notion of sight oother sensory reals a well as to intlletal cognition, "The impact of the sense of vison on phlonphy swell summed up by Pete Slterde “The ees ar the organic prototype of pilosephy. The enigma that they not oly can se ut areal abe to see themes Secine Ths gives them a prominence among the body's cognitive organs ‘5 goo part of phiowpical thinking is actly only ee rfl, € dlalectic teingoneslsee'™ During the Renaisance, the five semes seer undertod to fora a bierachial tem fom the highest sense ofoa “ ion don toon. The Rensinance ster ofthe seas wa ed Vat mage he come body visa as crete fra bearing to ai eto apo tae to wt, 0d toch we! >The neton of pert epson made the ej th ete point of the percept wold a well a of te concept of thes. opel een su ured int smb for, ate wich sotonly dears bu alo conto perception. “Tere ie doe tat our tect are has deze ad sep ese te tere een more tne Vion and bearing ze now he Prvdeged sociable sears whereas the ler thee are costed at rca ery tenants tha ery private fiction, and ey re tual soppesed by de code of cure. Only ems such tthe clair enoment meal grace of fawersand rapes tat perature ae allowed od cllectve aware in roca and ‘Seni encode of clr. “he tinane fin over tether eet the coset it in cognition ~ has been observed by many phosopheryA collation of iowa say ened Madalyn he gay of Pe afs ht "begining wi br cient Greek, Weer er at ee doit by moire pardign aoe gener, voce ineprestion of kale, ih, bd tea. Thi ooghgnkng bok aan ‘histor comecnns betwen in sod role, vison and ntl vison aed poesia ei ‘Asti oats paradigm cf our elton tthe word anf our cone of ledge ~ the pmtencegealprilegig of von hs ten vealed by poor es ao inporan to suey rial he 10k of von in rela tote other somes nour understanding and acc of the ato archctie Arcecte ot wth al ar id menial confonted wih queons of human exitence ia sce and tive, i expres and relies man's being in the wold Arcitecae i deeply engaged inthe recaps quenns ofthe wl andthe vor, interior and eer, ie and Gorton, Ke an death, ewe nd eat practices are peasy suscepti tothe changing experenne tof space and ime preiely Bec they ena he eonuructiono pai eptesenotgnsand artefacts out ofthe Now of human experience writes David Handy Adtran sour pear instrument in relating with pce aad ie, ad giving dase dimensions aman measur. des ‘eats limites space and endless time to be tolerated inhabited and derstood ly humankind As a consequence of dh interdependence of space and ime, the dts of external and internal space, pial and Spiritual, material and mental, unconscious and conscious pois om ering the eee a wall 8 tei relate oles and interacons, hse an essential impact onthe mite ofthe as and architec ‘David Michael Levin motivates the phleophial exitiqu of the dom nance of the ee with the flloving words thik eis appropriate challenge the Negemony of von ~ the ocularentrism of our clare [And I think we ned to examine very xtcally the character of ison ‘hat predominates ty in our woHd We urgently ned a diagnosis f| the prychinecal pathology of everday sering ~ and » crea under- standing of ourseves, as vsonary beings * evn pins out he aoomy-dive and aggressiveness of vision, ‘tue specter of patriarchal rl’ hat haunt ovr oeularenti elu: _ss, Theva poeriveysegi vi,Te ery oe ty Jn vison to ap and ae) an wale: a tendency 0 oma, oie and como whieh every, ease Iwas 0 exes ro” noe aimed aera unconeted Rego oe curr ane piupical douse, sabsting io heping wih se israel Fationaiy of our eae andthe tendo characte of 08 6 eclatetre metghysics of presence {ele thc many apt the pathology of every architect today can ewe be understod through an analysis of the epstersbogy of the Senses, and a erique ofthe ocular bis of ou cltre at large, and of srehiectur in particular. The inhumanity of contemporary achteare land ces can be understood athe eonsequeie FTE Helge OT the sadpttcraenerctee net body and the senses, and an imbalane in our sensory sytem/Ahe grow= ing experiences of aliaaton, detachment ad solitude inthe technolo ‘cal word today for instance, may be telated with a certain pathology of the senses thought provoking that this verse of extrangement and -detacinent in ften evoked by the teehnclogically most advanced stings, such a hogptals and airport, The dominance ofthe ee and the suppres ‘son ofthe other senses tends to pus ws into detachment, slaton and _evteriorng. The art of Ue Ge has cera” produced imposing and ‘ought-provoking structures, but it has not facitaced human rotedness inthe word, The fac that che modernist idiom has nt generally been able w penetrate the surface of popular taste and values seems to be due to i one-sided intellectual and visual emphasis; modernist design at age hhashoused the intellect and the ye, batt hs ef the body and the other senses, a5 wells our memos, imagination and dreams, homes ties of Ocularcentism The oraarentric tion andthe coniagunt spectator thor of owe Weer hiking have lo ai ie aong poe thers aeady bore ty concerns. René Destre, f sane regu von athe met vera able f the sects a is tijctivng piso consequent grounded in he pg of ‘ion Here es eqpataion wihnach, ase which Sire wb ‘nore certain ands nero rr aoa) edch Niche atempted to subvert te abot of oor thinking in ering conan wit he general ne hs hgh He cried the ee oie of ti adhere by ry hosphen He een aces plover of wechero ad ind Roxy towards m2 Sle dyes tht te “ttre af the dy eens -ocularcentric’ view of Western ocularcentric erepon and Biking whic dowd ine Obey Feninellecml tadoa, thoroughly veyed by Marin Jay in his book Downs Byer The Doin of Vision Tui Cnty Fh Trl? ‘The writer aces the develope of the modern Vson-ented exe through such diverse ils asthe mention of the printing pres ati ination, posal petry andthe new experince of tie (On de other hand, beanies he andere postions of aay of the seminal Rech writers, sch as Heat Benion, Georges Bata Jean-Paul Sarwe, Maurice MeteassPony Jeques Lacan, Lous Altser, Guy Debord, Roland Barthes Jacques Derrida, Luce ligaray, Emmantel Levinas and Jean-Fangois Lyte. Sartre was outspoenly Bote tothe sense of vision ts the pont of ‘ceularphobia is oeuvre has been eximated to contain 7000 eefereaces (© "the look: He was concerned with the objetifing look ofthe oes, and the “medusa glance” [whch “petries” everyting thot it ‘comes in contact wits" In his view, space ha taken over time in ‘human consiounis ar a contequence of oxulrcnti. This ves of the relative cignfcance accorded to the notions of space and tne has important epercusions on our understanding of physical and hi- torical procestes. The prevaing concept of spice and dine ad dir Interclaions form an exenal paradigm for architecture, as Sifted Giedion established in his seminal ideological hetory of modera achi- tecture Se, Time nd roca Maurice Mereau-Pont launched cece critique ofthe ‘Carian perpectvalitseopic regime’ and ts privileging of an shai, csne ‘ered, disembodied subject entry oui ofthe work. A ente lloophical work fess on perception in general, an Fon in pate: Ua. Bat instead of the Cartesian eye of the eutde spect, Mesa Rowntree ion tran arpa “tes of the ws an object among objet and that which es and ous ek u-Ponty Sw an osmotic elation between te self and th world they nterpenetrate and mutually define ‘cach other ~and he emphasised the maltanety and intertion of the seme. My perception is therefor] not sum of vil act and ac [ie givens:Tpereive