Dissertation

IDEAS PERTAINING TO INTER-PERCEPTUAL PHENOMENOLOGY WITHIN ARCHITECTURE DISSERTATION AUSTEN SCOTT

Ideas Pertaining to: An Inter-perceptual Phenomenology Within Architecure A dissertation presented to the School of Architecture, Oxford Brookes University in part fulfilment of the regulations for BA (Hons) in Architecture

Statement of Originality This dissertation is an original piece of work which is made available for copying with permission of the Head of the School of Architecture

27th January 2012 Austen Scott U30099

Contents

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Introduction

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Chapter 1 - The Pillars of Phenomenology

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Chapter 2 - Archcitectural Space and its Phenomenological Identity

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Chapter 3 - My Perceptual Phenomenology

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Chapter 4 - Creating the Inter-perceptual Space

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Conclusion

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Bibliography

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Introduction

“In contemporary philosophy there is no system or school called “phenomenology,” characterized by a clearly defined body of teachings. Phenomenology is neither a school nor a trend in contemporary philosophy. It is rather a movement who’s proponents, for various reasons, have propelled it in many distinct directions, with the result that today it means different things to different people.”

The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, 1999 I begin with this quote to highlight the fact that a general theory of what phenomenology is still lacks an understanding of concrete substance. This is due to the fact that, although this quote can be said to be a clearly prescribed definition it goes against its actual purpose of defining phenomenology. This is by simply leaving us with the underlying interpretation that it means ‘different things to different people’. So therefore this must mean that one’s definition of phenomenology will always be different to another’s. Due to this psychological symptom we can never truly define the complexities or perhaps simplicities of the subject.

One can disagree by stating that their perceptual interpretation of individual existence is based upon the invariable differences in which our existence takes place or, simply put. Phenomenological interpretation is unique to everyone because everyone is unique. But to analyse this, to bare a descriptive meaning to a holistic understanding of the way we perceive existence and inter-perceive co-existence, leaves us with a psychological paradox. If phenomenology means different things to different people it therefore must mean my understanding of phenomenology, which I genuinely believe to be correct and therefore must be correct will differ from your understanding. It will differ from every other person’s understanding.

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Introduction This seems to be a norm for what phenomenology means within an individual sense. The individual can always be correct because there is no one to oppose his judgment with fact, but we are not individual. We experience existence as part of a much larger entity, therefore because my understanding does not coincide with others than I must be incorrect. I am a singular minority, a minority so minute in comparison to the majority that I am simply an anomaly, a false‌ I am incorrect.

To look at phenomenology as a inter-perceptual existence or the existence among others, phenomenology seems to break down because It means that everyone is incorrect.

I believe this to be the issue being addressed at the core of this writing and with the knowledge of these issues I am not merely intending to bring to light another definition of what phenomenology can be but to understand it to a greater depth. I believe the key to such understanding is in the way we interpret architectural space.

I do not speak of architecture as glorified three-dimensional objects or temples of a certain design merit, but architecture as the language of experiencing space.

Weather a hut or cave or palace, architecture is fabricated by our interpretation and reinterpretation of the space we plant our existence upon. From this we gain the essence phenomenological emotion. If this can be understood and utilised as a tool to bring architecture toward a much more empathetic nature with the person experiencing such an event, the experience of architecture will not only become enriched but take on a whole new dimension. The way architecture can be perceived today is that it is merely the box, in which houses the event of experience, such as an opera house. You do not go to the opera house to experience the building, you go to the opera house to experience the opera, but what if it were possible to design architectural space so that architecture is the essential experience, to go to a space and experience your existence. This, I believe to be the true essence of architectural design and what; within this writing I am going to search for.

To search for this perceived extra dimensional quality within architectural design I will take various steps in building up the theory of inter-perceptual phenomenology.

The first of which is to research the fundamentals of phenomenology from the beginnings, to look at key writers who have created and influenced its existence and will certainly influence this work, writers and philosophers such as Heidegger, Husserl, Kant, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre and Gaston Bachelard. This is to fully comprehend the generalistic interpretation of phenomenology and its birth within modern philosophy. I will look at several variations of what phenomenology has become within philosophy, psychology, science, poetry and architecture to give

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Introduction foundation to the beginnings of resolving the inter-perceptual. Only once a developed knowledge of the growth of this movement has been made we can begin to analyse how or even what phenomenology means within the inter-perceptual and furthermore within architecture. From this I begin to refine a much more focused analysis of the phenomenological experience of spatial environments.

This will involve looking at varying forms of architecture but more specifically, the architectural design and theory from that of Moshe Safdie for his work on the Yad Vashem, Jerusalem. This building, I believe to be one of the greatest works, which utilize the profound ways in which we experiences space and the effects this has on our deepest emotion.

