Phenomenology in architecture: the body and the challenge of multi

sensory experiences












Keila Caldeira | N0535484






DESN22076: Architecture in context II
NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY
2014
1. PALLASMAA AND PHENOMENOLOGY IN ARCHITECTURE
This Essay refers to how ideas of Phenomenology are linked to architecture and also proposes
discussion about the role of the body in architecture, explaining the importance of creating multi
sensorial architectural experiences through contemporary architect works. Based on that, the essay is
divided in two main sections: the rst one shows the phenomenology term denition according to
different authors and how it relates to architecture and its context; the second one shows Peter
Zumthor as one of the architects who use multi sensorial approach and is also an attempt of
understanding his process of work, exploring his published materials, interviews and projects.

To start to think about phenomenology is important to think about our current context. Our global
networked culture emphasizes mostly visual and virtual aspects, turning the body and the mind
disconnected and detached. Pallasmaa has pointed that even with the idolization of physical aspects
as social identities for its sexual appeals, there are many negligencies when we think about the role of
the body to understand human condition for full comprehension of the physical world. There are many
fails to recognize the potential of the human body dealing with all our senses and functions, that are
structured to create and keep knowledge together - as an entity. (The Thinking Hand, 2009).

Using this thoughts as statements, we can stablish that the unity of mind and body enhance the
artistic work and even actions generally called intellectual such thinking and writing could be fully
realized only in dependence of union of manual and mental skills. In The Thinking Hand (2009), Juhani
Pallasmaa shows that even a pencil in the hand of an architect or artist could be transformed as the
most importance device to transport the ideas from mind to real world as materialized image. This
book relates the role of hands in the culture shaping, using its biological evolution and also its relation
with eyes and mind, using it as a tool to connect memory, image, emotion and imagination.

All art forms such as sculpture, painting, music, cinema and
architecture are specific modes of thinking. They represent ways
of sensory and embodied thought characteristic to the particular
artistic medium. These modes of thinking are images of the hand
and the body and they exemplify essential existential knowledge.
Instead of being mere visual aestheticization, architecture, for
instance, is a mode of existential and metaphysical philosophising
through the means of space, structure, matter, gravity and light.
Profound architecture does not merely beautify the setting of
dwelling; great buildings articulate the experience of our very
existence. (PALLASMAA, The Thinking Hand, 2009).
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Based also on Neil Leachs book (Rethinking Architecture 1996), Phenomenology could be stated as
the study of how phenomena is manifested. But we also have to consider as presented in his edition ,
to defend that the phenomena is not limited only to the visual domain. Phenomenology demands a
receptivity to the full ontological potential of human experience. It therefore calls for a heightened
receptivity of all the senses. Nor should this be perceived as some shallow, supercial level of
reception (LEACH, p:80, 1996). Phenomenology when engaged to architecture needs a world
understanding that emerges from the environment around ourselves.

phenomenology in architecture involves an openness not only to
the realm of the sensory, but also to the potential revelation of
some truth. Hermeneutics allows for the reception and
understanding of that truth. The nature of this revelation varies
from thinker to thinker. For Heidegger and Gadamer the work of
art represents some form of symbolic truth, while for Lefebvre
the process takes on an overtly political twist. Within the lived
experience Lefebvre claims that there are moments which reveal
the emancipatory capacity of potential situations.

Architecture theories are then questioned by Phenomenology to open up the mind to new
perspectives. Architecture is no more related to quantity, but to a major movement that juxtaposes
rationalism when questioning some states. Introducing the term, Neil Leach says Phenomenology of
architecture refers to the experience through sensory properties in reference to building materials; a
philosophy where the building does not function in the second dimension or third dimension, but the
fourth dimension (time). (LEACH, p:80, 1996)

Instead of perceiving space as something detached of body senses, neutral or even abstract space,
architecture needs to provide different dimension to surrounding space or built environment. Is
necessary to take care of other senses of the body, instead of concern just about visual aspects to
show builty, forms and volumes. Create a space that instigate curiosity through textures, lights,
materials and other kind of sensation is a challenge that follows the phenomenology attempts of a
complex and fullled built environment. The space needs to be always associate with its
phenomenological perceptions rather than just visual aspects as already said before.

Phenomenology offers a depth model for understanding human
existence, no less than structuralism or psychoanalysis. Yet the
difference with structuralism is revealed throughout the texts
included here. Structuralism, in the form of semiology, operates
merely at the level of signs. Phenomenology, meanwhile, claims to
have recourse to a deeper symbolic level; it seeks to go beyond
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the codifying capacity of semiology to reveal a richer
understanding of the world. Yet it is in its very claims that the
weakness of the project is revealed. (LEACH, Rethinking
Architecture, 1996 : p.80)
The literature studied try to compare the architecture of the now with the effect of phenomenology,
and how the site could work according to those different approaches of uses, showing how the
process of creating a phenomenological building works and convey the technique of how a concept
can allow the building to thrive.

