3 Interesting Points of View on the Experience of Architecture

While browsing around, I found some very interesting articles. I thought I’d share 3 of them with you today.

1. What Every Architect Should Ask Him/Herself

Maria talks about the benefits of Environmental Psychology for architects. It can teach architects ways to create environments more suited to the needs, wishes and desires of its occupants. She suggests some interesting questions here. The questions may seem simple at first, but tend to be quite complex if you consider how these questions relate to the perception, cognition and behaviour of human beings. Maria concludes: “The more you understand about how occupants interact with their environments, the better your designs will be.” And I think she makes a good point here.

Read about it yourself: Environmental Psychology: What Every Architect Should Ask Themselves

2. Authentic Architecture

This one is a bit more philosophic in nature. Randy is exploring ideas of architecture and authenticity. He talkes about 3 different perspectives – philosophy, marketing and phenomenology – and finishes with an interesting statement: “I do think that authentic architecture has the power to alter an individual’s relationship with and perception of the environment. However, a work of architecture is only authentic if it is fully experienced; it cannot be as real or meaningful if only regarded through drawings or photographs.”

You can find Randy’s article here: Authenticity – What does it mean for architecture to be authentic?

3. Perceptions of Space

This is an history essay on phenomenology and the dominance of the eye over the other senses in architecture. Her trip through history includes the well-known ideas of Merlau-Ponty, Pallasmaa and Steven Holl. Interesting is that she also mentions a very nice book In Praise of Shadows by Tanizaki – a passionate explanation of Japanese tradition and the perception of space. Freya ends her essay by making the observation that some “architects [Steven Holl, Peter Zumthor, Glenn Murcutt and Alberto Perez-Gomez] are becoming more aware of the phenomenon of visual bias and neglected senses.”

Read the whole essay: Perception of Space

What have you been reading about online? Any interesting articles for this blog that you’re willing to share?

We are always interested in your ideas – let us know what you think. Also if you have any other comments, questions or ideas  – please let us know.