Once an analysis of what already exists can be fully understood I will be able to begin conceiving theories based on inter-perceptual phenomenology. Theories that entails varying fields of study ranging from existentialism, idealism and ontology to our knowledge of theoretical physics and how the greater understanding of what is more than us and the space we live, will contribute to redefine our experience of existence. Once the theory has been constructed it can be utilized as a framework to define its adoption within architectural space, to be used within our knowledge of experiencing architecture and to create a new dimension within our perceptual constructions. This is what architecture should be, not the shell or packaging for an event but the event itself.

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Chapter 1

The Pillars of Phenomenology

Before an architectural statement can be a realisation we must acknowledge the underling philosophical domain in which it sits. The observations of a philosophical component such as phenomenology can sometimes become convoluted with the various divides of theoretical branches. The apparent nature of this segregation in phenomenological reasoning over the past centuries is rooted in the individual’s existential or ideological stance on the observations of reality, ultimately bearing down on where they place themselves within a universe of ontological thinking.

Weather subjectivism, objectivism or relativism, these primordial philosophic influences will always direct ones pathways of phenomenology. This creates a profound diversity when analysing said subject, therefore great care must be taken to, at this point at least, not fabricate a bias or predigest analytical response to which pathway of phenomenology is correct or incorrect but to comprehend the holistic nature of phenomenology. In doing this I will uncover the gradual overriding development of the phenomenologic past, looking to the so called ‘pillars’ from which the meaning of its existence stands itself upon.

Tracing the genesis of phenomenology, we find ourselves in the mid nineteenth century; the effect of the age of enlightenment has greatly influenced the thinking of philosophy as also egalitarianism brings an immense change to a philosophical revolution, these are non the less influenced and has influence on various changes within European politics and economics. The systemisation of philosophy created a new order with Immanuel Kant being a key figure on the way of thinking.

Although Kant tends not to exist deeply rooted in phenomenology, his influence does reign across the creator of phenomenology, Edmund Husserl. Husserl’s studies in various subjects greatly effected how phenomenology was to be perceived. From mathematics to science and psychology, these can be seen as a constant through many of the philosophers that contributed and who would ultimately become his successors in continuing this movement. Within the beginnings of Husserl’s work

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The Pillars of Phenomenology lies an objective nature to witch a fundamental Kantian metaphysical observation of thinking can be noticed but in turn, with the regeneration of hit thoughts and his theoretical separation of Kant, Husserl wrote the book ‘Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy’ at the turn of the twentieth century. Although Husserl ignited a phenomenological movement his work suffered as he began ever deeper conjuring a metaphysical generality of his ‘suspended belief ’. A South African philosopher, John Niemeyer Findlay, analysed this in great detail saying; “The Logical Investigations, with its fine studies of Meaning, Intentionality, and Knowledge, is undoubtedly one of the greatest of philosophical masterpieces; in the later works there is much, but not so much, to admire. But the influence of Husserl’s thought increased as its philosophical importance declined: hence the strange drop from Phenomenology to Existentialism.”

J. N. Findlay, 1991 As Husserl progressed into a combination of phenomenology and essentialism he worked with a man called Martin Heidegger at Freiburg University, only Heidegger’s early work gave contribution to this subject as he attempted to further the theories questions such as “what is the meaning of being?” And his theory of “Dasein” which expressed a rifting theoretical difference from Husserl’s proficiency with ‘interpretation’.

“Dasein, especially the descriptions of the relationship between Dasein and its community, are actually more consistent with liberal views of the self than with communitarian interpretations” J. Salem-Wiseman, 2003 Heidegger’s differences can be seen by the influences on his theories, where as the key influence in Husserl’s writing was of a Kantian nature. Heidegger sought inspiration from Hegel, who although still subject to metaphysical theories, differs in his accounts of absolute idealism and the knowledge that “experience was the

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The Pillars of Phenomenology very stuff of reality” (Shook, Margolis, 2004).

Up till now phenomenology has solely existed within German Idealism. It was only until the mid 20th century that two French philosophical colleagues; Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Jean-Paul Sartre introduced Husserl’s phenomenological thinking to France. Not only did they expand on his philosophy but they synthesized Husserl’s “transcendental approach” to philosophy and Heidegger’s “existential orientation” (Cambridge dictionary of philosophy, 1999) as he elaborated on this Merleau-Ponty pertains a view of Marxism which in turn sparked the subject of the body “le corps propre” the key substance in ‘Phenomenology of Perception’ this altered the focus of reality from the object or world to the person, during this Sartre’s Cartesian nature, possibly derived from Husserl’s “Cartesian Meditations: An Introduction to Phenomenology” goes much deeper into the idea of consciousness, expressing that “consciousness is nothing” and “man makes himself ”. Intentionally straying from Freudian stereotypical situations. Although the routes of Sartre’s work can be traced back by the influences of Kant he tends to gain a much more metaphorical sense of existence to evaluate his theories. A parallel can be found in the work of Gaston Bachelard, yet another French philosopher. Although Sartre has sited his work various times Bachelard remains not a philosophical ambassador of phenomenological thinking but his writings on “The Poetics of Space” are an exquisite combination of philosophy, science, psychology and poetry within a more modern context. Bachelard remained contradictory to Sartre, as he is renound for introducing conceptual yet influential notions of “epistemological obstacle” and “epistemological break” based on unconscious structures and how this can disrupt scientific progress. He used extreme measures of metaphorical relations within our perceptual universe and unconscious or dream thought, many of these metaphorical events were to be played out in psychological architectural contexts, most specifically in the poetics of space, giving meaning to various phenomenological events.

