Post 7: Phenomenology

The overall concept of analyzing architecture by means of phenomenology is simply another form of analysis just like Eisenmann and deconstruction. Phenomenology is guided by the experience of consciousness and is often related to the analysis of the structure of experience itself. Regarding architecture, Norberg-Schulz provides a basic summary of the relationship between the experience of human consciousness and architecture. He writes;

“Basically it is a question of getting away from the abstractions which are foreign to life and from the worn-out stimuli of the present world, in order to return “to the things themselves”. This phenomenological position certainly underlay-even if at an unconscious level the efforts of the Neue Sachlichkeit, so that it would be a misunderstanding of its meaning to reject it as rationalism (22). A return to things in architecture means speaking once more of landscape, of urban spaces, of facade and articulation: These are not forms “in themselves”, but things saturate with significance, which is to say elements of a human world. To conclude / should like to sum up my discussion:

1. Human identity depends on (among other things) identification with a place. We call this identification “dwelling”.

2. Human identity presupposes the identity of place.

3. Identity of place implies specific qualities.

4. These qualities are locally and culturally conditioned.

5. The qualities may be distinguished into spatial organization and formal articulation.

6. Formal articulation renders concrete a specific genius loci.

7. The genius loci is a “opposite” which man must come to term with.

8. A living tradition means expressing the genius loci in a mode which is new, albeit consistent throughout time.

9. Architecture means creating places which allow for dwelling.

10. Architecture can only be understood phenomenologically.”

– (“Genius Loci”, 67)

This summary by Norberg-Schulz aligns closely with the ideas of Heidegger and Kahn who he references in both of the following writings; “Kahn, Heidegger, and the Language of Architecture” and “Genius Loci”. Heidegger uses language in  “Building, Dwelling, Thinking” as a way to analyze architectural elements through the lens of phenomenology by labling the elements with specific terms thereby abstracting the understanding of architectural elements to fit into rigid definitions set by phenomenological language, architecture can have meaning in the experience of consciousness. In the following excerpt, Heidegger’s use of language to ascribe meaning to buildings is a clear example of how language is being used to access the human experience of consciousness;

“Bauen originally means to dwell. Where the word bauen still speaks in its original sense it also says how far the essence of dwelling reaches. That is, bauen, buan, bhu, beo are our word bin in the versions: ich bin, I am, du bist, you are, the imperative form bis, be. What then does ich bin mean? The old word bauen, to which the bin belongs, answers: ich bin, du bist mean I dwell, you dwell. The way in which you are and I am, the manner in which we humans are on the earth, is buan, dwelling. To be a human being means to be on the earth as a mortal. It means to dwell.”

– (Heidegger, 348-349)

Norberg-Schulz understood the concept Heidegger put forth in this writing and explored it elaborately in his writings and compared it to Kahn’s theories of phenomenology in architecture as well. In Norberg-Schulz’s summary, he reinforces the same core theory shared by Heidegger and Kahn that the human experience of consciousness has a critical relationship with the human experience of place. Each theory sprawls out into an expansive and complex web of definitions and connections and inferences but there is sufficient evidence that each theory starts with the same premise. Understanding this starting point is the key to understanding their logics as their webs grow. 

Citations: 

Heidegger, “Building, Dwelling, Thinking” (1954)

Norberg-Schulz, “Genius Loci” (1976)

Norberg-Schulz, “Kahn, Heidegger, and the Language of Architecture” (1979)