na total way with my whole beng grasp urique structure ofthe thing, «unig way of ing which spe eo all ay senses at once he write Heide, Michel Rosca and Jacquet Deri have all argc thought ad cure of mederiy havent only coins he i> torical prileging of sight, bat furthered is negative endencie/ach, in theron separate ways has regarded dhe sigh-dominanceof he modern ras divincly dierent fom thar of eater times. The hegemony of sion fas been reinforced in cur Sine by @ malide of technelogal iewefions an the ends enipcation and proction of images "an eign of ia, at Kalo Cabio clit" “The fundamental ‘vent of the jer age i the conquat of the world as pcre writes Heidegget The philosophers speculation has certainly ated in cour age ofthe fabricated, mas produced and manipulated image. “The technology espandet and strengthened ee today penetrates deep into matter nel space, ademas man to cs smitaneou Took on the opposite ides of the globe, The experiences of space and ine have become fied into each ater speed (David Harvey wes the notion of "ime space compres] and as a consequence we are wi ening a ditinet reversal of the tg dimensions ~atemporalisaton of ~ sgace and a spatalsaion of nly sense tats fist enough: gp pice with the astounding cree of speed in the technological weight. Bu the world ofthe ee i amsing ws to Hive ingreasingly “Tis perpenual present, Datened by speed and simultane, ‘Val images have become commodities, as Harvey poins out ‘A rh of images fom diferent spaces almost simultaneous, eolipsing the works spaces inte a serie of mages on a tbevision cen The image of places and spaces becomes a open to produc and tral we a8 anyother [commodiy. “ek fe dramatic shatering of the inherited constuction 6 realy fa rt decades has undobtedl eked inci of eprevenatiog, We2 can even deni certain panicked bytera of representation in the ars four ie ‘The Narcissistic and Nihilist Eye ‘The hegemony of sight fre broushe forth glorious visions, in Heidegger's view, uc bs eared incessingly niiste tn modern tines. Heidegger obvereation of aml eet parla thought provoking today, many ofthe architectural project ofthe pst 20 years, {rlebrate by the interationalarchitecaral pres, expres both marc sis and aim, "The hegemonic eye seks domination overall ils of clara peo- ction, andi seems to weaken out capacity fr empay compassion fan parcgaion wit the word. The nazis ee views architecture foley asa means of selEexprestion, and as an intllecual-arttic gue dlsached fom exenal mental and societal connections, whereas the ric eye deliberately advances sensory and mental detachment and lenation, Instead of reinforcing one's boty-centred and ines xpeience ofthe word ie architecrreduengages adios he ody and instead of arempting to reconstrict iral dey, crea reading of aleve sgiiention impossible. The word becomes hedo rite but meaningless val journey Its lear that ony the distancing od detaching seme of von is capable of aii atode i impo wo think fa iit seve of touch, forinstance, beraute of the unavoidable nearnes, ina, veracity and inition that he Sense of touch aries, sate a well as a masochisc eye abo exists, tu heir intents inthe Bel of contemporary arts and arcitretare an ali be tented. The curvent india mas production of vial imagery tends to sient vison fom emotional itvoivement and idenficton, and tor | image ino a mesmerising ow without es or patcpation, Michel de ‘Cereaupesceives the expansion of de ocular realm negatively indeed THE FONE AND THE WEAIDESS OFTHE EE (ey (aS cen ced oy“From television to newspapers, fom advertising to all sorts of mesean- tie epiphanies, our scety i characterised by a cancerous growth of ‘ison, measuring everthing by #8 ability to show ore shows, and transening communication iato a vial cancerous spread of superficial architectural imagery todpy Gevwid tectonic loge find a sense of materi and expat ix bey patf this process. (Oral versus Visual Space ‘But man has not ahwsy been dominated by vision, Tn fac, a prime dominance of hearing ha only gradually been replaced by hat of win. “Anthopologcal bteratre describes murerous calurs in which our ovate senses of sel ast and touch continue to have collective ime tance in behaviour and commanicaion. The roles ofthe senses in the ‘ilstion of elleeive snd personal gpace in varios eles as the subject matter of Edvard T Hal! seminal book Ti lier Desi, ‘which, regretably seems to have been forgoten by archtcts™ Halls pretest of personal space ofr important insights ito instinct tal and uncocseious aspect of eur relation to space and our unconscious tue of space in Behaiowalcommunicacon Has insight cn serve as he bss fr the dag of inate, biocutrally functional pars ‘WialerJ Ong ale the rnson from oral writen core ads ‘impactom human consciounes and the sense ofthe collet in his book (nay & Lita" He pints oot hat Whe at om ra to wren spchh ‘yas evestally a sf Fm sound to Visual space’ and chat “pine Teplice the geting Kerine-omiancr in he wo of thought and txpreson wth height dominance whieh hats beginning in writing’. In Ong’ view [hi anise wold of cold, nonhuman fact. ‘On anljes the changes thatthe shift Kom the proc ral ele to the eure of the writen (and eventually the rite) word has eats fom iuman conioues, memory and understanding of space. He argues that a hearingdominance has yeled to sghtdominanc, ational sings tenella ings hg inthpeytn anual th wel ems eesb writ Top erate pode in rl perch tng oly Ts tn Be ¢ Sd en pce pgp sey recede eel openy lp Tell wcege tegen of he ye many be ity i poeromesn meen of eign Crk gh andes Ta lace ene "hese cnt oo ef # ara rete we ea td cag cum Ka cl er tt crane became een omy ing att sent ot tm wih Rep 1971-1690) tad Dears Tyo {90-106 ten aon snes he wel ce thine wee peal estore word of aay SHOE Rae Mac males eel apaest hehe Tes aretha fine wench ena tena Be ih ony fd el hd lend eng a wc {nd tr afr he The oe a erties wd odo 1 te ved ogres teat refered bar The gradual growing hegemony of ‘the eye seems to be paralle] with the cewtomen of Ween epeomeioten sd egal ean | Sarton th dhe wordt pert om eee ‘Sct wear i vogue scapgel vik peel meso ofthe wer, seinng at ae cppocted td fel ae tn sng oe {Stylo Te my sg poy fo he pc gg ‘Soren acs eo anfemebg wt The ora wd SF pace rng bck he ee fan nei “Te pt ‘Pest one lst ig ar Cason Each me tao Tipe ce tel bnguge Equal be aot aan ach tc in gee rt xpi fa nett ‘or wet whit wee nt mete pecan bt ie Me inepunbiy bog, atic works, estental understanding ariesfom oor very ncn with th wrap orbital it isnot concepulsed or intellectuals, Retinal Architecture and the Loss of Plasticity ‘is evident thatthe arcitecrre of tational ealtures i abo exentlly connected with the tact wisdom of the body, instead of being visually sand conceptually dominated. Construction in traditional cultures = guide bythe body inthe eae way that a bird shapes ts nest by mowe- ‘ent ofits body Indigenous clay and rmud architectures in various pars ‘of the world aeem to be born of the muicular and haptic senses more than the ee. We can even idenily the transition of indigenous eoa- struction from the haptic realm nto the contol of vison as a loss of Plasticity and intimacy, and of the sense of total fasion characteris in the seg of indigenous cultures. ‘The dominance of the sense of shan polaed out in philosophical ‘though equally evden in the development of Westen architecrre (Greek archtecure, with ts elaborate systems of optical