I find that Bachelard’s poetic and metaphorical nature defines a bridge between pure phenomenological theorists such as Husserl and Heidegger and an architectural world, highlighting relationships between the birth of phenomenology, the theoretical and the physical work of architects such as Steven Holl and Peter Zumthor. With these pillars we are able to design spatial entities based on the deepest reasoning of existence. It is a wonderful combination of psychology, science, mathematics and philosophy that enriches our relationship between person and architecture.

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Chapter 2

Architectural Space & it’s Phenomenological Identity

Architecture is much more than its general perceived image within society.

Although yes, architects give rise to awe-inspiring structures and picturesque spatial entities throughout our cities. It gives rise to new technologies, pathing the way for environmental efficiency and positive social co-existence. This is in turn directed by a constant resonance within our economies, globalization and trends of the developing world. This is all true, but I speak of a much more intimate architecture. Intimate with ourselves and with our consciousness, this is a primordial architecture that I speak of. An existence of architecture that remains as far back as human creation, the first Neanderthals to dwell in a cave, to be protected from the natural forces, or a tree, safe from what lies beneath them. Architecture, as I previously mentioned, is the language of space. What I mean by this is, architecture is a perceived event. We interpret spatial formations as architectural design, even if not designed by man, still design. The word architecture may simply be a reaction to understand the event of experiencing space, it is non the less present in our perceivable universe. Although I will go on to define space and in specific architectural space in the next chapter, for now I must clarify the notion that architecture is the language, architectural space is the event of experiencing that language. Once architecture can be appreciated in its most basic knowledge we can see architecture in different ways than a building or sculpture. It can be music, literature, art and poetry.

I find poetry the most fascinating, it allows architecture to be extra dimensional, it resides in a realm where paradoxes can remain unanswered, our senses don’t need accounting for and comprehension can be lost within a reverie. Our phenomenological selves become our only self. Some might even go as far to say that architecture is poetry. In an article by the architectural critic Jonathan Jones,

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Architectural Space & it’s Phenomenolgical Identity he expresses his views on Sir John Soane’s Museum by saying: “Great architecture is poetry in three dimensions, a building can express longing, nostalgia, pride and sorrow, love and terror… Soane is a poet of British architecture, he is a man who can make light and space and scale into a form of expression” Jonathan Jones, 2011 Although Soane’s Museum, which in turn was his home is a truly wonderful space filled with a particular phenomenological ether of various past lifetimes but in response to Jones’s views I believe that architecture does not solely become poetry nor can it be three-dimensional. To say that architecture is three-dimensional is to say it is a snapshot of existence. Architecture is a four-dimensional entity where Poetry is a device in the expression of its dimensional qualities, a device used excessively by a philosopher previously mentioned, Gaston Bachelard.

Bachelard’s technique was to use psychological architectural reasoning to describe the profound properties of the everyday phenomenology and the ”derive” or dream state. His combination of philosophy, poetry and architecture creates a bridge between that of the deep thinkers mentioned in the pillars of phenomenology and the architectural symbols that I will elaborate upon. Although his architectural evaluations were of a pure psychological intention, he manages to use it’s metaphorical properties in such a way that architecture explains our existence. The home defines us, the spaces we grow up in have a direct effect on our perceptual existence because they influence the way we interpret our universe. This is most prominent in his work on the Poetics of Space: “Space, in which we have suffered from solitude, enjoyment, desire and compromised solitude remain indelible within us, these daydreams communicate poetically from soul to soul.”

Gaston Bachelard , 1957 The beauty of Bachelard’s work is that within his analytical grasp of defining our

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Architectural Space & it’s Phenomenolgical Identity once forgotten memories or “daydreams” allows the reader to conjure such a spatial existence. By doing this he leaves an intended ambiguous imagery that sparks the readers once forgotten temporal past into existence again, he does not define what the reader sees but simply defines a vernacular emotion towards a particular space in the readers memory. Therefore making what the reader sees as his own phenomenological architecture, and not a reinterpretation of Bachelard’s phenomenological architecture. Throughout the various metaphorical interpretations of onerism and the reverie Bachelard’s distinct description of space such as “inhabited space transcends geometrical space” (Poetics of Space, p 58) brings a framework of various metaphysical objectified circumstances. He makes references to nests, shells, draws and most of all the entity of the house, a house divisible by its component elements such as the attic and the cellar. Although Bachelard’s work is well acclaimed and a true masterpiece of physiological phenomenology his work is primarily based on what was, yes this defines what we are but further analysis into criticisms finds us in a never evolving architecture.

