"OCCULARCENTRISM" OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE
The research that I carried out focused on a study of the intimacies that the human body shares with architecture. This research first sparked my interest through the publications of Juliani Pallasmaa. The Eyes of the Skin is critical of the "Occularcentrism" of modern architecture and the ocular bias that is placed on architectural theory. The "hegemonic" eye, he says, can be narcissistic, viewing architecture "solely as a means of self-expression and as an intellectual-artistic game detached from essential mental and societal connections" (Pallasmaa, 1998). Pallasmaa himself is an admirer of aesthetically pleasing architecture. However, he maintains the stance that many modern buildings are designed as more of an ocular exercise rather than to be occupied, making the spaces aesthetic but not intimate. In contrast, the visual is favoured by modernist architects and architectural theorists alike. For example, Le Corbusier remarked that "I am and I remain an impenitent visual- everything is in the visual." (Colomina, 1992). However, I am interested in Pallasmaa's argument that buildings are aesthetically celebrated only when experienced visually, rather than developing an intimate relationship with the whole body and the other senses such as touch and smell when occupying the architecture. I am curious about the role drawings play in this relationship. As architects communicate through drawing, I am particularly interested in the role which designers can contribute to this relationship.
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THE OPPORTUNITY FOR ARCHITECTSAn important discovery that I made when reflecting on my design process through the lens of Pallasmaa's argument was the correlation it had with scale. The drawings that demonstrate the intimacy that the body has with the architecture are present in some parts of the architectural design process; however, they then disappears at other times. This relies upon the architectural scale that is being employed. Large multi-residential housing projects that are led by developers tend to have less regard for the human body occupying the space, rather placing more emphasis on how many occupants can be housed in a limited area from an economic standpoint. However, while many may overlook the endless range of intimacies that can be exploited from a drawing scale that embodies this intimate relationship between the body and architecture, I feel this provides an opportunity for architects to utilise drawing to best express this intimacy. This has the potential to impose an impactful and intimate architecture to a larger scale project- A project of a scale to which this intimacy would not usually be as common. The architecture that results from this could be viewed as a method of balancing into the building elements, economical value and site density against more human orientated and social values.
THE INTIMACIES OF BRAYWhen designing this co-housing scheme in semester II, I applied a regard for this intimacy was applied to the design process. For example, a site study was carried out, commencing with the body's relationship with the site was surveyed and then replicated within the co-housing scheme. The scope of this survey included 1:10 drawings of the Victorian promenade, including the iron handrails, documenting the process of submerging and emerging from the water through a 1:10 survey and the 1:5 survey of the promenade seating. These drawings exhibit a comprehensive degree of body-object tactility that can either be mimicked to create a perpendicular extension of the promenade or can be used as a precedent for the level of intimacy the body shares with the architecture in the completed co-housing scheme.
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