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SilvaBullet
Joined: 15 Jan 2008
Posts: 3
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 Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 8:47 pm Post subject: Thesis - Architecture for the Senses |
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Hey group,
This is my first post on this forum - hoping it will become a creative outlet from which to gain inspiration from.
I'm beginning my final thesis, and am intrigued in researching a topic relating to Architecture and the Senses. I want to argue that architecture is not solely defined by its visual aesthetics, rather that each of your senses must be stimulated to fully appreciate architecture.
I've done some reading on the topic (Pallasmaa, Zumthor, Merleau-Ponty, etc...) but am finding it difficult visualizing where it will lead me. Perhaps it's too early too worry about that?
Just wondering whether anyone has anything to share on the topic or can provide me some direction or further resources. Anyone out there studying the same subject matter?
Cheers!
Silva Bullet |
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Thas
Joined: 14 Jan 2008
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2008 11:11 pm Post subject: |
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Very interesting bullet…
What would you mean by senses? I can see how touch and view would fit perfectly well in terms of architecture. Smell and sound would be something that would be independent of the aesthetics.
I think it is great walking through Montreal’s underground, because it is so perfectly silent, and in some ways that appeals to me. |
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priyankarewatkar
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Mon Jan 21, 2008 11:36 am Post subject: |
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well i have something to share on the topic ..this topic is interesting...
i have on example for u where all ur senses are stimulated....
in India ,when one visits a Hindu temple for worship all his five senses are stimulated .. first when one sees the temple ,due to immense relief work and /or interesting geometry sense of seeing is stimulated,this sense of seeing is played with and treated in different manners and taken to a higher level so that the spiritual mood is maintained ,secondly when one removes his footwear and washes his feet or takes a bath with water touch sense is stimulated (one has to walk barefooted in and around the temple)..thirdly when he rings the bells just at the threshold of the Temple hearing sense is stimulated.....fourth when one offers flowers to the God or the present aura and the fragrance in the temple itself stinulates smell sense .....and lastly sense of taste is stimulated by eating the prasad (sweets) from the temple preists...all these rituals contribute immensely to the spiritual feeling and enhance them and take them to a different level....personally i think that increase in the relation between the built form and ourselves depends highly on stimulating the senses in an organised way and no. of senses ....
hoping that this would have added a different perspective to see at the topic..............
best of luck!!! |
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innova+e
Joined: 21 Dec 2007
Posts: 63
Location: lisbon
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| Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 5:32 pm Post subject: |
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its an interesting topic, although be careful about typecasting every architectural work as something that needs to adhere, as a rule, to stimulating all the senses, as this may end up driving the design away from what is actually called for, for the simple desire to fulfill a list of unrelated criteria...In other words, don't put bells or alarms on, just to satisfy the sense of sound if the bells or alarms aren't truly called for, or dont relate programmatically.
I do like the idea however in terms of spaces of well-being.. Zumthor is a good example, as in his Thermal baths. The touch of his material was very important, as was the need to keep this material as the dominant detail. The cool stone strips then relate to the activity of being 'within' in geo-morphic sense, however I would argue that the sound created as a result of the reverberation off the water in the baths, the hard stone surfaces may not be such an aesthetic point, as much as it is just that , a result. This is a good thesis topic, and in my opinion, the challenge will be determining not how buildings can always meet the five sense criteria checklist, but rather, when the chance to accent one of those aspects arises, has it been treated with due precedence. Maybe one space is all about light, see Tadao Ando, or Zumthor likes his materials, but he is always undoubtedly thinking about the presence of sound with such hardened surfaces, therefore acoustics are addressed but only as the result, or avoiding of such results. It gets more complicated when we imagine that acoustic paneling can be treated as an aesthetic, to avoid the banal placing of drop ceilings and baffles to dampen sound. Think of how the detail could be, if you take something needed such as those panels, and make it part of the whole work, rather than an add on..now you've addressed acoustics as something of importance. Really excellent topic and good luck.
ac |
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SilvaBullet
Joined: 15 Jan 2008
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 10:07 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for all your replies, that's great - awesome insights!!
I've been thinking about this further (mostly during my insomnia filled evenings) and had a bit of an epiphany. My reason for studying this topic evolved from my belief that architecture is far more than just an aesthetic art - that buildings stir far greater emotions in us by more means than just the visual. So, why not study this theory by conceptualizing a building that NO ONE will ever see? A school for the blind for instance. Allow the architecture to 'appear' in tactile, aromatic and acoustical manners. The thought of designing something that is 'invisible' seems fascinating, but I wonder whether this may be getting too abstract and not 'realistic' enough.
I do agree with your views innova+e - I would want to steer away from designing something with a particular sound quality, for instance, just for the sake of doing it. I'd need to have reason's for such moves - that's clear to me. thanks.
Thanks also for describing the Hindi ritual priyankarewatkar, very interesting... You too Thas - love Montreal, heading there next month actually, I live in Toronto. Have been in the u/g before, but may take another peek while I'm there... Any other worthy see's you can recommend?
Cheers all,
SB |
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Eroika
Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:05 am Post subject: |
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| try finding more about Rudolf Arnheim (art and visual perception), Gaston Bachelard ( La poétique de l'espace) ... maybe Orhan Pamuk for inspiration .... hope you will enjoy it if you havent already read. good luck |
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Eroika
Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:17 am Post subject: you tube sometimes helps |
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oh yes and maybe you would like to do some search on youtube and see some projects or instalations done by students or even architects about art space and senses .. some of my proffesors were involved in some stuff and it was a cool expirience to learn something u dont normaly in school though my main subject is based on some ideas of feelin the space 
hope i was helpful.. |
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zerrydankrut
Joined: 25 Feb 2008
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 5:13 am Post subject: Hey silvabullet! |
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this is incredible. i am writting in this momento a thesis in architecture about Architecture and Senses. i think we can help each other!
if someone can help me..
i am trying to find some projects that work in the senses very hard. like thermal baths of zumthor.
thanks everyone! |
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