“Rereading of Bachelard to-day, it is the interrelationship between science and poetry, experiment and ex-perience, that seems to have the most radical potential, while his wellknown vision of the oneiric house, with its rather nostalgic and essentialist world view, comes across as historically dated.”

Joan Ockman, 2011 The presence of the words “to-day” and “ex-perience” as opposed to the norm of today and experience highlights this never-evolution. Bachelard becomes so entwined within a dimension of what was, it leaves ones self in a timeless and augmented reality. Although I find this to hold enchanting attributes within his work it is also bewitching as you become lost in the daydream, you forget your true physical presence within space. To essentially regain our grip on what the perceivable difference between what was and what is, we must use the influence of past to give reason toward our present existence and place this into the a knowledgeable prediction of decidable future events.

Architecture cannot only be the past, how can it be when we experience space in real-time, architecture must contain all three states ‘past, present, future’ of our

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Architectural Space & it’s Phenomenolgical Identity existence for it to be possible to experience spatial configurations. To analyse this within a physical context I wish to draw my mind back to a particular architectural event that took place in a distant past. I find this moment to be of particular importance within the broad spectrum of my chosen existence. In the mountain of Jerusalem rests the Yad Vashem memorial, literally translated from Hebrew “A Memorial (place) and a name” It is the spiritual final resting place for the loved memories those scared by the Shoah or, holocaust. Although the Yad Vashem is much more than just a memorial, it is a museum, a school, a research centre and an archive. Out of all that it remembers of the past and heritage and builds for the future, the most powerful spatial entity is the small room carved into the rock.

This architectural wonder, built in 1987 by Moshe Safdie is insignificant in its size when compared to the entire facility, also designed by Moshe Safdie much later, but pertains a particular resonance of past phenomenological existence.

When the Legion of Honour was awarded to the chairman of Vad Vashem, Avner Shalev by Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president summed an emotional tribute by concluding: “I remember well, at the end of a long hallway, a large room filled with thousands of small lights and the names of children. This was the whisper of innocent souls. I said to myself without a doubt, this is the politic: To place a barrier before the madness of men and to refuse to be carried away by the madness of men. I was changed at Yad Vashem” Nicolas Sarkozy, 2008 Indeed I too felt changed by Yad Vashem, although I was mealy 9 years old, clueless toward the fact that my future self would study such an event as the one I once experienced, the memory of an event was burned into my past. I did not fully understand the significant of what it stood for, or what it meant but a primordial feeling grew inside of me, my grip on my mothers hand becoming ever so much tighter the deeper we went into the room. Fascinated by what I memorably perceive to be now as the ‘infinite space’ but also lost and indifferent from others, only to be relived and at peace once journeying out into the mountainside. I know of the phenomenological intensity that comes from within the Yad Vashem because I have felt it myself, even as a child architecture allowed me to experience something on

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Architectural Space & it’s Phenomenolgical Identity such depth that even a boy had the most profound empathy to something he did not fully understand. This is not “politic� this is architecture, the memory of existence portrayed through ones experience of spatial qualities.

Now, 12 years later I ask the question of how such an architectural space can create this. Firstly there is a difference in how we evaluate the perception of the museum and the memorial. The memorial is much more potent in its task of educating ones mind by simplifying the rational quantity of information that is taken in. The museum (Fig. 1, p9), overflowing with its pictures, charts, books, manuscripts and historical messages that make an attempt at highlighting such memorable devastations saturate the mind. The crisscross of corridors and abundance of pathways for one to take becomes an ever-dulling event, as this pragmatic environment does not convey a depth of memory that the memorial contains. The memorial on the other hand is made up of one small room linked by a singular pathway. This seemingly effortlessly allows one to venture into the depths of damaged souls and experience a true human nature. Going beyond a phenomenological interpretation, the geometric anatomy of Yad Vashem memorial is unique (Fig. 2, p10). A beginning takes place down a pathway carved into the rocks (Fig. 3, p11), walking under archways fabricated from Mother Nature herself, you have become impaired with the surrounding context as you find yourself becoming ever closer to a side door. Through this side door is the primary space (Fig. 4, p12,13). You are greeted by an infinite space, an octagonal box lathed in a surrounding wall of mirrors lit by a singular candle. The metaphysical form of this candle transcends throughout the endless reflections of its true form, you feel as if you are among the stars, alone in solitude. An undertone from the sounds of an echoing chant, whispered as if it were to you and you only, more so heightening your current perceptual state. An exit (Fig. 5, p14) aligned symmetrically with the entrance takes you into a widening view of Mount Herzl from the forest that you once came from.

There is an ambiguous resonance that defines the holocaust memorial. There is no exact number of how many children we are to remember, no knowledge of what they were like. The existence of what occurred is an almost forgotten memory that is brought back to light with immense delicacy. The memorial does not analyse what occurred but preserves that precious human memory of an atrocity for people of another lifetime to experience. Only in an architectural domain is this possible to recreate such a profound event.

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Fig. 1: Gallery Spaces of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum.