The theory of phenomenology is then commonly connected with architects like Steven Holl, Richard
LePlastrier, Christian Norberg-Schulz, Juhani Pallasmaa and Peter Zumthor. Based on that, the next
paragraphs will analyze how the phenomenological approach is present on Peter Zumthor works,
discussing the role of the body in architecture and explain the importance of creating a multisensory
architectural experience.

2. PETER ZUMTHOR AND A MULTISENSORIAL EXPERIENCE IN ARCHITECTURE
Zumthor is an exemplary image of the architect as a self-made
man. But a man made of the world, like his buildings.
As mentioned at the Pritzker Arqchitecture Prize in 2009, Zumthor is an example of phenomenological
architect because of his passionate care and attention to site peculiarities in each design he has
made. he has a keen ability to create places that are much more than a single building. His
architecture expresses respect for the primacy of the site, the legacy of a local culture and the
invaluable lessons of architectural history. (Jury Citation, The Pritzker Architecture Prize 2009).

For him, it s not just a matter of how the facilities are placed together or how they look like; is
necessary to understand and consider carefully how they feel when someone touches, their smell,
and especially, which kind of memories prevail at someones head. The association of those elements
are things that evokes the primary relationship between the site, or the build environment and the
human body, creating very individual experiences in specic situations. those are premisses on his
design method and processes.

Several articles, speeches wrote about Peter Zumthor showed that he follows simple rules of
perception daily to have a comprehensive understanding of the world and than translate those
analysis into design method. This is also interesting mentioned in the interview made by Patrick Lynch
in April 2009:

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PL: The last time you were at the RIBA (2000) your talk was entitled Does Beauty have a
Form?, and you spoke about life, about love, clothes, food. What do you think now?
P.Z: The same thesis; I have the same feeling. Once you start a phenomenological pursuit
of beauty, of moments, you look at your personal life: When do I experience beauty?
When do I have these moments of sensation of beauty? When do I feel this beauty?
PL: In Search of a Lost Architecture begins: When I think of architecture, images come
into my mindmemoriescontain the deepest architectural experience that I know. They
are the reservoirs of the architectural atmospheres and images that I explore in my work
as an architect. (Thinking Architecture, Birkhuser 1998). Last night you spoke about your
grandfathers house, about the shallow steps between spaces acted as an inspiration for
the oors of St Kolomba Museum at Cologne (2008) being not like those at supermarket
oors everywhere. Are these memories personal, or part of the phenomenal world of
images?
P.Z: Basically Ive come to think that I work like an author. There was a time when I
thought that all architects work like authors, but when I looked around I saw that they
were implementers and service providers. This is not my world. So I work like a composer
writes his music, a writer writes his book and a painter and so on. I try to do buildings
and spaces. And what I have to do for the plans and the function, and what I can try to
do is the basic stuff that I can deal with. In your case and in any other case it is a matter
of what we know and what is inside us. Most things that are inside us we dont know!
So, we have all these many sayings of artists, like Picasso, who said that: art is not about
inventing, art is about discovering. This is nothing new. Everybody says this in different
elds. It does not come from following ideologies. It is great if you become part of the
church, Modernism or whatever, then of course it consoles you and it supports you and
makes part of a group. This is human. But in order to create something this is not a good
thing. Better to be yourself.
To illustrate his methods and phenomenological approaches mentioned above, was selected one of
his important projects which deal beautifully with its context. The therm vals was chosen because of
its almost fulfilled sensory experience.
3. THE THERME VALS BY PETER ZUMTHOR
The information about the project perceptions were exposed by ArchDaily: Peter Zumthor designed
the spa/baths which opened in 1996 to pre date the existing hotel complex. The idea was to create a
form of cave or quarry like structure. Working with the natural surroundings the bath rooms lay below
a grass roof structure half buried into the hillside. The Therme Vals is built from layer upon layer of
locally quarried Valser Quarzite slabs. This stone became the driving inspiration for the design, and is
used with great dignity and respect.
Mountain, stone, water building in the stone, building with the
stone, into the mountain, building out of the mountain, being
inside the mountain how can the implications and the sensuality
of the association of these words be interpreted, architecturally?
Peter Zumthor
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Some spaces were designed for visitors to luxuriate and rediscover the ancient benets of bathing.
The combinations of light and shade, open and enclosed spaces and linear elements make for a
highly sensuous and restorative experience. The underlying informal layout of the internal space is a
carefully modelled path of circulation which leads bathers to certain predetermined points but lets
them explore other areas for themselves. The perspective is always controlled. It either ensures or
denies a view.
The meander, as we call it, is a designed negative space
between the blocks, a space that connects everything as it ows
throughout the entire building, creating a peacefully pulsating
rhythm. Moving around this space means making discoveries.
You are walking as if in the woods. Everyone there is looking for a
path of their own. Peter Zumthor
The fascination for the mystic qualities of a world of stone within the mountain, for darkness and light,
for light reections on the water or in the steam saturated air, pleasure in the unique acoustics of the
bubbling water in a world of stone, a feeling of warm stones and naked skin, the ritual of bathing
these notions guided the architect. Their intention to work with these elements, to implement them
consciously and to lend them to a special form was there from the outset. The stone rooms were
designed not to compete with the body, but to atter the human form (young or old) and give it
spaceroom in which to be.
The Therme Vals was built over the only thermal springs in 1996 and combines a complete sensory
experience in a spa and hotel located in the Graubunden Canton in Switzerland.
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FIGURE 01: Sketch by Peter Zumthor ,Diagram of Thermal Bath Vals, Graubnden, Switzerland, 1996





