care, place and architecture: a critical reading of christian norberg-schulz's architectural

490 Pages·2015·31.78 MB·English

CARE, PLACE AND ARCHITECTURE:
A CRITICAL READING OF
CHRISTIAN NORBERG-SCHULZ’S
ARCHITECTURAL INTERPRETATION OF
MARTIN HEIDEGGER’S PHILOSOPHY

Hendrik Andries Auret

Submitted in accordance with the requirements
for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor
in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences
Department of Architecture
at the University of the Free State

Promoter: Prof. Dr Walter Peters
Co-promoter: Prof. Dr Pieter Duvenage

2015
For Marnel
Table of contents
Declaration ............................................................................................................................. vi
Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. vii
Abstract ................................................................................................................................... x
Preface ................................................................................................................................... xii
Literary conventions ........................................................................................................... xxi
Glossary of terms ............................................................................................................... xxii
1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Martin Heidegger and Christian Norberg-Schulz ........................................................... 2
1.1.1 Martin Heidegger (1889-1976)................................................................................ 3
1.1.2 Christian Norberg-Schulz (1926-2000) ................................................................... 6
1.2 Research questions and objectives ............................................................................. 11
1.2.1 Norberg-Schulz’s architectural interpretation of Heidegger’s philosophy ............ 11
1.2.2 Heidegger’s concept of care ................................................................................. 13
1.2.3 The art of care as a way towards appreciating architecture as livskunst ............ 15
1.2.4 Research objectives .............................................................................................. 17
1.3 Original contribution ..................................................................................................... 18
1.4 Overview and structure of the thesis ........................................................................... 18
1.5 Assumptions and limitations ........................................................................................ 20
1.6 Relevance .................................................................................................................... 21
1.6.1 The tyranny of efficiency ....................................................................................... 22
1.6.2 The tyranny of lived experience ............................................................................ 23
2 Methodology as the ‘perduring-letting-be’ of research ................................................ 25
2.1 Theoretical context ....................................................................................................... 25
2.1.1 The limitations of logical argumentation and Heidegger’s hermeneutic circle ..... 27
2.1.2 The possibility of grounding research within the hermeneutics of design ........... 28
2.2 A dialogical research design ........................................................................................ 31
2.2.1 The interpretation of literature ............................................................................... 32
2.2.2 Study trip: the archive as immersive process ....................................................... 34
2.2.3 Study trip: site visits and case studies .................................................................. 34
2.3 Towards the resolute repetition of research methodologies ....................................... 35
3 Literature review ................................................................................................................ 38
3.1 The possibility of dwelling ............................................................................................ 39
3.1.1 Paradigm 1: the inability to dwell .......................................................................... 39
3.1.2 Paradigm 2: the story of phenomenology in architecture ..................................... 42
3.2 The reception of Norberg-Schulz’s theoretical contribution ........................................ 46
3.2.1 Norberg-Schulz and Heidegger ............................................................................ 49
3.2.2 Identity and the concept of place .......................................................................... 52
3.2.3 Norberg-Schulz and the certainty of visual perception......................................... 58
3.2.4 Norberg-Schulz and the subject ........................................................................... 61
3.2.4.1 Wang’s first claim ........................................................................................... 61
3.2.4.2 Wang’s second claim ..................................................................................... 62
3.2.4.3 Wang’s third claim .......................................................................................... 63
3.2.4.4 Similarities and differences between this thesis and Wang’s thesis ............. 63
3.2.5 Norberg-Schulz and history .................................................................................. 64
3.2.6 Dwelling and time .................................................................................................. 66
3.2.7 Norberg-Schulz and the metaphysics of constant presence ............................... 68
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3.3 The need for engaging with the ground of dwelling .................................................... 70