corrections, wat already ukimately refined forthe pleasure of the ee: Howeves the piv= Slesing of sight does not necesarly imply a rejection ofthe other senses, asthe hapec sensi, maceriaity and auhoriatve weight of Greek architecture prove; the eye loves and stimulates muscular and tactile sensations. The sente of sight may incorporate, and even reinfore, other tente modalesyte uncontcious tac ingredient in Vion pricy mpoctan nd song presnc ia historical architec but badly neglected i the architecture of our ‘Westen architectural theory since Leon Bata Abert hasbeen pe mary engaged with questions of veal perception, harmony and pro portion, Alberts statement that pining nothing but the intersection ofthe vinal pyramid folowing 2 given ditance,a fied centre and a eran ight’ outies the perpectiva ‘which lo became the instrument of archietural thinking Again, thas wo be empha sid thar the conscious focusing on the mechanics of iin did not sutomatialy ces in the decisive and deliberate rejection of other fences before our co era of the omaipresent vial image. The eve ‘conquers ts hegemonic roe in arclactural practice, both consis tnd unconsciously, only gradually with the emergence of dhe idea of bodies bssrver The observer becomes detached Fem an incarnate relation with the environmen through the suppression of the other senses in particular by means of technological exensionsof the ee and the proliferation of images. As Marx W Wareoiky argues, ‘the human ‘vido iil an arias, produced by other aris, namely pictures “The dominant sense of vison figures suronly inthe writings ofthe rmodernins. Staterents by Le Corbusier ~ sucha ‘T exit in ie ony it Tan se’ am an I remain an mopenitent vasa ~ evrything iin the visual “One needs tose clearly in order to understand’ '.T Urge You f oer er er. Do you open your eyes? Are you trained to ‘pen your eyes? Do you knay how ta open your eye, do you open ‘them often, aways, wol?S2-Man looks atthe retin of architecture vith his ejes, which are 5 fet 6 laches ffom the ground’ and, ‘Architecture is plastic thing. T mean by “plaetic™ what teen and eared bythe eye ~ make de peieging of the eye in eay ode crix theory very lear Further declarations by Walter Gropius —'He [the designer has to adapt knowledge of dhe scenic fais of optics and thus blain dhoretial ground that wil guide the hand giving tape and create an objective bai — and by Lasso Moholy-Nagy ~ “The hygiene of the optical, the health ofthe vibe i aly fering trough ~ confirm the central role of vison in modernist thought Le Corbusier's famous ered, ‘Architecture isthe mastery correct and magnificent ply of masses brought together ight unquestion- bly defines an architecture ofthe ee. Le Corbusier, however, was a great artic talent with a moulding hand, and a tremendous sense of| tateraiy plasticity and grain all of which prevented his architecture from tual ito sensory ceductivin. Regard of Le Corbusier’ >“HE SUFPRESSION OF MSN — THE FUSON OF WSON AnD TACTUTY ee See er Sasso see ee See oie peepee err nn So acest erro re erees ea See Pacem eter ene ee Serr a cs ae ne peer a rey eee eer ee een a »in terns of vision, emphasing the construction of thre-dimensionl ‘vial images in space. vA ‘an Architecture of Visual Images ‘Ts eaertins ar ner ee oe apache at of arhieae than he pal 0 yaa po rica led aa nga ‘enone ul tage, hs predominate aed fan eset ‘Pounded plc and patil expen atest sided ep ‘rool sanyo esing and into pemasion ag he feed ings prac deel om ase and incr? _> David Haney relates ‘the loss of temporality and the search for Tatrtncous pac in tteporaryexrenion theo of exper nual cep Pei amen we tens of ‘emi dep tes! oder the coterporary tur condion ands aon ith apparinces sue snd inant npc at ave no ssaing power or ne’ Ts conequect of he caret dye of images, architect of 2 our tien apes mere ela of he ths completing Shepemelogi je tht eg in Gc hgh and rite Bust change gts beyond mer val Joninnr nea of Being» Shesconal bey ect aciecie has beat anasto the prised nage aed by th bed ee fhe eae Ino calf [pts te ae ters i pita and Tvs py. Tosca of expineing our being in ewer, we bel ito ot tie a specs of ges poe on the mre of the rei David Miia Lovin wo the ty atl tao to doe te peaing tl, sted nd cw von Sin Songs made pepe rears on the rc of te poto- sree image nour perp ofthe we Ste wie rinse ently whch oka the word at ao potential po {Pap and ae athe ety come teem ie and more wat we ares by camer ad hat he mgr of photo graphs an nal fe: on oa eal enna ashing Trae) cowed wel wid a dupce one of imap photoarny tke fel hath wo mesa han eal 97 ‘As tains law thsi aed hei common wa the ung nd wich ofthe by, thy become led i he coo a {sant ream of vison. Wi he lo ose mearire and eas trated rte human body ~ and pair forthe hand arches furl racares Become repel saree, and Sea The dace of constocon fo he elites of mater a eat ote wan architecture ito wage ets the nto a Stenogeaphy deveid ofthe suheney of mater and contin. be authority of pees that Wal Reni regards sa neroary aly fran athe pee of a xs ben Ins Thee profuc of Insrumeniae tctnolgy conceal eit proceaea of constuction, speing as shoe apparins, The Incesing we of reflec ls in aries the dear The sewe of uvaity and alenation, The ontadxioy ope ts pene of tee bulings reece the gue back umaected and “eon renal ose or iagine ie bind there walls Th rhea minor tates our gu and doles the we tigate and henge (The sense of “aura Materiality and Time "The Manas of toy’ standard construction i strengthened bya weak- ened sence of mating Natural materials - stone, bik and wood ~ ll ur vision to penetrate ther surfaces and enable ws to become com ined of the veracity of matter Natural materia expres thir age and Fistor, as well asthe sory of thei ogi and their history of human vse, All mater ents inthe consinuun of te; the patina of wear adds the enriching experience of dime tothe matralsof construction. But the2 thine de mate tay els het fas enmeed inayat pase preset pele 0 thee wits comeing ti mata caer gy Bulings of i techn age willbe im age perteion td hey do nic acrport the dimension of ing or he naval a me tly sian proce foi ea of the tae of wear od bee reed re a ea Thanpeeney encoder and fois wo ex thenesin modern aad achive Teen deve eh tel nag tas ene wich pl seo, pom of ‘any oes aapation ees et patel ik tesa wel rab nd changing eons of mere it This now ety pe en acento ne eae ‘melt and waghlennen of rect eon! conten ios pst expec pc place nd mening "The weaken el reper of nein cody evkomen bas dtenaning etl elec tn te woah of the Area rept Gontaré Boy ‘ting ges an fle stcion tha arp asin proces ht pes pe fine We he {ened grip nt we aren th contin fine, se inthe manne wort ie tk of archer to in i cryerene Artie dress nes ae aes ina bt shold ewe doesnt ene ine nd eae ini cnt ing ‘The coreseerenpini coh deta and concep ie sos of schctinecotibues ote appearance of spa ‘lid ened ence Contemporary eee peng the tanger on engaged wh ecules tnt anoint poem errs he thn pod ing to han exten queioes, This ede as ges ew 2. ‘vcore ett oneal and ana cose ‘Eero god in ou aed erent ely “TE cm¥ OFT ve THE HATE CITYyn anc, contmorty ene a gedit oats a imacing nd of cling devesanton an deers o the ium elon wo reap unig ad were al ere ing thei semaine of ivi seer intimacy, conte wot of art Peqenty inal citancng eon of enue Shy and pene, Tes work ofa speak the leet and th oncepulsng capaci instead of senting the seen