Towards an Articulated Phenomenological Interpretation of Architecture
Towards an Articulated Phenomenological Interpretation of Architecture

Author: M. Reza Shirazi

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-04-23

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1134679726

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book sheds light on the contemporary status of phenomenological discourse in architecture and investigates its current scholastic as well as practical position. Starting with a concise introduction to the philosophical grounds of phenomenology from the points of view of Husserl, Merleau-Ponty and Heidegger, it presents a critical reading of the works of some leading figures of architectural phenomenology in both theory and practice, such as Christian Norberg-Schultz, Kenneth Frampton, Juhani Pallasmaa, and Steven Holl. Highlighting the main challenges of the current phenomenological discourse in architecture, this book formulates a more articulated method of 'phenomenological interpretation' – dubbed 'phenomenal phenomenology' − as a new and innovative method of interpreting the built environment. Finally, using Tadao Ando's Langen Foundation Museum as a case study, it investigates the architect's contribution to phenomenological discourse, interprets and analyzes the Museum building using the new heuristic method, and thus provides a clear example of its applicability. By introducing a clear, articulated, and practical method of interpretation, this book is of interest to academics and students analyzing and studying architecture and the built environment at various scales.

Governance Reform in Africa
Governance Reform in Africa

Author: Jerome Bachelard

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-07-24

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 1134698550

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Poor governance is increasingly recognized as the greatest impediment to economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, some impressive governance reforms are underway in many countries. This includes cases such as Nigeria – formerly the most corrupt country in the world according to Transparency International. Yet other countries such as Chad are still in reform deadlock. To account for these differences, this book examines governance reform in Sub-Saharan Africa based on an analysis of international and domestic pressures and counter-pressures. It develops a four phase model explaining why governance reforms advance in some instances, whilst in others governance reforms stagnate or even relapse. No study has sought to systematically examine the political forces, both international and domestic, behind the successful conduct of governance reform in Sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, coordination, collaboration and mutual support between international and domestic actors is critical to push individual governments onto the path of reform. This book shows that while international and domestic pro-reform pressures are important, an analysis of anti-reform pressures is also necessary to explain incomplete or failed reform. The main theoretical arguments are structured around four hypotheses. The hypotheses are theoretically generated and tested over four case studies – Madagascar, Kenya, Nigeria and Chad. On this basis, the good governance socialization process is inductively developed in the concluding chapter. This model illustrates how governance practices can evolve positively and negatively in all countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, based on the nature and relative strength of international and domestic pressures and counter-pressures.

Husserl and Spatiality
Husserl and Spatiality

Author: Tao DuFour

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-11-29

Total Pages: 293

ISBN-13: 1351116126

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Husserl and Spatiality is an exploration of the phenomenology of space and embodiment, based on the work of Edmund Husserl. Little known in architecture, Husserl’s phenomenology of embodied spatiality established the foundations for the works of later phenomenologists, including Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s well-known phenomenology of perception. Through a detailed study of his posthumously published and unpublished manuscripts on space, DuFour examines the depth and scope of Husserl’s phenomenology of space. The book investigates his analyses of corporeity and the “lived body,” extending to questions of intersubjective, intergenerational, and geo-historical spatial experience, what DuFour terms the “environmentality” of space. Combining in-depth architectural philosophical investigations of spatiality with a rich and intimate ethnography, Husserl and Spatiality speaks to themes in social and cultural anthropology, from a theoretical perspective that addresses spatial practice and experience. Drawing on fieldwork in Brazil, DuFour develops his analyses of Husserl’s phenomenology through spatial accounts of ritual in the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé. The result is a methodological innovation and unique mode of spatial description that DuFour terms a “phenomenological ethnography of space.” The book’s profoundly interdisciplinary approach makes an incisive contribution relevant to academics and students of architecture and architectural theory, anthropology and material culture, and philosophy and environmental aesthetics.

