ASSIGNMENT 5- THE EYES OF MY SKIN

-ojasvi kandhia 190009

Sem6 Architectural theory

In this book the author emphasizes how the sense organ is particularly visual and is important to feel the
building. He tells how the visual impacts the psychology of the people. He recalls that occupied by the
visual sense we suppress what is utmost important – and that is the spatial experience we are invited to.
You probably wonder what this has to do with fishing. But just like architecture provides a space, which is
inhabited – fishing means inhabiting a space built by nature, evolving constantly. If it is important to think
of architecture by sensing past the obvious exterior – meaning taking the oblivious into account … to feel
connected to far more than what we see – it is just as important to contain what has been constructed by
nature to make sure that beauty is still sensed in the future…
Sight is our dominant sense. We constantly rely on it as we study and categorize our surroundings.But
experiencing the world mainly through our eyes leaves us a distant observer. By watching something we
create a distance between ourselves and the object. By touching it we connect with it.Try watching a
movie without sound. A great deal of emotion is left out of the experience compared to having the sound
on.Eyes give us control. We can close our eyes from what we do not want to look at. Distancing ourselves
from an unpleasant sound or odor is more difficult. Touch connects us to the world. Touching and being
touched is essential to our wellbeing.
As humans, we seek sensation. If we leave out the physical sensations – be it enjoying the sounds and
scents of nature, listening to music, moving our body, tasting ripe fruit, or kissing someone – our minds
easily begin generating their own drama to fill the void. It is funny how superficial our sense of design
often is. If we want to improve our homes, we easily end up changing our looks. By shaping our living
environment to meet and greet all of our senses, we feel more alive. After all, home is not a look. It has
far less to do with style than with all the activities that it houses. A space can look beautiful in pictures but
that is not enough to make it nice to live in.
Scents, acoustics, tactile materials, forms, light, shadow, the weight and proportion of things, as well as
the overall spirit of the space, overrules pure aesthetics.
These qualities have a great impact on whether we feel comfortable, safe and at peace – or annoyed and
stressed.
● The comfort and adventure small children find when building huts to play in, is a good example of
design that is created using all senses, not for the sake of visual perfection.
● “The experience of home is structured by distinct activities – cooking, eating, socializing, reading,
storing, sleeping, intimate acts – not by visual elements.
● A building is encountered; it is approached, confronted, related to one’s body, moved through,
utilized as a condition for other things.
● Architecture initiates, directs and organizes behavior and movement.
● A building is not an end in itself; it frames, articulates, structures, gives significance, relates,
separates and unites, facilitates and prohibits. Consequently, basic architectural experiences
have a verb form rather than being nouns
● Authentic architectural experiences consist then, for instance, of approaching or confronting a
building, rather than the formal apprehension of a facade; of the act of entering, and not simply
the visual design of the door; of looking in or out through a window, rather than the window itself
as a material object; or of occupying the sphere of warmth, rather than the fireplace as an object
of visual design.
● Architectural space is lived space rather than physical space, and lived space always transcends
geometry and measurability.”
 The Privileging of Sight

Pallasmaa outlines firstly how and why the sight became privileged over the other senses over time. The
eyes and eyesight have traditionally been felt to influence the construct of philosophy. To ‘see’ something
clearly is to understand it.

● ‘The eyes are the organic prototype of philosophy. Their enigma is that they not only can see but
are also able to see themselves seeing. This gives them a prominence among the body’s
cognitive organs. A good art of philosophical thinking is actually only eye reflex, eye diabetic,
seeing-oneself-see’

– Peter Sloterdijk as quoted by Juhani Pallasmaa.

● Not only that but the idea of perspective of a story or sequence with a plot or horizon tends to set
understanding of the world in a visual way. Architecture is our primary sense in relating us with
space and time, and giving these dimensions a human measure.
● ‘Architecture is the masterly, correct and magnificent play of masses brought together in light’

– Le Corbusier

Pallasmaa talks about the unending rainfall of images in the modern world and that was at a time before
the internet became the medium of modern connected culture that it is today. If it was true in 1996 than it
is even more so today. So this narcissistic eye views architecture solely as a means of self expression,
and an intellectual game of surfaces only

Oral vs Visual Space

‘the shift from oral to written speech was essentially a shift from sound to visual space’

-Walter J Ong on Orality & Literacy

Written speech moves us towards visual space. Not found in the book but again I can think of some good
examples here which illustrate the point. The Finnish Kalevala is a huge poem that tells the epic story of
Finnish culture from before Finnish was written down as a language. Only after this was the Kalevala
poem or song written down, it actually had to be saved for posterity. Likewise the Aboriginal songlines
which are stories that literally mean Australia was mapped aurally long before it was mapped or even
represented visually.

This increasing visual bias has never been more prevalent than in the last 30 years and though it’s not in
crisis a change has occurred recently for the worse in Architecture such that the image is almost
exclusively the frame through which we understand Architecture. Also that the methods of production of
Architecture, modern capitalism, have reinforced visual primacy.
 The Body In The Center

But naturally we sense space through our bodies primarily. Everything we sense is measured out in
reference to ourselves and our own bodies and everything in turn is shaped based on these spatial
understandings. We should also talk about sensory systems, and not senses separated from each other.
The delineation of these senses rigidly tends to obscures the fact that they build understanding when
used together.

Slow Down

The speed of modern life and procession of contextless images has collapsed time. The other senses like
sound especially restore a sense of time to Architecture. For Pallasmaa sound incorporates, it is
omni-directional and can structure and articulate experience. Also smell brings in memory more strongly
than the other senses. For Pallasmaa the most consistent memory of a space is often it’s smell. These
added senses prioritize the interior qualities of a space.

● ‘Architecture of the exterior seems to have interested architects of the avant-garde at the expense
of architecture of the interior. As if a house were to be conceived for the pleasure of the eye
rather than for the wellbeing of the inhabitants.

– Eilen Gray

● Architecture qualities then should not be thought of as immaterial timeless things but instead think
of them as space verbs so instead of space, use spacing. Instead of time, use timing
● ‘ All experience implies the acts of recollecting, remembering and comparing.