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Fig. 2: Plan and Section of Yad Vashem Memorial

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Fig. 3: Entrance Way of Yad Vashem Memorial

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Fig. 4: Interior of Yad Vashem Memorial

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Fig. 5: Exit of Yad Vashem Memorial

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Architectural Space & it’s Phenomenolgical Identity I find that there is a an existential sense of intention towards the memorial of the holocaust, a particular vein of existence that can be traced back through Bachelard’s reasoning of primordial architecture and metaphorical representation to the beginnings of phenomenology itself. In which there is a spirit of existence dating back to a Husserlean philosophy. Although I find it an impermissible irony in the fact that Heidegger, who further advanced the field of phenomenology and the study of our spirit of existence after Husserl who gives direct impact in the philosophical design of the holocaust memorial, became part of the Nazi regime in his later life. Though this is true I believe that architecture transcends all minority, race or gender. The Vad Vashem memorial remembers the people, the people of the past that directly influenced the present, and through the Yad Vashem various archives and schools of art, history and literature, creates a future toward avoiding a reoccurrence of that past.

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Chapter 3

My Perceptual Phenomenology

The subject of phenomenology is a precariously delicate framework. In the case of Bachelard, he insists that it is impossible to examine or even begin to comprehend the existence of another’s lifetime. He evaluates that to extrude the daydream of ones memorable life-experiences out of the greater context would annihilate it’s the phenomenological attachment once another has seen it, his work on the poetics of space shows this unusual property when attempting to coax the reader into acknowledging this delicacy by highlight the limits.

“What would be the use in giving the plan of the room that was really my room, in describing the little room at the end of the garret in saying that from the window, across the indentations of the roofs one could see the hill. I alone, in my memories of another century, can open the deep cupboard that still retains for me alone that unique odour of raisins drying on a wicker tray. The odour of raisins! It is an odour that is beyond description, one that it takes a lot of imagination to smell, but I’ve already said to much...”

Gaston Bachelard, 1957 This deep seeded, personal affiliation he has with this memory can only be of a phenomenological existence within his own reality. It is part of his consciousness and therefore un-shareable with others. Once it has been described the essence of its phenomenological existence is lost. We may know the smell of raisins, we may imagine the architecture of the space that he describes but we do not pertain the same daydream as Bachelard, replaced instead by the imagination of another’s, the reader has created a fake or unreal depiction of what did exist as the true essence of

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My Perceptual Phenomenology its reason to exist has been lost within reinterpretation. Although this is an entirely psychological event within a ‘perceptual reality’ and therefore ones existence can never be proven by another, similes can be found within scientific studies within a ‘true reality’ An American physics called Richard Feynman proposed various radical theories within quantum mechanics in the mid 1900’s, his work gave rise to the understanding of the behaviour of electrons, until recently remarkably little was known of how these fundamental building blocks of our known universe work at fundamental levels. We know the generalized ways in which electron work on a macroscopic level but when attempting to confine and analyse such infinitesimally small objects, various physical issues occur. Due to the unique attributes of what is called the uncertainty principle, when you attempt to confine an electron, its movements through space becoming smaller and smaller Heisenberg’s uncertainty principal takes place and the electron will jump to another state or ‘place’ in the universe. “...To measure space coordinates and instants of time, rigid measuring rods and clocks are required. On the other hand, to measure momenta and energies, devices are necessary with movable parts to absorb the impact of the test object and to indicate the size of its momentum. Paying regard to the fact that quantum mechanics is competent for dealing with the interaction of object and apparatus, it is seen that no arrangement is possible that will fulfil both requirements simultaneously...”

Max Born, 1959 Before various descriptions and interpretations of science and philosophy run astray on their own basis I must highlight the necessary use of using sciences to complement philosophical reasoning and visa versa. I believe that these two comprehendible pathways of our metaphysical existence and the universe’s physical existence are intimately linked with one and other and hold an insight into our inter-perceptual phenomenology within architectural space. This is an occurrence throughout the phenomenological existence as Husserl studied physics, Heidegger; a mathematician and Kant was heavily influenced by Sir Isaac Newton. Through

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My Perceptual Phenomenology this, specifically from Kant’s work allows one to provide a logical acknowledgment to the structure of thought. This was a revolution in the way of thought as It was to be a stark contrast from a the much more orthodox philosophy that precedes Kant and something that Kant became obsessively complacent about, highlighted here: “It always remains a scandal of philosophy and universal human reason that the existence of things outside us ... should have to be assumed merely on faith, and that if it occurs to anyone to doubt it, we should be unable to answer him with a satisfactory proof.”

Immanuel Kant, 1768 This exclusion from a sceptical view of the world gave rise to a much more empirical philosophy. Although this can be seen as a much more precise analysis of existence, I find it somewhat limiting that our knowledge must be based on what is truth, but for there to be an inter-perceptual we must have a semi-empirical interpretation on our universe, one where there is no absolute. For one to assume that his perceptual existence within the universe is absolute is doomed. There must always be an uncertainty to the perception of space and experience of architectural space to allow knowledge of this to grow. Not simply forward from what already factually exists but allow to grow in every place at once. What we perceive to be a fact cannot be certified for entirety of existence but are the correct representations of the moment.