athe nde emededreponts. The cenon bombardment of related imagery as on toa gradual empying of age of hei total content, ger are comet i end commodtis ‘nectar to postpone heed uaa intr re commode, onuming theese only without ving the courage or the pny of contonting thi vr exten elie ae made (olive ma abated dream wos” do not wth expen» conservative vw of conenporay ain the tone of Hane Seda tug provoking bit diturting book At fs Tere soe tht sine change as ocd noo ‘enor and prepa experince of he worl ne hat reflected by treandarchtecure I we dei archecre to hme an emancpting bang alin of wining the econ of existe mean ing wet redet on the mite of were wasn which the architect ed fo he ela and mental ely of time, We Shoulda be var of he ways in wich the ey of achecre is being threstened o marine by cure pole, clare omic, coptve and percept dolopment. Achiectire bas com an enangeed at The Rejection of Alberts Window “The il has no, of cous, remained in che monocular, fue eon struction defined by Renisanee theories of paspecive. The hegemonic ‘ye has conquered new ground foe visual perception and expression. The pining: of Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Brooge, fr isance, already imvte a paieipaory eye travel acres the scenes of mlkple events. ‘The 17d-century Dutch paintings of bourgeis fe present casual scenes ad objects of everday se which expand beyond the boundaries of the ‘Albestian windove. Baroque paintings open wp vision with hazy edges, oft focus and mule perspectives, preventing a dsinct,tctil ivi aon and ening the body to wael trough the sory space ‘An esentil ine in he eveluion of modernity has ben the liberation ofthe ee om the Cartesian perspetval epistemology The paintings of Joveph Mallord Willan Turner continue the elimination of the picture frame andthe vantage pone Begun in the Baroque er; che Impesinis| thandon the boundary ine, balanced framing end perspec depth; Paul Cézanne spies to mike vibe how the wold touches Cubs hnadon the sng ical point, reactivate peripheral von ad reinforce tape experience, wheres the colour Geld painters reject ory depth inorder to reinforce the presence of the pining el ae an iconic ai fact and an autooorous realty Land ars foe the reality of the work ith he ely ofthe ved word, and finally artists such as Richard Serra Aiely adres he body aswel as ou experiences of hriontaliy and versa, matric gravity and weigh. “The sme eounterenentagaina the hegemony of the perspecsival tye hae taken place in modem architecture regards of the calarally| ‘prvleged poston of vision. The kinesthetic and eatral architecture of ‘rank Loyd Weight, the muscular and tc buildings of Alvar Aa, and Louis Kahu’ architecture of geometry and graitas ae partic significant examples of this ‘A New Vision and Sensory Balance Perhaps, feed of the impli desire ofthe eye for control and power, 5 is prectely the unfocused vision of our time chat is again capable of ‘opening up new realms of vision and thought. The lon of foean broughtbooty the steam of images may emancipate the ee from it parchal lrsnstion ad gv rset participatory and empathetic gaze The ech ‘olga extensions ofthe ees ave unt now reinforced he primacy of vision, but he new technologies may alo help the bd [.] to dethrone ‘he direst gaze ofthe dsincarnated Cartesian spect’ Marti ry remark: ‘i opposition to the lcd linear, sli, fixed, lanimetric, dosed form of the Renaisance .. the baroque was sinter recesional, soft focused, mail, and open.*® He als argues {hat the “baroque vl experience has a sro tate o haptic quay, which prevent i from turning into the absolute ocularcentrin of its (Caresian perspec val #2 ‘The haptic experience seems to be penetrating the cular reyime szain through the tact presence of modern vil imagery Ina musi ‘eo, for instance, or the layered contemporary urban tanaparency we ‘cannot halt the low of images fr analytic obeeation; tend we have ‘0 appreciate it as an enhanced haptic seston rather lite» ssmaner senses the flow of water against his/her skin. In his thorough and thoughcprovolkg book The Opin of Vision kon ond te Pion Sina, David Michal Levin diferentes between two modes of vision: the asertoric gaze’ and ‘the alte 220.7 In is view the ascertarc gaze is marom, dogmat,intolvact, "gd fed, inflesible exclusionary and unmoved, whereas health {2 asocnted withthe hermeneus theory of tu, tends tse fom = mulpicity of eandpoins and perspetves and is multiple plurals, deocraic, contextual, inlsionaryhovzonal and acing As suggened by Levin, there ae sign hata new mode of looking is emerging Although the new cechnologies have strengthened the hegemony of vision, they may ako help to re-balnce the realms of the senses. Ia Wier Ong’ view "wth telephone, rad, tleviion and vious Lads of sound tape, electronic technology has brought us into the age of “secondary oraliy”. This new oralty has striking resemblances tothe od in i participatory myique, i foaesing of communal sense, i ‘concentration onthe present moment .”7® “We in the Wester world are beginning to dicaer oor neglected ees “This roming avatenes represents something of an overdue isurgency gaint he pain epean sen epee we hve ein four techoolgied world? writes dhe anthropologist Ashley Montag ‘This new awareness is foreily projected by numerous architects coud the wold today whe are attempting to resensualise architecture trough a srengthened seme of materiality and hap, texture and weight, density of space and materaaed ightThe Body in the Centre confront he city wih ny ody my eg mcarure then ofthe area andthe width of the square; my gaze unconsciously projects my body ‘nto the facade of dhe cathedral, where it roams oer the moulin aa fomtour, sein the sizeof recess and projections: my Badly weight Ines the mass of the ated dor, and my hand grays the door pl as Tener he dak oid bend. experience mpl inthe and the cy ‘exits through my embodied experince The Gy and my body spp ment an define each oi. vel the ity an he city dels in me ‘Merleau-Foty’ pilosphy makes dhe human body the centre of the experiential wor, He consistently argued, as Richand Kearney sum- sary, that ts through our bodies as ng cents of intentionality hat we choowe our world and that ur word chooses ws! In ‘Merleau- Ponty’ cn words, “Our own body ie inthe woud asthe heart {sin the organism: it keep the vile spectacle constantly alive, it treats ie in i andl tans tino nd wid it forms ste and "sensory experience fs unstable and alien to natural perception, ‘which we achieve wih our whole body ll at once and which opens on wold of ineracting seme” ‘Sensory experiences become integrated through the body ate, jn the very consti of the body and the human mode of being Psychoanalytic theory has introduced the notion of ody age of body scheana as dhe centre of integration. Our bois and movements are in Constant interaction withthe environment the world and he se inform and cedefine eachother constantly. The peeept of the body and the Image of the worl tn ito one single consinious extent expe- es no body spare roms dome ia space and hee is 0 space netted to the unconscious image of the perceiving we The by intage ie nfrmed fandameraly fen haptic and or mtng experiences early fe. Our visa image are developed ter on, and depend or thse meaning on primal experiences that were acquited Iupialy’ Kent € Bloomer and Charles W Moore argue in their bok Body Memory, al Arcitectre, one of dhe is ties to