Architectural Design Primer
2 total works
The Thinking Hand - Existential and Embodied Wisdom in Architecture
by Juhani Pallasmaa
Published 20 March 2009
In this book Pallasmaa progresses his case for a multi-sensory approach to architecture, espoused in The Eyes of the Skin , by taking a wider view of the role of embodiment in human existential reactions, experiences and expressions as well as the processes of making and thinking. ' The Thinking Hand ' is a metaphor for the characteristic independence and autonomous activity of all our senses as they constantly scan the physical world. Many of our most crucial skills are internalised as automatic reactions that we are not consciously aware of. Even in the case of learning skills, the sequence of movements in a task is internalised and embodied rather than understood and remembered intellectually. Prevailing educational philosophies continue to emphasise conceptual, intellectual and verbal knowledge over this tacit and non-conceptual wisdom of our embodied processes, which is so essential to our experience and understanding of the physical and the built.
Architecture is usually analyzed and taught as a discipline that articulates space and geometry, but the mental impact of architecture arises significantly from its image. Written by distinguished writer and architect Juhani Pallasmaa, this book examines at the image in culture; the nature of the image and imagination; and the specific characteristics of the artistic image, concluding with the architectural image. The Embodied Image is illustrated with more than 40 paired images, ranging from scientific images to historic artistic and architectural masterpieces, and contemporary architectural and artistic works.