ACADEMIC BOOK REVIEW – BOOK TITLE
BOOK REVIEW THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE GENIUS LOCI, A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE Group of independent publishers April 04, 1990 (197) https://www.ipgbook.com Norberg-Schulz Christian, Genius Loci, Rizzoli, NYC, 1990, 197, $ 47.47
REVIEWED BY: Arias Nicole, Flores Jennyfer. / narias.arq@uisek.edu.ec , jflores.arq@uisek.edu.ec. INTRODUCTION The genius loci is a Roman concept that is created by its ancient beliefs, the genius talks about the concepts of what life is like for people, places and how nature is illustrated. A reference is the text Architecture and Illusion "Projecting from the in-genius loci", it talks about the term "in-genius loci" and says that it could be defined as the set of characteristics of the real place that contribute to building an impossible place by an ingenuity in two areas, both architecture and illusionism, in conclusion understood how this term is used in the past, survival dependent on a good relationship with the place, both physically and psychologically. The main idea of the book is centered on the discussion on a compression of the place, seeing it from a phenomenological perspective in the field of architecture, with this the author mainly seeks to define what is the place, and how the natural place and the artificial place is inhabited, in this way the natural can be understood as the existent and as the existent shapes the artificial, turning it into architecture. The genius loci is mainly described as the representation or idea of the senses that people have of a place, these are understood as some symbolic and physical values in nature, in this way the author categorizes the genius loci on four levels: the topography, cosmological conditions of light and natural conditions, the buildings and the symbolic meanings that exist in the cultural landscape in a city. Therefore the book has a good structure and the way in which the author develops the book is clear and helps the reader's understanding, since it begins with phenomenology, which helps us understand the structure of the place and returns to the basics or memory to understand our senses and the spirit of the place. Finally the artificial place is understood which refers to the architecture and in this way the author presents us several clear examples in photos and referential quotes, in this way the author uses a clear and easy to understand methodology, which is highly recommended since in addition the genius loci is a subject which has been forgotten and understanding the subject entirety helps us understand architecture and the environment itself and to know how we can apply this concept that is important in the design because is applied in the landscaping and architecture correctly. BOOK REVIEW In the first chapter the author talks essentially about the place, what it is and its relationship. The place is an important and integral part of the existence of a whole, which is made up of matter, shape, texture, color and substance, thus giving the environment a character and making the environment the essence of space.
The author makes us understand this structure through three dualities: landscape - settlement, sky - earth, and outside - inside, with this we can come to understand that places are complex qualitative spaces, which cannot be understood only through of analytical concepts, if not a phenomenological stance is required to come to understand the experience in its entirety. On the other hand, the author tells us about the primary components that are used to define the place, which would be the natural elements, all these concepts are practical and clear and in this way the author exemplifies a poem about the fall of the snow, the which defines that we are in a space contained by the sky and the earth, the horizon is identified as a line that defines these two elements and the dark and light refer to nature and the artificial, these being the place where man feels sure. The author having architecture as his main profession, although in the first chapter he tries to give us clear concepts about the place from a slightly more philosophical point of view, architecture is always present in the analysis of the understanding of the place, since they are used different architectural properties to categorize the space, such as topography, implantation, geometry and boundaries. It is always important to know that a good environment is one in which man can locate himself spatially, and that man relates to the environment from his childhood and this makes him define himself as an adult. It is important to first understand what the place, an environment or a context is when talking about phenomenology, in this sense it is a good way which the author clearly explains to us to the place from a sense not so related to architecture, which It is the almost main theme or main reason why we read this text, but understanding the place that is the first point of approach in terms of an architectural project, is very helpful, it gives us meaning and relationship to the project with its environment. The book argues on the second chapter that in order to inhabit a place, the human being must understand the elements that surround it as it is nature, nature is made up of a series of related elements that express the foundation of a being, that is why the landscape It has a structure that must have a meaning, the methodology chosen for the book is very good since it is organized in a very and very easy way for the logical reader and at the same time very dynamic to understand well the elements that make up nature since First it explains the