survey the roe of the body and af the senses in arehietural experience They go ‘on to explain “What i mising fom our dling today are the poten val ranstions between bd imagination, and environment. "To east sone extent every place can be remembered, party because | nique, but pary because it ha affected our bodies and generated ‘ugh asoritions wo holdin our personal worl.” ‘Multi-Sensory Experience A walk through a ores i inegorating and ealing de wo the constant interaction ofall ease modalies Bachelat speaks of the polyphony of the sets ‘The eye collaborates withthe body and the oer senses (One's erse of reality i strengthened and articulated by his constant imeraction. Archiectre is esenially an tension of nature to the ‘manmade realm, providing the ground for percepion and the hori ‘of experiencing and understanding the wor. I nota lated and selsfcent arc it rect our tention and existential experience to vier horizons, Achitectre alo gies «conceptual and mater struc ture to societal institutions as well rt the conditions of daily ie Te ‘omcretes the cyte of the yet the curse of the sun and he pang of the hours of the day very touching experience of architecture multisensory; qualities of | sce, mater and sea are measured equally by the eye, ea, nose, sin, Aongic, skeleton and nucle. Architecture stengihens the existential ‘experience, one’ sense of being in the worl, and tht een 2 "trengthened experince of sl. Instead of mere vision, o the five las ‘seal sees, archiectare involves several alms of semory experience which ineract an fse into each eter! “The pnchologit James.J Gibson regards the sees ax aggresvey secking mechani rather tha mere pave recrvers Instead of the Five leached senses, Gibson categories the senses in five sensory systems ‘nal te, autor ster, the tste-amell ye, the bsiorientingystems and the hapic tem Stsineran phi op ass that we actual fe moles than 12 sense!" ‘The eyes wane co callaborate withthe other senses All the Sense, including von, can be regarded a extensions of the sense of tue —as iasations of the skin They define te interface between the skin tne the emironment between the opaque intesiory of the body and the exerirty ofthe world Inthe view of René Spitz, all erepon Dens in he orl cavity, which serves asthe primeval ridge om inner reception to external perception’! Even the eye implies an unconscious tous, body mimesis and ideation. As “Martin Jay remarks when describing Meleau-Pont’ philosophy of the senses, ‘hough vision we touch the sun and the sta Preceding Merleau-Pon, the Tit plex of impressions, The Hive encounter with Frank Lind Weights Falingwatr weawes the surrounding fret the volumes, surfs, tex: ture and colours of the house, and even the sme of the foetal he sounds of theives, in a niqucly fl experince. An achtecual wok isnot experienced a collection of lated isa pites, bin ily ‘bodied material an spiritual presence. A work of architecture incor porstes and ifines both physical and mental srucures. The via fontaliy of the archiecarl rawing low i he real experince of architectre. Good architeetare ofers shapes an surfaces moulded for the pleasurable touch ofthe ee, "Contour snd profile nodénatre) are ‘he touchstone of the archive a Le Coxbsir ut it revealing a te> tle ingredient in is otherwise ocular underwtanding of architecture: Timages of one esory rea ed further inagery in anther modal. Images of presence give rte to images of memory, magiation and dream, “T]he hie benef ofthe house i tha] the house sheers ay reaing, the house protects the dreamer, the hots allow one to dream in peace writes Bachelird™ But even moe, an achitecual space frames, hak, tengens and focuses our though and prevents them Som geting lot We can dream and seme or bring osteo, but we ee the architectural geometry af room wo think clea The geometry of thought echoes the gometry of the room, In The Boa of Te, Kakuzo Otakura gives a sbte desrption of the smulk-sensory imagery evoked by the simple station of the ea cere ‘mony: Quit eeigns with nothing wo break he sence save the note of ‘he boiling water inthe ton kee The ee sings wel for pices fron ae arranged in the bot a to prtace a peculiar mele in which ‘ane may hear the echoes of a cataract mulled by clouds of a distant sea breaking among the rock, rainstorm sweeping through a bamboo forest o ofthe soughing of pineson some fray hil? In Okara dscrption the prsent and the absent, the near and the distant, the sense and the imagined fase together The body nota mere physical iy tis enriched by both memory ane dream, past and fare, advard 5 Casey even argues that our capacity of memory woul be imposible without body memory" The world is reflected inthe body, tnd the body i projected onto the word. We semeber through our bes as much as through our nervous stem and bai, “The senses not only mediate information forthe judgement of the intellect; they ate ao & means offing the imagination and of arte ling seasory thought. Each form of art elaborates metaphysical and ‘existential thought through its characterise medium and semory ‘engagement Any theory of painting is a metaphyiy? in Meet Ponty’ view ut this statement might ao be extended to the setual making of at for every painting i lf based on implicit asumpsons| about the esence of the word. “The painter “takes his body with hin”, says [Pal Valen Indeed we cannot imagine how «mind could paint. Merkeau-Ponty argues Ie sina inconceivable that we could think of purely cerebral architecture that would not be a prjcetion of the human body and it 'moverent through space. The art of achtecue i also engaged withmetaphysical and exitenil questions concerning man’s being in the ‘word, The making of architecture cal fr clear thinking, but hii speci embodied mode of thought that takes place through the venses And the body, and through the specific medium of architecture, Architecture elaborates snd communicates thoughts of man’ incarnate ‘confrontation wth the world through ‘paste erotions:” In my view the ak of arcitectre to make vibe how the wold touches us| “Mevleau-Ponty sa of he paitings of Cézanne ‘The Significance of the Shadow “The eye ithe organ of distance and separation, whereas touch isthe seme of nearnesitimacy and affection, The ee survey, control nd investigates, whereas touch approaches and caresses, During overpower ing emeional experiences, we tend to close ofthe estancing see of ‘sion; we ose dhe eyes when dreaming listening to musi, o caressing ‘ureoved ones Deep shadows and darkness are essential becase they tm the sharpoes of vison, rake dep and ditance ambiguous, ad invite unconscious peripheral vision and tactile fantasy. How much more mtr and ming the stret of an ld owe ith ies alternating ress of darkness and ight than ate the brig and evenly it sree of toay? The imagination and daydreaming are stim aed by dm ah and shadow In order to think leary, the sharpness of sion has o be suppressed, fr thoughts travel wh an absent-minded nd unfocused gaze. Homogenous bright ight paralyses the imagination inthe same way that homogensaton of space weakens the experience of ling, and wipes away the sense of place. ‘The human eye i most per feb une fr twig rather shan bright daylight, "Mis and twilight awaken the imagination by making viual images unclear and ambiguous, a Chinese psinsing of «foggy mountain land seape, or the caked sand garden of Ryoan-t Zen Garden give sew a unfocused way of looking evoking