The Routledge Companion to Contemporary Architectural History
The Routledge Companion to Contemporary Architectural History

Author: Duanfang Lu

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-07-31

Total Pages: 509

ISBN-13: 131737925X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Routledge Companion to Contemporary Architectural History offers a comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge report on recent developments in architectural production and research. Divided into three parts – Practices, Interrogations, and Innovations – this book charts diversity, criticality, and creativity in architectural interventions to meet challenges and enact changes in different parts of the world through featured exemplars and fresh theoretical orientations. The collection features 29 chapters written by leading architectural scholars and highlights the reciprocity between the historical and the contemporary, research and practice, and disciplinary and professional knowledge. Providing an essential map for navigating the complex currents of contemporary architecture, the Companion will interest students, academics, and practitioners who wish to bolster their understanding of built environments.

Architectural Humanities in Progress
Architectural Humanities in Progress

Author: Bagoes Wiryomartono

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2022-02-02

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 3030922804

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This monograph brings three branches of philosophy together: epistemology, ethics and aesthetics. It assesses the built environment as a case study from a phenomenological perspective. Under the notion of phenomenology, this study understands the built environment as the hermeneutical phenomenon of being in the life-world that is experienced by people within the socio-cultural and historical context of habitation. Hermeneutically, the built environment as a phenomenon is contextually interwoven with other phenomena within the socio-cultural, historical, and environmental network. Phenomenologically speaking, the task of the study is to excavate, listen to, unfold, divulge, and reconstruct the socio-culturally, environmentally, and historically constructed relationship between people and their built environment that build, develop, and elaborate the system of knowledge, ethics, and aesthetics. By and large, its nature and findings are theoretical and interdisciplinary, so it will be of interest not only for philosophers, but also to scholars studying urban development and anthropology.

The Architecture of the Facade
The Architecture of the Facade

Author: Randall Korman

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-12-30

Total Pages: 475

ISBN-13: 1317529502

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Architecture of the Facade provides a comprehensive study of the facade as both a physical and cultural artifact, highlighting its significance as a critical component of the civic realm and arguing for the restoration of the art of the facade as both a subject of study within academia and an aspiration within the profession at large. As the principal surface of mediation, contextualization, and representation, the facade carries the lion’s share of responsibility for containing the internal environment and confronting the outer world. And yet, in recent decades, the very question of what exactly a facade is has been raised by the dramatic changes in building technology, advances of parametric design, and the ubiquity of autonomous buildings. The Architecture of the Facade addresses these and other related issues. The book is organized into 12 chapters, with each chapter focusing on a particular aspect of the phenomenon of the facade such as those of wall, the frame, transparency, and the role of the facade in civic space. Korman also discusses proportional systems, the language of composition, the role of precedent, the importance of context, and much more. Over 350 photos and diagrams provide readers with a variety of examples of artful facades throughout history. Online teaching resources that accompany this book include a course syllabus, a glossary, and a Pinterest tack board of facades. This book will be of great interest to students in architecture studios as well as instructors and professional architects interested in facade design.

From Doxiadis' Theory to Pikionis' Work
From Doxiadis' Theory to Pikionis' Work

Author: Kostas Tsiambaos

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-22

Total Pages: 359

ISBN-13: 1317205081

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this book, Tsiambaos redefines the ground-breaking theory of Greek architect and town planner Constantinos A. Doxiadis (The Form of Space in Ancient Greece) and moves his thesis away from antiquity and ancient architecture, instead arguing that it can only be understood as a theory founded in modernity. In light of this, the author explores Doxiadis’ theory in relation to the work of the controversial Greek architect Dimitris Pikionis. This parallel investigation of the philosophical content of Doxiadis’ theory and the design principles of Pikionis’ work establishes a new frame of reference and creates a valuable and original interpretation of their work. Using innovative cross-disciplinary tools and methods which expand the historical boundaries of interwar modernism, the book restructures the ground of an alternative modernity that looks towards the future through a mirror that reflects the ancient past. From Doxiadis’ Theory to Pikionis’ Work: Reflections of Antiquity in Modern Architecture is fascinating reading for all scholars and students with an interest in modernism and antiquity, the history and theory of architecture, the history of ideas and aesthetics or town planning theory and design.