4 Christian Norberg-Schulz and the art of place .............................................................. 74
4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 75
4.1.1 The loss of place ................................................................................................... 75
4.1.2 Sigfried Giedion and the new tradition .................................................................. 76
4.2 Phase 1: intentionality, perception and the life-situation ............................................. 77
4.2.1 The purposes and effects of architecture ............................................................. 78
4.2.2 The psychology of perception ............................................................................... 79
4.2.3 Architecture as a symbol-system .......................................................................... 80
4.2.4 The dimensions of architecture: task, form and technics ..................................... 82
4.2.5 The semantical relations within the triad .............................................................. 82
4.2.6 The architectural totality as an intermediate object .............................................. 83
4.2.7 Beyond the psychology of intentionality ............................................................... 83
4.3 Transition 1: from intentions to existential space......................................................... 84
4.3.1 Order and variation ............................................................................................... 84
4.3.2 Meaning ................................................................................................................. 85
4.3.3 The complexity and contradictions of life .............................................................. 86
4.3.4 Lynch, Bollnow and Sedlmayr: the levels of imageability and dwelling ............... 87
4.3.5 Norberg-Schulz’s amalgamated approach to place and existential space .......... 90
4.3.6 Architecture and existential space ........................................................................ 91
4.3.7 The elements and levels of existential space ....................................................... 93
4.3.8 Representation and adaptation ............................................................................ 95
4.3.9 The field, existential space and Venturi’s ‘difficult whole’ ..................................... 97
4.3.10 Architectural history as the search for an existential foothold ............................ 98
4.3.11 Early conceptions of the genius loci ................................................................. 100
4.3.12 Towards a poetic understanding of architecture .............................................. 101
4.4 Phase 2: the phenomenological understanding of place .......................................... 104
4.4.1 Poetry and the life-world ..................................................................................... 104
4.4.2 Place, life-world, and genius loci ........................................................................ 105
4.4.3 Cultivating a mythical understanding of place .................................................... 107
4.4.4 Thing, work and inhabited landscape: a mythical understanding of architecture
...................................................................................................................................... 109
4.4.5 Structural similarity: Stimmung and Übereinstimmung ...................................... 111
4.4.6 Archetypes of the relationship between man-made and natural places ............ 112
4.4.7 Poiesis and technics ........................................................................................... 114
4.4.8 Human identity and the preservation of the genius loci ..................................... 114
4.4.9 Creative participation and architectural authenticity ........................................... 115
4.5 Transition 2: the turn towards language .................................................................... 116
4.5.1 Imagination and the common image .................................................................. 117
4.5.2 From semiotics to phenomenology ..................................................................... 120
4.5.3 The rise of Postmodern Architecture .................................................................. 121
4.6 Phase 3: figurative architecture ................................................................................. 123
4.6.1 The shared and poetic nature of creative participation ...................................... 124
4.6.2 Dwelling and the architectural figure .................................................................. 126
4.6.3 The origins of the language of architecture and its gifts ..................................... 127
4.6.4 Translating the genius loci by means of a language of architecture .................. 131
4.6.5 The ‘new spatiality’ and the language of architecture ........................................ 132
4.6.6 Pluralism, place, and the language of architecture ............................................ 135
4.6.7 Norberg-Schulz’s disillusion with Postmodernism and beyond ......................... 137
4.7 Transition 3: a returning ............................................................................................. 138
4.7.1 A renewed focus on Heidegger’s philosophy ..................................................... 138
4.7.2 A return to place .................................................................................................. 142
4.7.3 Homecoming: returning to the ‘new regionalism’ ............................................... 144
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4.7.4 The return to poetic modernism .......................................................................... 147
4.8 Phase 4: the art of place ............................................................................................ 149
4.8.1 Precognition, the way of wonder and the art of place ........................................ 149