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FIGURE 02: External area Thermal Bath Vals,
Graubnden, Switzerland, 1996
FIGURE 03: internal area Thermal Bath Vals,
Graubnden, Switzerland, 1996
FIGURE 04: internal area Thermal Bath Vals,
Graubnden, Switzerland, 1996
4. CONCLUSION
Buildings are not abstract, meaningless construction, or
aesthetic compositions, they are extensions and shelters of our
bodies, memories, identities and minds. Consequently,
architecture arises from existentially true confrontations,
experiences, recollections and aspirations (PALLASMAA,
2009:117)
The present work aimed to understand how incorporate full understanding of body senses and, as
architects, apply those knowledge through the design process, enhancing our ability to understand
and capture the nature and the meaning of elements in our context, translating them into image and
materializing ideas through drawings and thoughts.
Even though the ability of perception not only from visual aspects is not easy to achieve and is
necessary to articulate our body to interprete those experiences. The architect needs to capture
sensations on the environment and bring to a builded space.





















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5. REFERENCES

Books

PALLASMAA, Juhani; 1996. Polemics The eyes of the Skin Architecture and the Senses, London:
Academy Editions, p10
PALLASMAA, Juhani; 2009. The Thinking Hand. London: John Wiley & Sons Ltd

LEACH, Neil (ed.); 1997. Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory, London: Routledge,
409pp.

ZUMTHOR, Peter; 1997. Peter Zumthor Works : Buildings and Projects, 1979-1997. Baden /
Switzerland: Lars Mller
Websites

Archdaily "The Therme Vals / Peter Zumthor" 11 Feb 2009. ArchDaily. Accessed 02 Feb
2014. <http://www.archdaily.com/?p=13358>

URSPRUNG, Phillip. The Pritzker Architecture Prize, 2009 - Essay. [online]. Sponsored by The
Hyatt Foundation. Available at: http://www.pritzkerprize.com/sites/default/les/le_elds/
eld_les_inline/2009_essay.pdf [acessed january 2014].

ZUMTHOR, Peter. The Pritzker Architecture Prize, 2009 - Selected works. [online]. Sponsored
by The Hyatt Foundation. Available at: http://www.pritzkerprize.com/2009/works [acessed january
2014].

ZUMTHOR, Peter. The Pritzker Architecture Prize, 2009 - Ceremony Speech. [online].
Sponsored by The Hyatt Foundation. Available at: http://www.pritzkerprize.com/2009/
ceremony_speech2 [acessed january 2014].


Interview

LYNCH, Patrick; The Architect's Journal (April 2009). An interview with Peter Zumthor by Patrick
Lynch. Available at:http://www.lyncharchitects.com/text/architects-journal-interview-peter-zumthor-
patrick/ [acessed february 2014].
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Figures

FIGURE 01: Sketch by Peter Zumthor , Thermal Bath Vals, Graubnden, Switzerland, 1996. [online],
URL http://www.archdaily.com/13358/the-therme-vals/ (acessed in january 2014).
FI GURE 02: Thermal Bat h Val s, Graubnden, Swi t zerl and, 1996. [ onl i ne] , ht t p: //
architecture.about.com/od/greatbuildings/ig/Peter-Zumthor-/Thermal-Bath-Vals.htm [acessed
february 2014].
FI GURE 03: Thermal Bath Val s, Graubnden, Swi tzerl and, 1996. [ onl i ne] , http://
www.remodelista.com/posts/poetry-in-space-vals-thermal-spa-in-switzerland [acessed february
2014].
FI GURE 04: Thermal Bath Val s, Graubnden, Swi tzerl and, 1996. [ onl i ne] , http://
www.remodelista.com/posts/poetry-in-space-vals-thermal-spa-in-switzerland [acessed february
2014].
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