From this we are able to define our current architectural space and the reality it lies in.

The reality of inter-perceptual space begins with 2 components. They are separated by their individual properties but connected by their influences on one and other.

The primary component is the ‘true reality’. This is an abbreviation of objective reality that exist outside of our temporal perception, this follows the traits of realism in that this ontological ream consists of objects, but to go further than statements of objectivism, it is not simply objects on physical scale, but a quantum scale. To know this we use science as a perceptual porthole into gaining insight on how the true reality works, we cannot see it, because that would defy the point but we have a partially complete perceptual representation of what occurs in true reality.

This progression of perceiving the true reality from standard physics to quantum mechanics brings profound effects to its happenings. In standard physics the true

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My Perceptual Phenomenology reality is a place in where things can happen and things can’t happen, based on proven fact. But in a quantum true reality, everything that can happen does happen.

It is also important to state that when the word ‘everything’ is applied within a true reality it does not me everything in the perceptual sense, there is no colour in the true, there is no smell, no wind, it is not a representative solid liquid or gas because these are all psychological fabrications to aid in understanding true events. Going deeper into quantum there is no difference between various states because everything, in a quantum sense is empty space, or at lease 99.99999% of a perceivable substance is nothingness, there is almost no object to speak of at all.

The only reason we don’t experience this nothingness is due to Einstein’s theories of special relativity. I have chosen not to call this an objective reality because although, yes it does pertain to the same ideas, we do not observe it on the same scientific principals that it is based upon.

The secondary component is the ‘perceptual reality’ and as true reality contains a particular equivalence with objectivism, the perceptual can be equivalent to a subjective interpretation of reality. This is therefore the domain of life experience where the fabrications of consciousness come to life in colour, wind, texture and smell, or the qualia of substance. This is our perceptual interpretation of the true reality and therefore the perceptual reality forever lies within the true reality.

The boundary of this is defined by the limits of our peripheral experience. In an individual sense this means that beyond my present peripheral experience nothing exists perceptually, only within a true reality. But I do have memory of experience outside that of my current peripherals. This is the phenomenological reconstruction of what did occur. Although this explains an individual’s perception, it is not the complete picture of the perceptual reality. This can be noted by the fact that if there is a person within my own perceptual reality that can see beyond my perceptual reality, than an inter-perceptual reality has occurred. I.e. If I am in the middle of a street with walls either side of me and I can see another person at the corner of the street, which joins a street perpendicular to mine, than that other person can perceive the other street, this occurs as an inter-perceptual. And this is everywhere as we collectively create the boundaries of the current perceptual universe and our phenomenological reasoning’s create a memorable depiction of our historic extent of our perceptual universe.

These two fundamental components cannot be called objective and subjective because they are intended to oppose each other in theory whereas the true

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My Perceptual Phenomenology and perceptual are connected throughout various conditions but also various implications. Foremost is an ability to question weather science is actually an objective reality?

“The sensation of colour cannot be accounted for by the physicist’s objective picture of light-waves” Erwin Schrodinger, 1958 This quote by Schrodinger takes into account how science, by detaching itself from perceptual meaning, i.e. Colour of light and to simply look at light as varying frequencies of wave particle duality highlights the consensus that science is an objectified study. But Conrad Latour argues that: “Total objectivity is arguably not even possible in some—or maybe all—situations. It is, at least, a process replete with uncertainties and challenges” Michael Polanyi, 1946 This, in the case of true and perceptual realities must be the case of science because although the quale is no longer an issue because it is simply the mechanics of how light works, it is still a perceptual interpretation. A particle or wave is still perceptual reasoning to explain light. Therefore, as I said before, science is only a perceptual porthole into the true reality but never the exact depiction of a true state. The connection between true reality and perceptual reality can be found in them consequences that true reality present to the perceptual. The true governs the extents, dimensions and implications of what we perceive. This in turn gives no presence of a religious deity, a major issue I find can be ones misinterpretation that the true reality can be understood as a god, an issue that George Berkeley took into account was that his existence and perception of existence was intended by a god.

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My Perceptual Phenomenology “Whatever power I may have over my own thoughts, I find the ideas actually perceived by Sense have not a like dependence on my will. When in broad daylight I open my eyes, it is not in my power to choose whether I shall see or no, or to determine what particular objects shall present themselves to my view; and so likewise as to the hearing and other senses; the ideas imprinted on them are not creatures of my will” George Berkeley, 1710 Yes, Berkeley was correct in saying that it is not within his power to “see or not to see” but this has complete disregard for why he sees in the first place. Due to the fact that Darwin has yet to express a theory of evolution, Berkeley believes his sight is given by that of god but this is certainly not the case. The basis of scientific understanding of our true reality means that the reason we see is because of a random occurrence of events tracing back to the perceived big bang.