4.8.2 Gestalt phenomenology and the architectural image ......................................... 151
4.8.3 Presence, interaction, and the art of place ......................................................... 153
4.8.4 The dimensions of presence ............................................................................... 156
4.8.5 The structure of implementation: the language of architecture .......................... 158
4.8.6 The results of the art of place: language, style and tradition ............................. 158
4.8.7 The art of place and the authentic art of the experience of living ...................... 160
4.9 Synthesis: the art of place .......................................................................................... 162
4.10 The need for an art of care ...................................................................................... 165
5 Heidegger’s concept of care .......................................................................................... 168
5.1 Introduction: Heidegger’s questions .......................................................................... 168
5.2 The origin of care in Heidegger’s writings ................................................................. 170
5.3 The concept of care in Being and Time ..................................................................... 172
5.3.1 Care, reality, and meaningful things ................................................................... 172
5.3.2 Temporality and the structure of care ................................................................. 174
5.3.3 Care and the situation ......................................................................................... 175
5.3.4 Care, the self, and the other ............................................................................... 178
5.3.5 The nature of care ............................................................................................... 179
5.4 The turn ...................................................................................................................... 179
5.5 The concept of care in Heidegger’s later writings ..................................................... 182
5.5.1 The concept of care in Contributions to Philosophy ........................................... 182
5.5.2 Resoluteness as ‘perduring-letting-be’ ............................................................... 184
5.5.3 Thinking poetry thankfully ................................................................................... 186
5.5.4 Poets and technology ......................................................................................... 188
5.5.5 Dwelling, the fourfold, and care .......................................................................... 190
5.5.6 Language, the Lichtung, and stillness ................................................................ 191
5.5.7 Identity and difference ......................................................................................... 193
5.5.8 The saving power of poiesis ............................................................................... 196
5.6 Being-in-the-world as care ......................................................................................... 197
6 The art of care .................................................................................................................. 199
6.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 200
6.1.1 The loss of care ................................................................................................... 201
6.1.2 Giedion’s understanding of time and the marginalisation of Heideggarian
temporality in Norberg-Schulz’s theoretical project ..................................................... 202
6.2 Phase 1: intentionality and care ................................................................................. 205
6.2.1 Access to the purposes and effects of architecture ........................................... 207
6.2.2 The psychology of perception and seeming ....................................................... 208
6.2.3 Symbol-systems and the dominance of metaphysical thinking ......................... 209
6.2.4 The dimensions and the Being of architecture ................................................... 210
6.2.5 Language as the assertion of correctness ......................................................... 212
6.2.6 The intermediate object and ‘the ought’ ............................................................. 213
6.2.7 The metaphysics of Norberg-Schulz’s approach to intentionality ...................... 215
6.3 Transition 1: care as a way beyond intentionality ...................................................... 216
6.3.1 Order and variation ............................................................................................. 216
6.3.2 Meaning and the being of care ........................................................................... 217
6.3.3 Complexity, contradiction and ‘easy plurality’ ..................................................... 219
6.3.4 Questions regarding the influence of Lynch and Bollnow .................................. 220
6.3.5 Existential space and the influence of Bachelard and Piaget ............................ 222
6.3.6 Architecture, existential space and care ............................................................. 224
6.3.7 Existential space as a system of elements and levels ....................................... 227
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6.3.8 Representation and adaptation: taking care and taking possession ................. 228
6.3.9 The difficult whole and the hermeneutic situation .............................................. 230
6.3.10 Architectural history and ecstatic temporality ................................................... 231
6.3.11 The metaphysical nature of Norberg-Schulz’s early grasp of the genius loci .. 236
6.3.12 The perpetuation of the metaphysical mindset and the promise of poetics .... 237