a tancetike, meditative sae, The abventainded gaze penetrates the surace of the physical image and Feces in infinity In his bok fn Pais of Shas, Junichiro Tanizai points out that even Japanese cooking depends spon shadows nd that ts inseparable om darkened when Tk served na ange dich, ite a i the dark ness the toom were meng on your tongue." The writer reminds us| that, in olen times, che blackened teeth ofthe geisha ander green ‘ack tps 8 well as her white pained ice were ll intended to emp sve the darkness and shadows of the room, Likewise, dhe extraordinary powefal seme of focus and presence in ‘the paintings of Caravaggio and Remand aie om the depth of suckin which the protagonists embedded ik a precious object on ark velvet background that absorbs alight, The shadow gs shape and Iie tothe object in ight. He also prides the real from whith anaes ad dreams are. The art of chiroscuto a sl ofthe master architect too. In great architectural space, there 4 constant, deep breathing of shadow and ig: shadow inland inisaton exhale igh. nour tne, ight has turned into-a mere quantile tater and the widow tas lot its significance as a mediator becween two work, between eneloed and open, interior and exert private and pus lic shadow and ight. Having lost its onalgical meaning the window has cured into a mere absence of the wal "Take [..] the we of enor ‘mous pate windows [..] they deprive oar buildings of tina, the tffct of shadow and atmosphere. Architects allover the world have teen misaken inthe proportions which they have assigned age pate ‘windows or spaces opening to the outside [.] We have lost our sense of inmate lie ad have become freed to live pubic lives exentally way fom home; writes Lie Baragat, the tre magician of intimate secrecy, mystery and shadow in contemporary architecture "Likewise, ‘ost contemporary public spaces would become more enjoyable Ahrough a lower light intensity and its uneven ditbution. The dark ‘womb of the counel chamber of Alar Aalto’ Siynatsalo Town Hall °recreates mysiral and mtbologcl sense of comm darks er nes a sense of solidarity and strengghens the power of the spoken word sit senses towards the more archaic, om von down to hearing ouch sd sel and fom Fight to shadow culture that seks conta ties in ely to promote the oppor dietion mate individuality and idenification ward a pli and distant detach rien. A society of urvellace is neces a soci of the voyeuristic and sacs ye. An fen ret of mel ortae the we of co stanly high eve of lamination that eaves no space for mental with drawal rite; even the dark itera of self exposed and vilted ‘Acoustic Intimacy ‘Sight olae, whereas sound incomp soured is omnidirectional. ‘The sense of ight implies exterior, but sound creates an experience of interior: Lega an objet, bt sound approaches me; the eye reaches, bat the ea reenes Budings do not react 1 our gaze, bu they do retra our sounds back o our eas, “The cent jd sect man's senue of coos’ writes Waker ‘Ong Foe oleate, the corti ongoing even with man att centre, Man isthe iia mand, the navel of the work! Kis thought provoking that he mental los of the ens of cer inthe contemporary orl could be aibuced, a leas ia prt, wo the aappearance ofthe integrity of the sui wor Hearing structures and artical the experience and understating of space We are not normaly aware of the sigiance of hearing in pai experience, although sound ofien proves the temporal continuo it which visual impresions are embedded. When the soundtrack i+ removed fm a fn for instance, the scene loos is plasty and sense of sound bya demonstrative manner of veractingAvian Stokes, the English inter and essay, makes pereptive oberon about the interaction of space and sound, sound and stone ike movers of men, the budings are god listeners. Lang sounds, stint o seemingly in bundle, sppease dhe ores of palaces that lean tack gradually fom canal or pavement. \ long sound with its echo ‘ngs consummation tothe ton he write “Anyone who has halfwolen up to dhe sound of a rin of an amb ‘tural iy and through hit/her sleep experienced the space ofthe iy with ie cous inhabitants seated within is rc tures, knows the power of sound over the imagination: the nocturnal sound ea reminder of human solide and morality and it makes one ‘conscious of the entire skimbering cy: Anyone who has become tance in ‘entranced by the sound of ripping water in dhe darkness of ruin ean uu theexteaoedinary capacity of the ear to carve a volume into the wi of avkness. ‘The pace traced by the earn he darkness becomes a «iy salted ieedy in dhe interior ofthe mind ‘The last chapter of Sten Fier Rasen’ seminal bok Eyring Aint sguicanly ented ‘Hearing Architectre’.® The writer Cdscrites various dimensions of acousal quales, and recalls the scout perept ofthe underground tunnels in Vienna in Onion Wells fim he Thi ar: "Your ear ees the impo both the length and the elindial form of the tunel" ‘One can also recall the acoustic harshnes of an inhabited and vufarisbed howe as compare w the affaiy of a Tved home, in| which sound i refiacted and softened by the mamerous seices of jects of personal ie. Every building or sce Iasi characteriic oun of intimacy or monumental, ination or rejection, hospitals, or howiliy A apace understood and appreciated through is echo as ‘ch as through ts visual shape, but the acoustic perept usualy emai san unconcins backgrund experience Sight isthe seas of the saitary observer, whereas hearing rete a ene of connection snd oir; our lok wanders lonesome in dhe luk depts ofa cathedral, bt the sound of the organ mas weed lately experince ou any wih the pace, We state lone athe suspense ‘of acicis but the burst of apple arte relation of spe unites swith dhe crowd The sound of church bells echoing through he sets ‘of a town makes us aware of our cizenship, The echo of sep on 3 pve street hasan emotional charge cae the sound reverberating {om surouncing walls pus usin ect interacion wth space the und measures space and makes it scale comprehen. We stroke the boundaries of the space with our ear. ‘The ries of seagulls inthe ha our awaken an awareness ofthe vaste of the ocean and de infinite es ofthe horizon. very city as its echo whieh depends onthe pater and acale of strcetand the peeling architectural sles and materials The echo of a Renaissance cy ies fom that a a Baroque ity: But or ete have leat their echo akogeter The wide open spaces of contemporary sees do not return sound, andi the interiors of toda’ lings echoes are alnorbed and censored. The programmed recorded mse of shopping mals and public spaces eliminates the posibltyof grasping the acoustic ‘volume of space. Our eas have ben blinded Silence, Time and Solitude ‘The mos essential auditory experience crated by architeture i ran: uly, Architetre presents the drama of constriction seed ito rater space and light. Ulimately architecture is the art of pied silence. When the citer of construction work ceases, al he shouting of workers dies away a building becomes museum o a wating, patient silence. Ia Egyptian temples we encounter the sec that surounded the pharaks, in the ence of the Gothic eathedral we are reminded of the ast dying note of « Gregorian chant, and the echo of Roman fot eps faded ay rm the walls ofthe Pantheon, Ol houses ak shack to the slow ime and lence of the past The silence of arte: 5ture ea responsive, emembering sence powerfl architectural expe rience ence al enernal nie; faces ateon on