Sunday, March 11, 2012

The Body as the Site

Island = Site = Body

" The task of Architecture is to provide a specific horizon of perception and understanding of the human condition… Instead of merely creating objects of visual seduction, profound architecture relates, mediates and projects significance. It defines horizons of perception, feeling and meaning; our perceptions and experiences of the world are significantly altered by architecture."

Juhani Pallasmaa

For the past century, architecture has been mainly concerned with formal aesthetic values and programmatic matters, while ignoring the cultural context and the profound sensory dimensions of design. This century even more seems to be obsessed by excessive visual imagery, which promotes what Pallasmaa defines a retinal architecture: it is “deliberately conceived to be circulated and appreciated as instant and striking photographed images, rather than being experienced slowly in an embodied manner through a physical and full spatial encounter.” It is seductive, iconic, photogenic, and done to be observed, reproduced, published…
However, while passive spectator of the predominant architecture of image, we can actively embrace the alternative approach of the architecture of essence, whose task is to provide a specific horizon of perception and understanding of the human condition and strengthen the sense of the real.
offers a different approach to architecture design, where people (the inhabitants) are put first and the building is generated around them.
-  to enhance the close connection between occupant and material, symbolic, and sensorial aspects of designed spaces.
- outcome = an architecture generated from the inside


Two ends of the island with differing sensory experiences.

Site 1 = Woolshed = Brain (logic, science), Heart & Reproduction areas of the island
  • Research, Laboratory (brain, logic areas)
  • Nursery, Restoration, Replanting, Rejuvenating, Growth (reproduction)
  • Lifeblood of the island (heart)
Site 2 = Water Tower = Brain (stored memories) of the island
  • Traces of past history (memory, emotion)
  • Water storage, accomodation, recreation
  • Proximity to main beach & entry point to island (wharf)
  • Recreation, Rest, Fun, Commerce

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