6.4 Phase 2: care and place ............................................................................................ 238
6.4.1 Care and Norberg-Schulz’s poetic understanding of the world ......................... 239
6.4.2 The life-care-place totality ................................................................................... 240
6.4.3 The way held open by the genius loci amid the mythical understanding of place
...................................................................................................................................... 243
6.4.4 The architectural thing as a work of the concerned mortal ................................ 244
6.4.5 Structural similarity and poetic obedience .......................................................... 247
6.4.6 Archetypes of the relationship between manmade and natural place ............... 248
6.4.7 Poiesis, machination and care-full making ......................................................... 248
6.4.8 Identity, care and the preservation of the genius loci ......................................... 251
6.4.9 Creative participation and architectural authenticity ........................................... 253
6.5 Transition 2: language, authenticity and the potential of care ................................... 255
6.5.1 The metaphysics of image and ideal .................................................................. 255
6.5.2 Phenomenology, semiotics and role of care ...................................................... 256
6.5.3 Norberg-Schulz’s ‘Postmodernism’ and the potential of care ............................ 257
6.6 Phase 3: the failings and potential of the language of architecture .......................... 259
6.6.1 Creative participation and concerned measure-taking ....................................... 260
6.6.2 Dwelling and the ‘appropriate staying’ of ‘emplaced care’ in things .................. 261
6.6.3 The language of architecture and the ecstasies of care .................................... 263
6.6.4 Translation, captivation and obedience .............................................................. 266
6.6.5 The ‘new spatiality’ and appropriation ................................................................ 268
6.6.6 Pluralism, dwelling gratefully, and the art of care ............................................... 269
6.6.7 Postmodernism and indifference ........................................................................ 270
6.7 Transition 3: a returning ............................................................................................. 271
6.7.1 Heidegger’s concept of guardianship ................................................................. 272
6.7.2 The return to place and care ............................................................................... 273
6.7.3 The ‘new regionalism’ and regioning .................................................................. 277
6.7.4 Poetic modernism and care ................................................................................ 278
6.8 Phase 4: a way towards livskunst .............................................................................. 280
6.8.1 Precognition and the art of care .......................................................................... 280
6.8.2 Gestalt phenomenology and the art of care ....................................................... 282
6.8.3 Presence, interaction, and the ecstatic nature of care ....................................... 283
6.8.4 The dimensions of presence and care ............................................................... 285
6.8.5 The implementation of stillness .......................................................................... 286
6.8.6 Re-interpreting language, style, and tradition in terms of care .......................... 287
6.8.7 Livskunst and the holding sway of quiet ............................................................. 289
6.9 Synthesis: grafting the art of care into the art of place .............................................. 290
6.10 Architecture as livskunst .......................................................................................... 293
7 Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 295
7.1 Research objectives ................................................................................................... 297
7.1.1 Norberg-Schulz’s art of place and the role of continuity and change ................ 298
7.1.2 The difference between Heideggarian care and continuity and change ........... 299
7.1.3 Grafting the art of care into Norberg-Schulz’s art of place ................................. 301
7.1.4 Original contribution ............................................................................................ 303
7.2 Care and the broader themes identified in the literature ........................................... 304
7.2.1 The metaphysical assumptions underpinning stedskunst ................................. 304
7.2.2 The temporal nature of care as a way towards grateful dwelling ....................... 306
7.2.3 History and historicity .......................................................................................... 307
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7.2.4 The subject and the Being of the intentional ...................................................... 308
7.2.5 The questionable role of visual perception ......................................................... 309
7.2.6 Identity, tradition, style and language ................................................................. 310
7.2.7 Norberg-Schulz, Heidegger and the art of care ................................................. 312
7.3 The contemporary relevance of the art of care ......................................................... 313
7.3.1 The tyranny of efficiency and parsimonious attentiveness ................................ 314
7.3.2 The tyranny of lived experience and captivated obedience ............................... 316
7.4 Towards livskunst: the life-care-place totality ............................................................ 318

