Chora 1: Intervals in the Philosophy of Architecture PDF
Preview Chora 1: Intervals in the Philosophy of Architecture
CHORA Managing Editor: Alberto Perez-Gomez CHORA, the Greek word for "space," is the title of a new collection of books devoted to exploring the potential of architecture beyond conventional aesthetic and technological reductions. In a world where unabated scientism and irrelevant nihilism are prevalent, where the supposed alternatives to the rationalist and functionalist building practices of modernity are often no more than empty formalism and extrapolation of deconstructivist positions into architecture, CHORA offers a forum for pondering other possibilities. Is it possible to affirm the specificity of architecture vis-a-vis both technological building and the mass media, while avoiding futile turns into nostalgia? Can we recognize the truth present in our architectural tradition and the hope revealed in our presence as embodied human beings, while rejecting the dangerous delusions of absolute, transparent truth and logocentric power? Architecture is at a crossroads. If its role as a stage for the perpetuation of human culture is not recognized and redefined, its demise will be inevitable. The work of the architect - a work of imagination - cannot be simply a dominating gaze, a solipsistic play of mirrors, or a manifestation of the will to power. It may yet be something different - something that must be explored and that may, as reconciliatory action, point to a referent other than itself. In a world where the media establish new paradigms of communication approaching the ephemeral nature of embodied perception and the primary orality of language, architecture may indeed be able to carry intersubjective values, convey meaning through metaphor, and embody a cultural order beyond tyranny or anarchy. CHORA will offer a space to meditate on the possibility of such an architecture, capable of both respecting cultural differences and acknowledging the globaliza- tion of technological culture. Interdisciplinary by definition, and reflecting a variety of cultural concerns, its essays will operate from within the discipline of architecture. Generated by personal questions of pressing concern for architec- ture and our culture, these radical explorations of form and content may suggest alternatives for a more significant practice. While the main philosophical frame- work for CHORA stems from phenomenology and hermeneutic ontology, the architectural pursuits in this collection could be placed generally in the broad context of European philosophy, which demands a fundamental redefinition of thought and action, and a substantial rethinking of traditionally accepted values. I INTERVALS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF ARCHITECTURE (1994) Edited by Alberto Perez-Gomez and Stephen Parcell This page intentionally left blank Chora 1: Intervals in the Philosophy of Architecture CHORA VOLUMEONE Intervals in the Philosophy of Architecture Edited by Alberto Perez Gomez and Stephen Parcell Phhuhblished for the History and Theory of Architecture Graduate Program, McGill University by McGill-Queen's University Press Montreal & Kingston London Buffalo CHORA is a publication of the History and Theory of Architecture graduate program at McGill University, Montreal, Canada MANAGING EDITOR Alberto Perez-Gomez EDITORS Alberto Perez-Gomez, McGill University Stephen Parcell, Technical University of Nova Scotia ADVISORY BOARD Annmarie Adams, McGill University Ricardo L. Castro, McGill University Derek Drummond, McGill University Marco Frascari, University of Pennsylvania Arthur Kroker, Concordia University Donald Kunze, Pennsylvania State University Phyllis Lambert, Canadian Centre for Architecture David Leatherbarrow, University of Pennsylvania David Michael Levin, Northwestern University Katsuhiko Muramoto, Pennsylvania State University Juhani Pallasmaa, University of Helsinki Stephen Parcell, Technical University of Nova Scotia Louise Pelletier, McGill University SECRETARIAL ASSISTANCE Susie Spurdens EDITORIAL ASSISTANCE Michel Forand McGill-Queens University Press 1994 ISBN 0-7735-1193-8 (cloth) ISBN 0-7735-1176-4 (paper) Legal deposit third quarter 1994 Bibliotheque nationale du Quebec Printed on acid-free paper in Canada Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Chora : intervals in the philosophy of architecture 1994- Annual. ISSN H98-449X i. Architecture - Philosophy - Periodicals, i. McGill University. History and Theory of Architecture Graduate Program. NAI.C46 7zo'.i C94-9OO762.-5 Typeset in Sabon 11/13 by Caractera production graphique inc., Quebec City. Contents Chora: The Space of Architectural Representation Alberto Perez-Gomez i The Measure of Expression: Physiognomy and Character in Lequeu's "Nouvelle Methode" Jean-Francois Bedard 35 Michelangelo: The Image of the Human Body, Artifice, and Architecture Helmut Klassen 57 Architecture as Site of Reception - Part I: Cuisine, Frontality, and the Infra-thin Donald Kunze 83 Fictional Cities Graham Livesey 109 Instrumentality and the Organic Assistance of Looms Indra Kagis McEwen 123 Space and Image in Andrei Tarkovsky's "Nostalgia": Notes on a Phenomenology of Architecture in Cinema Juhani Pallasmaa 143 The Momentary Modern Magic of the Panorama Stephen Parcell 167 The Building of a Horizon Louise Pelletier 189 Anaesthetic Induction: An Excursion into the World of Visual Indifference Natalija Subotincic 217 About the Authors 273 This page intentionally left blank Chora: The Space of Architectural Representation Alberto Perez-Gomez Chora
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