With this we can deduce that a connections between the perceptual and true is selfevident. The occurrences of events in the true reality directly influence, not only what was the creation of a perceptual reality, but governs the existence of perceptual reality. This is simply seen that the destruction of life by any means, weather a comet or the eventual self destruction of our sun, which are all occurrences within true reality that can be perceived, will therefore destroy the perceptual reality.

Hence true reality is the Primary and perceptual reality is the Secondary. These inextricable connections are forever with us but there are various components of the perceptual reality that does not conform to a rule of true reality. These can be seen as phenomenological reductions of our timeless experiences and the emotions attached to them. True reality does not govern our conscious thoughts of compassion, sympathy, empathy regret, love and so on. It may assist us when it comes to sensing the qualities of substance within the spatial domain, but it does not define attachments to our life-experience. Only we are able to project that onto the perceptual world. This is the reason to the importance of architectural space.

When we design architectural space we are able to adopt the perceivable traits or true reality and mould them to bring out these life-traits in the realisation that another can gain insight into the perception of ones emotional existences, again highlighting that architecture can be art, poetry, music, Anything that instils ones rationalisation of thought into another. A fundamental question that now looms is how can we design such a delicate architecture to genuinely capture this?

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Chapter 4

Creating the Inter-Perceptual Space

The architect, one who is the grand designer or master builder of architecture, this is the most apt definition of what an architect ‘does’ is it not? In a most common sense perhaps yes but such a dogmatic presence within design poses an irresponsible belief that the architect knows best. To design inter-perceptual space. Space of metaphysical and physical harmony the architect cannot have such a dictating role on the how others are to exist in designed space. Though this does rise the problem of where does the architect sit in the grand scheme if not the master builder? And what comes of the, as of yet undefined ‘space’ that develops from this? To realise a design of inter-perceptual space one must answer these questions to create a process from which this can be possible and, if so know the outcome of this process must work. Now that we have stated the realities in which this space lies we can begin to peace together this process to realise the inter-perceptual within architecture.

First we must take a step back from the architect and acknowledge an understanding of space. In the most basic term space cannot be a substance, it does not have properties such as mass or density, it does not emit radiation or absorb particles, therefore we can deduce that space does not exist in a true reality. But what are the gaps between particles or atoms? As far as science is concerned it is nothingness, I find this relatively strange, as there must always be something. The only thing that can be described as being nothing is the word nothing. Perhaps this is only due to a 4 dimensional observation of it and so in science’s humbling nature, we don’t really know what the nothingness is yet. But this is not crucial because the more we know of what space is not, the more we can know about what it might be. So space only exists within a perceptual reality, this is certain. David Morris, A man working on various theories of phenomenological space certainly believed that space, or what he liked to call “lived space” was a sensory experience.

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Creating the Inter-Perceptual Space “The sense of space is the basis of all social experience and of perceptual experience in general” David Morris, 2004 This is concurrent with the general view of space throughout phenomenological work; it disagrees with the Cartesian notion of space being a container and announces a “lived space” where being, space and time are all part of one. When it is not lived space, it is no longer part of the perceptual reality and remains a memory and returns to a true reality.

Another component of space within the perceivable reality is the notion that it is not we who are moving though the objects of true reality, but the true reality is moving through our field of the perceivable. Within architecture, this implies that until architecture is experienced it does not pertain lived spatial qualities; it is not architecture because architecture is a perceived event. So when designing architecture we are designing the potential for lived space but we are never designing space itself. The architect has always toyed with phenomenological aspirations within design; one of the most recognized for this is Peter Zumthor, specifically due to the correlation between one of Zumthor’s masterpieces; the Vals spa and the work of Martin Heidegger. Zumthor’s architecture was not designed by geometric values but by measurement of sensory values. He concludes on this method of using metaphysical properties of materials by saying: “To me, buildings can have a beautiful silence that I associate with attributes such as composure, self-evidence, durability, presence, and integrity, and with warmth and sensuousness as well; a building that is being itself, being a building, not representing anything, just being. The sense that I try to instill into materials is beyond all rules of composition, and their tangibility, smell, and acoustic qualities are merely elements of the language we are obliged to use” Peter Zumthor, 1963

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Creating the Inter-Perceptual Space Zumthor speaks of a building as “being” in a sense the building has an existence just a person has an existence. We can learn a lot from this architectural life force because it implies that the architecture can instill its own memories of existence into the person experiencing the architecture, this is a tremendously powerful expression when one is immersed into a space such as this and the Yad Vashem mentioned earlier. Of course there are others that make attempts to capture this spirit such as Steven Holl and Alvar Aalto but non that quite bring such a expression of phenomenology near to that of Bachelard’s metaphysical poetry into architectural existence.