Appendix A: amalgamated index of Christian Norberg-Schulz's theoretical concepts
.............................................................................................................................................. 322
Appendix B: transcription of the lecture "On the Way to a Figurative Architecture"
.............................................................................................................................................. 383
Appendix C: livskunst and building ................................................................................. 416

Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 441

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Declaration
I declare that the thesis hereby submitted by me for the Philosophiae Doctor degree at the
University of the Free State is my own independent work and has not previously been
submitted by me at another university or faculty. I further more cede copyright of the
thesis in favour of the University of the Free State.

Hendrik Andries Auret
May 2015
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Acknowledgements
Foremost I would like to thank my supervisors, Professor Walter Peters of the Department
of Architecture at the University of the Free State (UFS) and Professor Pieter Duvenage,
the head of the Department of Philosophy at the UFS, for their questions, kindness,
insights and improvements. This thesis has benefitted tremendously from the scrutiny of
Prof. Peters. His exacting standards leave one with nothing but respect for his ‘way of
being an architect’. Prof. Duvenage has been gracious enough to seriously (and
enthusiastically) engage yet another architect trying to appropriate philosophical ideas for
architectural purposes.
In many ways my architectural heritage mirrors the theoretical tradition of the UFS
Department of Architecture. I would like to acknowledge those who introduced me to the
work of Norberg-Schulz, especially Jan Smit, Petria Jooste-Smit and Gert Swart. I would
also like to acknowledge Dr Ora Joubert, whose course on the relationship between
modern art and modern architecture played a significant role in shaping my understanding
of Sigfried Giedion’s approach. Other lecturers at the UFS Department of Architecture
who contributed to my ‘formal education’ include Marguerite Pienaar, Henry Pretorius,
Kobus du Preez, Dr Jacques Laubscher, Charl-Pierre Cilliers, Pieter Venter, Alet van der
Merwe, Gerhard Bosman and the indomitable Jan Ras. Later I had the privilege of
teaching at the UFS and would like to extend my thanks to Martie Bitzer, Rudolf Bitzer,
Carmen Dickens, Hein Raubenheimer, and Jako Olivier.
I would like to single out two individuals who passed away in 2013, and who were mentors
to many; Professor Emeritus Bannie Britz and Professor Pattabi G. Raman. Prof. Raman
guided me through many of my initial ideas regarding what this thesis should be about,
and opened my eyes to the possibilities ensconced in the word ‘parsimonious’. Some
years ago, Prof. Britz told me that ‘architecture must dignify the human condition’; an
assertion which inspired me to consider the nature of this ‘condition’, and the extent to
which works of architecture are able to dignify it.
A large part of this thesis was written while living in Canada. I would like to thank
Professor Graham Livesey, from the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of
Calgary who motivated me to seriously question Norberg-Schulz’s contribution and gave
me the chance to test my ideas within a new milieu. In this regard I would also like to
thank Associate Professor Catherine Hamel, and Professor Branko Kolarevic.
During my research trip to Oslo, I had the pleasure of meeting Professor Karl Otto
Ellefsen, Rector of the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, and Dr Gro Lauvland,
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Adjunct Associate Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. I
would like to thank Prof. Ellefsen for his generosity, his willingness to share his
recollections of Christian Norberg-Schulz, and for arranging a meeting with Dr Lauvland.
Dr Lauvland’s expertise on Norberg-Schulz’s theoretical work and her assistance in the
translation of the Norwegian extracts reproduced in this thesis has been invaluable.
Reflecting on the correlation between Norwegian and Afrikaans words has been an
illuminating experience. I would also like to thank the staff at the archive of the Norwegian
National Museum (Architecture) for arranging access to the study room and their excellent
collection. In particular, I would like to thank Lise-Mari Valle Olsen, for her courteous
assistance. Others who assisted my research efforts in Norway include Jørn Christensen
and Marit Åsleien.
I am grateful for the thoroughness displayed by the three anonymous assessors who
made a series of recommendations following the initial submission of this document.
Besides identifying some formatting and technical points, their insightful comments also
called attention to instances where my reasoning could be improved. In addition they
pointed out the relevance of the work of Jacques Derrida and Manuel Castells to the
position advocated by this thesis.
I would like to thank the external evaluators who, at research forums organised by Prof.
Peters, commented on the progress of my work: Dr Diaan van der Westhuizen, Dr Susan
van Zyl, Dr Jackie du Toit, Dr Doreen Atkinson, and Alet Olivier. I would also like to extend
my gratitude to my fellow doctoral candidates, Madelein Stoffberg, Craig Atkins and
Yolanda van der Vyver who were generous with their suggestions. In addition, Dr Jacques
Raubenheimer who offered valuable instruction on the formatting of thesis documents,
and Annamarie du Preez (at the UFS library) who always made time to assist students in
need of more ‘sources’. Special thanks are also due to Janet Whelan who provided editing
and proof reading services.
I also acknowledge the contribution of Calvyn du Toit, who initially called my attention to
the set of problems posed by migration and multi-culturalism. Our collaboration inspired
me to reflect on the role works of architecture play in the interaction between established
places (and those who dwell in them) and the arrival of new inhabitants.
I have had the intermittent privilege of working at Roodt* Architects in Bloemfontein. I want
to thank Anton Roodt, Madelane Gerber, and my colleagues for being committed to a
work environment that values (amid the very quantitative realities of the building industry)
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