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275 Pages·2017·6.203 MB·English
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ARCHITECTURAL THEORISATIONS AND PHENOMENA IN ASIA The Polychronotypic Jetztzeit - FRANCIS CHIA HUI LIN Architectural Theorisations and Phenomena in Asia Francis Chia-Hui Lin Architectural Theorisations and Phenomena in Asia The Polychronotypic Jetztzeit Francis Chia-Hui Lin Chinese Culture University Taipei, Taiwan ISBN 978-3-319-58432-4 ISBN 978-3-319-58433-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-58433-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017949485 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and trans- mission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover design by Fatima Jamadar Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland 本書獻給我的父親 林清長先生、母親 賴浣月女士、姐姐 林俐妏 女士以及我的外甥 陳永鈞 This book is dedicated to my family in Kaohsiung, Taiwan Preface The motif of this book emerged from years of theoretical writing about Asian histories, cultures, architecture and urbanism. During this time I have become convinced that Asia needs alternative methodologies to those that have been set up for dealing with typical ‘Western’ contexts, for the Asian phenomena that have encouraged conclusively a proper starting point of the philosophy of the humanities. Nevertheless, the nature of theorisations has gone deeply enough to lay the foundations on which many crucial problems of contemporary Asia might be solved. Above all, it is Asia’s heteroglossic and decolonisation character that calls for thoroughgoing analyses. At the time of the emergence of concern with Asia’s present-day situations, it was little more than a heading for a number of vital problems which, in current scholarship, have yet to be scrutinised in detail. Nearly all these problems are closely related to the character I have pinpointed, and hence related to the phenomena of experience and time, which can be studied only by the most rigorous philosophical reflection. Only when the nature of internal time- - consciousness is grasped can we tackle the complicated and mostly invis- ible and immeasurable structure of the concepts of the humanities that are implied by architectural and urban representations. Amongst these concepts are those of the interpretation of one’s own and others’ experi- ences, observations and insights, and, above all, the nature of spatiotem- poral formation upon which is based the very ideology of historiography vii viii Preface towards its subject matter. All these must be accompanied by very detailed and laborious investigations—unavoidable if one is to become clear about the basic categories and methodologies of knowing contemporary Asia. I believe that only such clarification of the hitherto obscure nature of contemporary Asian scenarios can guarantee a precise grasp of Asianised perspectives. I believe that only philosophically founded theory of meth- odologies can exorcise the pseudo-problems which today not only hinder research in Asian studies but also involve architecture and urbanity. Architecture, as a study that deals with issues of the humanities, relies strongly upon applied criticisms; however, they often have built stand- points in very different positions. On the one hand, architecture tends to absorb the texts of its predecessors but does not directly comment on texts and authors, even though it has been very much influenced by them. Architecture simply makes use of the material that it finds in the texts. When advances are made in architecture, later thinkers condense the findings and move on. On the other hand, architecture also often becomes enshrined as exegeses rather than resources to be exploited. Architectural theorists tend not to ask where architecture goes from here; instead, they inform the public about the doctrines of major thinkers, who are prone to imply reactions to earlier works rather than paraphrase them. Because this book is a critical examination of contemporary Asian architecture and urbanism, I use the vocabulary developed both in architectural and Asian tradition. However, I do not overwhelmingly comment on these terms as though they were alien to my own thinking; I use them and reposition them in different contexts. I believe architecture and Asia name important phenomena, and I want to make these phenomena available to my readers. In this work, I do not trace explicitly but only critically the manner in which these and other terms arose in the disci- pline of architecture and Asian studies; I use words with serviceable standpoints because they still have life in them. These terms need not be explained; it is sufficient to show they are represented as forms of the immediate historicity of contemporary architecture and Asia. Theorising contemporary Asian architecture and urbanism is no easy matter. In this book I take a bidirectional approach, dealing with the same problems from a variety of angles in an attempt to try and deal with some of the complexities. I have also compiled a limited yet well-directed Prefac e ix glossary of theoretical concepts; brief definitions are provided, but more importantly, the intention is to guide the readers to those boundary- - challenging texts where alternative theorisations have been made to medi- ate the looseness of compatibility between the dominant Western epistemology and emergent scenarios in Asia. The intention behind this book is to make this quest a little easier. Alone with this ambition to bridge the existing to the new, in this book I have built a platform for a conversation between different standpoints; may it help cultivate the life of reason expressed in all the human experiences that architecture represents. Francis Chia-Hui Lin A Note on Transliteration and Romanisation One issue that sternly impacts scholarship on approaching the diversity of Asia and its theory also tasks the researchers today who attempt to study those same communities and break down surfaced and pseudo- - knowledge: the problem of languages that represent non-English con- cepts. In this book, I have used a great many Asian concepts that have unique terms in their own languages— Taiwanese, Han, Japanese and Malay—and philosophical concepts that are largely rooted in French and German. All these ideas are provided with English explanations where they are first used and quoted in the book; however, the original charac- ters and Romanisations are also provided to avoid misunderstanding and misinterpretation. This book applies the transliteration and Romanisation conventions generally used for work on Asia, architecture, critical theory and the humanities, except for original use in the citations or references and those terms that have already been known and extensively recognised by the public and academia. Asian individuals whose names are Romanised have their surnames placed after their given names. Those terms that are specific in their original languages, that are blended with argumentation in this book, or that are philosophically unique and hence unusual in their meaning in plain English, are italicised. xi Acknowledgements I should like to acknowledge the following people who have helped me in various ways in my studies and hence in the writing of this book: Philip Goad, Anoma Pieris, Mark Hinchman, Hannah Lewi, Chia-Li Chen, Cherch Kang Foo, Wei Hsum Yap and Li Jia Chen. Some of the theoretical notions were tested with groups of students I taught at Taylor’s University, Malaysia, and I am grateful for their inspiring responses. Above all, I owe special debt of gratitude to my family— Ching-Chang Lin, Dora Lai and Lilian Lin—for years of support. There are others who have assisted me in conducting the research and giving birth to the con- cepts that I have argued in the study. To anyone I might have uninten- tionally overlooked, I declare for the sensation of appreciation faithfully. Subang Jaya, Malaysia, 2017 Francis Chia-Hui Lin xiii

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