Abstract
This chapter proposes that the philosophy of phenomenology is highly applicable, if not necessary, for a deeper and more integrated approach to spatial design disciplines in a world that aspire to be sustainable. The chapter develops upon the frameworks established by Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty, and the works since which have attempted integration of such ideas in architecture and design, such as those by Aalto, Norberg-Schulz, Pallasmaa, Frampton, and Zumthor. It evaluates key historical and more recent phenomenological concepts for their importance in contemporary spatial design. Reflecting on these diverse views this chapter focuses on two strands and evaluates their usefulness in facilitating the uptake of sustainability in architecture and design. Although the two notions explored are different, jointly they show that there are significant constructive implications for phenomenology within architecture and design.
The chapter discusses the phenomenological concepts, their inherent relevance for spatial design disciplines and supports that discussion through a series of contemporary student projects in landscape architecture, furniture design, and architectural construction. Especially significant is a conceptual interpretation of pro-sustainable efforts as inherently and deeply reflective of many values already captured in phenomenology, and that through the active use of phenomenological concepts a more pro-sustainable design becomes possible.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Armstrong, H. (1999). Design studios as research: An emerging paradigm for landscape architecture. Landscape Review, 5(2), 5–25.
Bogost, I. (2012). Alien phenomenology or what it’s like to be a thing. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Brislin, P. (2012). Introduction: Identity, place and human experience. In special issue: Human experience and place: Sustaining identity. Architectural Design, 82(6), 8–13.
Brownell, B. (Ed.). (2006). Transmaterial: A catalog of materials that redefine our physical environment. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.
Bryant, L. (2011). The democracy of objects. Michigan: Open Humanities Press.
Coelho, J. R. N. (1991). Merleau Ponty: filosofia como corpo e existência. São Paulo, Brasil: Escuta.
Corner, J. (1991). A discourse on theory II: Three tyrannies of contemporary theory and the alternative of hermeneutics. Landscape Journal, 10(2), 115–134.
Crotty, M. (1998). The foundations of social research: Meaning and perspective in the research process. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Crysler, G., Cairns, S., & Heynen, H. (Eds.). (2012). SAGE handbook of architectural theory. London: Sage Publications.
Droog Design. (2013). Know more Droog 9: things you need to know about Droog. http://issuu.com/droog/docs/droog_brandbooklet2013_issuu. Accessed August 2013.
Dreyfus, H. L., & Spinosa, C. (1999). Coping with things-in-themselves: A practice-based phenomenological argument for realism. Inquiry, 42(1), 49–31.
El-Shafie, M. (2011). Phenomenology of site design as a fundamental concept in architectural education. International Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 11(6), 64–70.
Fernandez, J. (2006). Material architecture: Emergent materials for innovative buildings and ecological construction. Boston: Architectural Press.
Findaly, L. (2009). The body’s disclosure in phenomenological research. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 19–30.
Frampton, K. (1990). Rappel a l’ordre: The case for tectonic. Architectural Design, 60(3/4), 19–25.
Frampton, K. (1995). Studies in tectonic culture: the poetics of construction in nineteenth and twentieth century architecture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Frampton, K. (2002). Minimal moralia: Reflections on recent Swiss German production. In K. Frampton, Labour, Work and Architecture: collected essays on architecture and design. London/New York: Phaidon Press. First published in Scroope, Cambridge Architecture Journal. No. 9. 1997.
Harman, G. (2002). Tool-Bring: Heidegger and the Methaphysics of Objects. Chicago: Open Court.
Hartoonian, G. (1994). Ontology of construction: On nihilism of technology in theories of modern architecture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Heidegger, M. (1971a). The origin of the work of art. First published in German in 1950. In M. Heidegger (Ed.), Poetry, language, thought (pp. 15–87). New York: Harper and Row Publishers.
Heidegger, M. (1971b). Building dwelling thinking. In M. Heidegger (Ed.), Poetry, language, thought (pp. 143–161). New York: Harper and Row Publishers.
Heidegger, M. (1971c). The thing. First published in German in 1951. In M. Heidegger (Ed.), Poetry, language, thought (pp. 163–186). New York: Harper and Row Publishers.
Heidegger, M. (1977). The question concerning technology. First published in German in 1954. In M. Heidegger (Ed.), The question concerning technology and other essays (pp. 3–35). New York: Harper Torchbooks.
Kvale, S. (1983). The qualitative research interview: A phenomenological and a hermeneutic mode of understanding. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 14(2), 171–196.
Malpas, J. (2009). Place and human being. Environmental and Architectural Phenomenology, 19–23.
Martins, J. (1992). Um enfoque fenomenológico do currículo: a educação como poíesis. São Paulol: Cortez.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1942). La structure du comportement. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1945). La phénoménologie de la perception. Paris: Gallimard.
Milfont, T. L., Richter, I., Sibley, C. G., Wilson, M. S., & Fischer, R. (2013). Environmental consequence of the desire to dominate and be superior. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39(9), 1127–1138.
Moran, D. (2010). Sartre on embodiment, touch, and the ‘double sensation’. Philosophy Today, 54, 135–141.
Norberg-Schulz, C. (1971). Existence, space & architecture. London: Studio Vista.
Norberg-Schulz, C. (1980). Genius loci: Towards a phenomenology of architecture. London: Academy Editions.
Pallasmaa, J. (1996). The eyes of the skin: Architecture and the senses. London: Academy Editions.
Pallasmaa, J. (1998). Logic of the image. Journal of Architecture, 3, 289–299.
Pallasmaa, J. (2005). In P. MacKeith (Ed.), Encounters: Architectural essays. Rakennustieto: Helsinki.
Pasnik, M. (2003). Introduction: The material autograph. In O. Riera Ojeda (Ed.), Materials (pp. 8–11). Gloucester/Rockport: Hi Marketing.
Petrović, E. (2014). Building materials and health: A study of perceptions of the healthiness of building and furnishing materials in homes. A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Architecture.
Petrović, E., & Perkins, N. (2016). Materials in furniture design: Towards a new conceptual framework. ii Journal, 4.
Ramakers, R., & Bakker, G. (1998). Droog design: spirit of the nineties. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers.
Rockmore, T. (1997). On Heidegger’s Nazism and philosophy (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Sartre, J. P. (1989). Being and nothingness. (H. Barnes, Trans. London: Routledge.
Schörpfer, T. (Ed.). (2011). Material design: Informing architecture by materiality. Basel: Birkhäuser GmbH.
Seamon, D. (2000). Phenomenology in environmental-behavior research. In S. Wapner (Ed.), Theoretical perspectives in environmental-behavior research (pp. 157–178). New York: Plenum.
Sharr, A. (2007). Heidegger for architects. London: Routledge.
van Manen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action-sensitive pedagogy. London: Althouse.
Van Nes, A. (2014). The heaven, the earth and the optic array: Norberg Schulz’s place phenomenology and its degree of operationability. The Foot, 2(2), 113.
Wilken, R. (2013). The critical reception of Christian Norberg-Schulz’s writings on Heidegger and place. Architectural Theory Review, 18, 3.
Zumthor, P. (2006). Thinking architecture. Basel: Birkhauser. First published in 1998.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Petrović, E.K., Marques, B., Perkins, N., Marriage, G. (2018). Phenomenology in Spatial Design Disciplines: Could it Offer a Bridge to Sustainability?. In: Vermaas, P., Vial, S. (eds) Advancements in the Philosophy of Design. Design Research Foundations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73302-9_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73302-9_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73301-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-73302-9
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)