This therefore brings me onto the role of the architect. When, like Zumthor, an architect designs, he must take great care in the responsibilities of allowing that phenomenological existence to take place. The essential delicacy of a meditative phenomenological experience can be disrupted by the slightest of ripples by an intrusive perceptual event. This becomes compounded when designing for interperceptual events. This is not to say that Moshe Safdie succeeded with the interperceptual in the creation of the Yad Vashem nor Zumthor with Vals spa, what was created in this case was an empathetic view of past spatial temporal existences.

No, architecture must become much more than this if it is to succeed in creating an inter-perceptual event, the essence of experiencing the architecture must go beyond that of perceived reprocessing of forgotten subconscious pasts to reach past the imaginations of empathy and highlight true depts of emotions for others to experience, for this various rules must be applied to architectural design.

It begins with the architect, as his role within the conception of such architecture must change as I mentioned at the beginning of the chapter that there must not be a dictatorial position within the designing of architecture. This is due to the architect’s very existence, and therefore perceptual interpretations of his lived space cannot transcend through to what the final spatial entity will become. The implications of this will create a bias to a singular-perceptual being of architecture where, once constructed, anyone who experiences the architecture will undoubtedly be forced into a particularization of a perceptual reality. This is similar to Bachelard defining his room smelling of raisins. It no longer becomes his room but the forced imagination of another’s room.

Since the architect no longer dictates the architectural structure, along with this comes the uncertainty of its geometric and aesthetic form. We can do this because the occupants will define the very attributes of the architecture based on the overlaps

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Creating the Inter-Perceptual Space of perceptual inter-perception’s taking place when the architecture becomes lived space. Although there is an ambiguity of structural form we can still comprehend the eventual properties of the space. This is based on the analysis accumulated on the Yad Vashem. We know that it must be the simplest form of architecture for the best chance of a complete phenomenological absorption to take place. This is called the entropic value of architecture, as its state must be reducible to its most lowly psychological manifestation of energy for any objective of inter-perceptually to occur. I can not say that the architecture will become the most basic 4 dimensional structure possible but it must not pass a threshold where the conscious becomes saturated with their current perception as it does within the museum.

The eventual premise that architecture is that of a seed being planted, the seed contains the code of its eventual existence, its perceptual properties and how such ‘properties’ will react in confrontation with lived space. A plant does not simply come into being; it grows and develops over time. The dynamics of its growth are never for certain, which leads to such an individuality among other existing plants.

The architect is the person that holds the seed, nurtures and cares for it. A hidden beauty in this is that, like a seed the architecture will always grow and thrive, but like a plant the architecture will always die on its own accord. What this effect has on architecture is truly profound.

“Consider the cherry tree. It makes thousands of blossoms just so that another tree might germinate, take root, and grow. After falling to the ground, the blossoms return to the soil and become nutrients for the surrounding environment.

Every last particle contributes in some way to the health of a thriving ecosystem. “Waste equals food” William McDonough, 2003 Although this quote is taken out of context from a literal representation a ‘next industrial revolution’, it holds the clues to a much more metaphysical essence of the Inter-perceptual architecture, a possible perceptual revolution. Due to the much more unrefined state that the architecture pertains, it becomes a cyclic event of past present and future. Through it’s own demise lay the building blocks for its future existence, these contain within them the fossil’s of perceptual recollections, the affiliations that the lived space create with the architecture are regenerated in its form but never lost to ruin.

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Conclusion

What has been carefully developed though out this dissertation is an idea; it is my idea of where architecture can lead us and where I can lead my vision of architecture itself. Although not all theory is based upon architectural design, I think we must look beyond this into human design. To the theories of our existence by the phenomenologist’s of a bygone era and comprehend the knowledge of Kant, Husserl, Heidegger and the many others which have changed the way in which society view themselves within existence. Not only this, but to go further than these great’s of the mind and allow myself and others to perceive their influences within architecture and the inherent beauty of thought, translated into the language of design and experience.

The Inter-perceptual space is not simply instructions towards a fashionably beautiful design, it cannot be seen as a contemporary movement or intelligent design. It is a taught process, a process to reach the architectural depths and highlight its inherent beauty in the everydayness of our perceptual existence. This dissertation defines architecture as being all around us, the design of life experience and to search for calmness through a maelstrom of modern society. To experience space simply for the pleasure of the reminisce and to reach further into ones mind thoughts for the fabric of our existence, to understand space not only due to the beauties of its past but the influence of that particular past has on the present, and future.

In essence, I am the architect, the architect attempting to reach past the illusion of controlled design by letting my consciousness go of controlling such a subject. I search an ultimate goal for the architect to drift into a onerism with space and for the space to drift into a onerism with others. The architect is most certainly the linguist. I speak the dialect of design but I, myself cannot define a dialect, I mealy subscribe to its properties and allow others to interpolate their own experience of

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Conclusion this language and although I novice to a comparative might of philosophical and architectural existence. This dissertation is the beginnings of a daydream to create such an inter-perceptual phenomenology, one where architecture becomes part of the human existence entirely.

“The house, patch of meadow, oh evening light, suddenly you acquire an almost human face, your very nearest embracing and embraced.�

Gaston Bachelard, 1957

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