our very exe- tence and as with all a, takes ws aware of our fundamental solide The incredible sccleration of speed during the at century bas eo lap time int the at screen of the present, upom wich the simul tancity ofthe world is projected. As time lows ts duration, and ts echo in the primordia pas, man loss hi sense of elf ata historical being, ffom the embrace of the present and allows us to experience the so of time. They enable ws to sce and understand che pasing of ary sno partite in ime eyces hat sips inv ie Arcitectare connect with the dead: through bling we are abe cesion appmaching the cathedral. The time of architecture a detained time; he greatest of buildings time stand my. the (Gren eral at Karnak time has petrified into an mobile and tie tes present, Tie and space are ternaly locked ito cach othe nthe fuse imo one singular elemental experience, the sense of being The great work of modernity have forever halted he tpi tine of opinion and hope; even fer decades of trying ate they radiate an air of spring and promise. Akar Aalto Pino Satori heartbreaking in radian belie fn humane Gnu and dhe succes of the societal the union of reason and beauty ethics and sehen. Thrngh periods of dramatic and tragic oil an cura change, Konstantin Meiko’ “Mela House in Moscow has od a et wits of the wil ad ‘wopian spr tha once erated Experiencing a work of at ina priate dialogue between the work and the viewer ane that exces other interactions, As memory’ mise snd, andl Arts made by the alone forthe aloe’, a Cyril Connelly SPAS OF WIAA WARDwrites in The Ung Gwe. Signicany these ate sentences undetned by Lis Barragan in i copy of thi ook of poetry A sense of mela col Hes beneath all moving experiences of art this the sorow of ‘beauty’s immaterial temporality, Art projects an unatanabl del, the Sea of beauy that momeatarly touches the ete Spaces of Scent We need ony eight molecules of substance to trigger an impulse of sl ina nerve ending, and we an detect more dan 10,000 dizet odour “The mast perstent mernory of any space i fen ite smell. Feinot| remember the appearance of the door oy grander famouse in my easy childhood, but I do remember the resistance of is weight and the patina of it wood suface scared by decades of te, and V recall especialy vividly the scent of home tat hit my face asa inv wall lehind the door. Ever dveling hast nvidulsl of home: A pariur smell makes us unknowingly re-enter a space completly fongoien by the retinal emery, the otis awaken a oroten ag, and we are enticed to enter a vivid dayream. The nose makes the eyes remember. ‘Memuary and imagination main ssciated as Bachelard ‘wes; alone in my memories of another century; ean open the deep ‘cupboard that tl retains for me alone that unique odour, the odour of raisins, dying on a wicker tra: The odour of ean! Tian odo that is beyond description, oe that takes lot of imagination to sme" What dtght to move fiom one reali of edaur to the nex through the narrow streets of an old town! ‘The scent sphere of candy sore ‘makes one thnk of the innocence and easy of eildkoods the dense smell of shoemaker's workshop makes one imagine horses, sad, and harnee straps andthe excitement of siding the fagrance of a ‘read shop project images of health sustenance and physical suength, whereas the perfume of a pastry shop makes one think of bourgeois ‘ici, Fahing towne are expecilly memorable because of the fision of the sms of the sea and of the land the powerfl mel of seaweed makes one sense dhe epi ad weight of the sea, and itn any po= ‘sic harbour town inc the image ofthe lost tants 'A pec joy of trvel so acquaint ose with the geography and rmirocoum of smells and tastes. Every’ cy hast spectrum of tastes and ‘doar Sales counters on the sree ae ppetsing eons of sme creatures of the ocean tht anell of seaweed, vegetables carrying the ‘odour of fertile earth, and fruits that exude the sweet agrance of sn and molt sumer sie The mens dplayed outside restaurants make us fanasse the complete coume of dinner; Iter real bythe eyes tar into eral snstions, ‘Why do abandoned houses always have the same hollow sel: fit became the patel sel simulated by expeines observed by the «je? Helen Keller was able to recognise ‘anol ishioned country house Deca it ha several evel of odours elt by a succession of Fails, of plants, of perfumes and drapes" In Th Nb of Male Lard Brig, Rainer Maria Rilke gives a dra ‘matic description of images of pas if in an already demolished house, ‘conveyed by traces imprinted on the wal of neighbouring house ‘There sted the day at these and the ee rea nd the mae of yur ad he set that els aut under epi ae ‘aks lthes hay andthe tale beth of mouth and the fel oe ‘wc et. Deed he tango rine and the br of ane The sweet, Kingcing sel of neglected ints was thee, and the mae yout!" “The retinal mage of comtemporary architecture certainly appear tre and ies when compared withthe ematonal and asociatve power of the port olfctony imagery: The port lea dhe sent and st com ‘ealed in word, Through his words a reat writer capable of om sirveting an ene ty eth all the colors of Ie. Bt signe worksblock of ats, wit he Corbusier's ketch of the suspen ° ie eating 2 ing bag belo a8 wells the fh andthe let fn onthe Khe table ‘ofthe Villa Stetde Monzi, are example ri of dhe Meni H ther hand, veal dramatic distance beeen the metaphysical goo The Shape of Touch [Hands are a complicated nga, dea in which from the most rent their own wishes, eli, moods and occupations wes Rainer Maria Rik in his essay on Auguste Rodin!" The hands are dhe sel tors ee bat they are ako onguns fr thought a Heidegger sugges: is work carries vel? through the element of thinking, every bearing o he and bear tel in that element ("2 The skin reads the texture, weight, deny an temperature of mater ‘The surface of an old objet, polished to pefeton by the crafisman and the asidvous hands of users, seduces the stroking handle is the handshake of dhe building, The tactile sens connects with ime and raion: through impressions of ouch w hake the hands of countless generations, A pebble polished by wavesis pleasurable to the hand, nt only because of its soothing shape, but lecamse express the sow proces af is formation; a perfec pele on the palm materiales duration i ime turned into shape When entering the magaifcent outdoor pace of Lois Kahn's Sak Insite in La Jolla, California, fla nestle tetation to walk diely to the concrete wall nd touch the velvety smoothes and en Perature of its skin. Our skin waces temperature spaces wih unering| recon; the col and invigorating shadow und ingsphere of warmh ina pot of sun, tua into experiences space and place In my childhood images of the Finnish countryside, can vividly reall wall guns the ange ofthe vn, walls which mule he heat of radiation and meted thes allowing he fit snl of prea sil to announce the approach of summer These eaty pockets of spring were identified by dhe skin ad the nose as much as by he ee ins measured by the botom af the fot; we trace the deny and texue of the ground through our sole, Standing barefoot on a sooth glacial rok by the ea at sunset, and sensing the wart ofthe su-heated stone trough one soe, san extraordinary healing expe- iene, making one part of the eternal eye of nature. One sees the slo breathing of he earth "Tn our houses we have nooks and corners in which we ike o cue yp comfortably To cur up belong to the penumenclogy of the verb to inhabit, and