concept of place, in order to be able to relate them to nature, which are concepts that work together and that can be observed both in the textures, color and vegetation of the places, the methodology of this chapter is very particular, it is more illustrative than theoretical This methodology greatly helps the reader to better understand the concept of how to apply nature with places and the feelings and experiences they leave behind people and the importance of using these concepts in an appropriate way that helps us apply in architecture to obtain the most important thing that is the user experience, the book allows us to critically reflect on the character that a natural space can have. Characterizing by surfaces, reliefs, vegetation and water, these elements make up a landscape but they can be better highlighted if they are incorporated into a place. They find that the landscape can be defined as a terrain with different affected places and is the basis for the construction of Man-made places and understanding that it is not simply a matter of inhabiting, but of understanding both the macro and micro components of the place. As the first point of understanding of this chapter it goes towards that architecture is our method of anchoring to nature, in this sense creating a place means highlighting its essence, the structure and the meaning that man gives to his creation, in this way it reflects the understanding of the place and the position that man takes within it. On the other hand, the author talks about the artificial environment being a reflection of man to understand the natural environment and its existential situation, with this man builds the world through a union of natural forces because in this way the nature with ornaments and artificial places are created which serve as its representation. In this chapter the author tries to give us graphic examples to reach a complete understanding of relationships, which have a fundamental role when it comes to spaces and objects, since these are what give character to place and meaning. to the lived space. The sequence that the book follows is good because the artificial space is the last step to be able to apply it in Universidad Internacional SEK – 2020-3
architecture and that it makes sense with its environment and with the elements that compose it as the place, and the natural space and is not something without meaning , and the importance of going back to basics to understand how our senses work, the author presents this method with the intention of seeing examples that have been emerging for a long time and that somehow understand the reasons, reasons to see how they have gone disappearing as time progresses, in order to understand that it is a place to understand the natural place and then understand the artificial place and how these three terms complement each other. That is why the book is highly recommended for people who have its main scope is the design of architecture and urban planning projects, with the reading and understanding of this book we can get to apply these theories based on the memory of the place to create projects that are not decontextualized in their environment, and have a relationship with the context, respond to the needs of linking and thus create a unique memory with the project created.
Figure 2. The cover of the book Genius Loci by Christian Norberg-Schulz (1990)
CONCLUSION This book in general is a fairly easy book to understand, since the author uses a very ordered methodology in terms of concepts to be able to understand what the Genius Loci is, in this way the first chapter is a little difficult to read and understand because this has a theoretical and philosophical focus, but this is the way in which the author makes us understand the first level of the genius loci that would be the place as such, at the same time it is interesting to read the way in which the author relates all these philosophical concepts with architecture, because architects are the main group of readers for whom the book is intended. On the other hand, when the author begins to talk about the natural place, the methodology that the author uses to explain these concepts to us is simpler than the first chapter because in this the author uses graphic examples and photos of spaces which makes us understand in a way much clearer what is the natural place, its components and the relationship it has with the place, which would become the first chapter. When the author begins to speak and explain what the artificial place is, in this the understanding becomes easier for the reader, because once you have understood what the place and natural place is, you can clearly relate it to architecture and in this way, all the philosophical and theoretical terms and concepts that the author explained in the first two chapters can be applied, in addition, the use of images and examples of projects built around the world makes the understanding much easier and thus, from in this way, the concepts of the
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Genius Loci can be applied in architecture and urban planning projects with the main purpose of remembering the place and its memory as such and being able to generate projects that are related to its context and environment. This book is a mainly theoretical book which aims to give foundations and concepts about the place and that is why this is highly recommended for architects and students seeking to generate a relationship and memory with the environment or place.
REFERENCES Schulz, C. N. (1990). Genius Loci Towards a Phenomenology of architecture. New York.
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