1st Edition

Architecture and Embodiment The Implications of the New Sciences and Humanities for Design

By Harry Francis Mallgrave Copyright 2013
    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    224 Pages
    by Routledge

    In recent years we have seen a number of dramatic discoveries within the biological and related sciences. Traditional arguments such as "nature versus nurture" are rapidly disappearing because of the realization that just as we are affecting our environments, so too do these altered environments restructure our cognitive abilities and outlooks. If the biological and technological breakthroughs are promising benefits such as extended life expectancies, these same discoveries also have the potential to improve in significant ways the quality of our built environments. This poses a compelling challenge to conventional architectural theory...

    This is the first book to consider these new scientific and humanistic models in architectural terms. Constructed as a series of five essays around the themes of beauty, culture, emotion, the experience of architecture, and artistic play, this book draws upon a broad range of discussions taking place in philosophy, psychology, biology, neuroscience, and anthropology, and in doing so questions what implications these discussions hold for architectural design.

    Drawing upon a wealth of research, Mallgrave argues that we should turn our focus away from the objectification of architecture (treating design as the creation of objects) and redirect it back to those for whom we design: the people inhabiting our built environments.

    Introduction 1. Beauty  2. The Culture of Architecture  3. Emotion  4. Experiencing Architecture 5 . Play, Rituals, and Other Artistic Things

    Biography

    Mallgrave, Harry Francis

    "Its value lies not only in this general approach, however, but also in the fact that Professor Mallgrave, a great expert in the history of architectural theories, is in a privileged position to assess the extent to which neuroscientific breakthroughs can or cannot be of interest in a conceptual approach to this art." – Daniel Dávila, Arquitectura Viva, Issue 156