only those who have eared odo so can inhabit wi inte sy” writes Bachlar" And aways, in our dyceams, the house i Jang ral he continue" ‘There is a strong identity Benen naked skin and the sensation of| home, The experince of home is eneaily an experince of inmate warmth The space of warmth around a replace is the space of whi ‘mate intimacy and comiort, Maree Prous gives a poete description of such fireside space a sensed by tte, the ear ne sin: “ti ke a immaterial alcove, a warm eae carved into the oom ite, «one of hot weather with ating houndares™ A sense of homecoming has never be stronger for me than when seeing aight in the window of my chido howe na sow-cneted landscape at sk the memory ofthe warm ite rior gly warming my ror inbs Home and the pleasure of the skin tor io a singular sensation, The Taste of Stone In his writings Adrian Stoes was particulary sense to the reals of tactile and oral sensations Tn employing sno and rough as generic terms of architectural dichotomy Tam better able to preserve both the ala the tactile nsions that under the visual. There ia hunger of the eyes, ane doubles there has been some permeation of the vial sense, a of touch, by the once altembracing orl impulse." Stokes veites also about the “ral iavtation of Veronese marble’ "* and he ‘quotes ete of Jolin Ruskin: should ike to eat up ths Verona touch | ty touch” “There i subi trference between tactile and tae experiences ‘Vision becomes transferred ote aswell certain colours and delicate eas evoke orl sensations. A dtcately coloured paiabed stone su Tice is sbtiminally sensed by the tongue. Our sensory experience ofthe world originates inthe interior sensation of the mouth, al dhe wood tends to return to its oral rigine."The most archai origin of architec tural space sin the cavity of the mouth ‘Many years ago when sting the DI California, designed by Chase and Henry Greene, Il compelled to ee and toueh the delicately shining white marble desold of the Siont door with my tongue. The sensuous materials and silly rat cal details of Cast Scarpa’ architecture aswell a the sensuous colours Jes Residence in carmel, fof Lis Baeragan’s howses fenquently evoke oral experiences. Delica coloured surfaces of sto lst, x highly polished colour or ‘wood suraces also present themaches «9 the appreciation of the tongueJunichiro Tanizaki deveribesimpresively the spatial qualities of the sete of tt, andthe sbi interaction of the senses in he simple at oF uncovering a bowl of sou: With ev nc Wha is whi the darks Aine architectural space opens up and presents itl wth the sane fil es of experience at Tanz’ bowl of soup. Architectural experienc brings the wok into a moet inmate contact withthe Bo Images of Muscle and Bone Primitive man awed hi on body asthe dimensioning and proportion ing stem of his constructions. The esential sills of making alvngin tealonal eles are based on the wisdom of the body tore in the haptic memory The sential knowledge and lof re ancient hunter, Sherman an farmer, ax well of dhe mason ad sone eur, ws an imiaton o an embodied wadiion of the trad, tore in the minular and tactile ees, Skil was learned through incorporating the sequence oF theory. The body knows and remembers. Architectural meaning derives om of movements refined by tradition, not through archaic responses and reactions remembered by the body andthe es, Architecture has to espn ote of primordial behaviour preserved and passed dow bythe genes. Architect dy not only respond othe funesonal and conscious intellectual and sci eva of today’s cy lle: tat alo remember the primordial hunter and fuer co ceald in the body. Ou sensations of ear, protection and home arrooted in the primordial experiences of countess generations Bachelarl call these “images that bring out the prinitveness in wo “primal images!" [T]he house we were born in has engraved within us the hierarchy ofthe various functions of inhabiting We are dhe diagram of the Functions of inhabiting that particular howe, and all dhe eter houses are but variations on fundamental eheme.‘The word habits to worn word a exprest this passionate ltizon of our bodies, whic do not forget, with an unforgetable house, he wie of the strength of the bodily memory! ‘Modern architecture has had ts own conscience in recognising & bia toward the vial mature of designs Architecture of the exterior seems to have interested architect of the avant-garde atthe expense of architecture of the interior. Asi a house were to be conceived fr the Pleasure of the ee rather than forthe wellbeing of the inhabitany series Bileen Gray! whose design approach seems to grow from study of the minut stations of daily ie rather than vl and con postonal preconceptions Architecture cannot, however, become a instrument of mere funt= ‘ional; boy comfor and sensory pleasure without losing its existe aly nein ask A dine ene of distance, resin ad tension has o be maintained in elation to programme Function and confor. piece of architecture sould not become transparent inte utara and rational mies: ic has to mainainsmpenetrable secret and mystery in de oie magination and moins. Tadao Ando tas expresed a dese for tension or opposition ‘beteen factional and uselesses in his work" believe in removing architecture fom fanesion afer ensuring the observation of function ‘as Tn other word Hike to ee how far architecture can pursue Fane ‘on and then, firth puri has een made, to we ow frac ture can be removed from function. "The sgiicance of architectre i found inthe distance betwen and function — Images of Action Stepping stones tn dhe ras of a garde are images an imprints of Footy. As we open a doo, the body weight meet the weight of the dor; the es measure the eps we ascend a stay the hand strokes the handrail and the entre body moves diagonally and dramatically trough space “These sa ierent suggestion of action in images of architecture the moment of active encounter, or promi of function’ and purpose “The objets which arround my body reflet is posse atin upon them, writes Henri Benn. Tes this posbity of aeton tha sep rates architecture fram other forms of ar. Asa corsequence of this inte action bok eacson van inseparable aspect of the experience ‘of aritecture. A meaning architectral experience isnot spy a ‘eres of renal images The ‘erent of architecture are nt visual unis orgs they are encounters, confoatons that interac with memory “Insuc memory the past i embodied in actions: Rater than being con tained separately smeehere in dhe mind or bran itis actively a nar sient in the very boy mosements that accompli 2 paral action, award Cay writes ofthe interplay of memory and actions, “The experince of home i structed by disine actviies~ cooking ating, ocaising reading storing seeping, intimate acts ot by vial ‘ements A building is encountereds itis approached, confonted, rela ‘tones hod, moved through, tise asa condition for other hin Architecture inate, directs and organics behaviour and moxement ‘Abang not an nd in ul frames, artculates, strates ges sieicance, reas, separates and nits, facies and. probs Consequently, base architectural experiences havea verb frm rather than being nouns ues arhitectaral experiences com then, for inane, of apprching oF confonting a bing rather than the for mal apprehension of face of he act of entering a ot sip the ‘eal design of the door of loking in or au though a window ater than the window el as a material bjt oF of cxcupying the sphere