Critical Built Heritage Practice and Conservation
Critical Built Heritage Practice and Conservation

Author: Johnathan Djabarouti

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-11-29

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 1003803865

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Critical Built Heritage Practice and Conservation - Evolving Perspectives supports an alternative point of departure for engaging with the historic built environment, by critically questioning the legitimacy of dominant conservation concepts and methods that are often taken for granted within building conservation, architecture, and adaptive reuse. The meaning of heritage is changing. From pastness to presentness, from preservation to participation, and from tangible to intangible, heritage is increasingly understood as a dynamic, social, and intangible process across many disciplines. Consequently, the role and remit of the built heritage practitioner – and in particular the architectural conservationist – is becoming progressively complex and in need of a critical gaze. Is restoration really a falsehood from beginning to end? Should the condition of existing materials determine the conservation method? Is authenticity really an inherent quality within old buildings? By engaging with a critical interpretation of heritage, this book makes space for practitioners to consider the evolution of their own role within a rapidly changing context of built heritage practice. Reinforced by a shift in emphasis from materials to meanings, a ‘socio-material outlook’ is proposed which champions an enhanced focus on intangible heritage within the built heritage sector, whilst still acknowledging the physical condition of old buildings is a priority for many stakeholders. This book has been written with practitioners, students, and educators of architectural conservation in mind – although will also be of relevance to the broader built heritage industry; as well as academics, researchers, and heritage students with a passion for contemporary dialogues in heritage studies.

Take One Building : Interdisciplinary Research Perspectives of the Seattle Central Library
Take One Building : Interdisciplinary Research Perspectives of the Seattle Central Library

Author: Ruth Conroy Dalton

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2016-11-25

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 1317114647

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book evaluates how we experience and understand buildings in different ways depending upon our academic and professional background. With reference to Rem Koolhaas' Seattle Central Library, the book illustrates a range of different methods available through its application to the building. By seeing such a variety of different research methods applied to one setting, it provides the opportunity for researchers to understand how tools can highlight various aspects of a building and how those different methods can augment, or complement, each other. Unique to this book are contributions from internationally renowned academics from fields including architecture, ethnography, architectural criticism, phenomenology, sociology, environmental psychology and cognitive science, all of which are united by a single, real-world application, the Seattle Central Library. This book will be of interest to architects and students of architecture as well as disciplines such as ethnography, sociology, environmental psychology, and cognitive science that have an interest in applying research methods to the built environment.

The Architecture and Geography of Sound Studios
The Architecture and Geography of Sound Studios

Author: Even Smith Wergeland

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-06-21

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 1040048218

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This is a book about sound studios, focusing on their architectural and geographical aspects. It explores how music is materialized under specific spatial and technological conditions and the myths associated with this process. Through ten in-depth studies, it examines the design, evolution and current function of sound studios amidst economic and technological shifts in the music industry. Traditional studios are in flux between the past and future. The industry, while steeped in romanticism and nostalgia, also embraces forward-driven pragmatism and an extensive reuse culture, encompassing heritage audio, building materials and existing buildings. A surprisingly diverse architectural heritage, the most significant feature is the host building, the framework around the studio capsule. Many traditional studios adapt to digitalization with hybrid solutions, reflecting a shift toward smaller, more versatile spaces. In a time when recordings in theory can happen anywhere, destination studios must excel to attract clients, balancing historical legacies with diversification. Although they may be easy to deconstruct, many of the myths endure, sustaining ideas of landmark recordings, unique locations and distinct remnants of sonic heritage. Courtesy of their capacity to keep the past alive in the present, traditional sound studios are best described as museums that work. This book aims to reach scholars and students with an interest in history, theory and preservation, as well as practicing architects and architectural students who wish to find out more about the relationship between sound and space, acoustic design and retrofitting of historical buildings into specialized functions. It also aims to reach practicing musicians, producers, music students and music scholars.