Introduction (770)

In search of Haecceity: Through and beyond the Chiasmus: Embodied architecture

Introduction:

In this paper, the notion of the chiasmus implied by the term embodied architecture is explored. This is attempted by an interweaving / cross pollination of the disciplines of philosophy, neuroscience and film. Merleau-Ponty’s notions of embodiment and the symbiotic relationship between the self and space/environment as well as Deleuze’s writing on the relationship between the virtual and the actual defined by the crystal image are used to decipher these distinct disciplines in relation to one another and to ultimately bring a clearer, subtly blended understanding of the loop like structure of embodied architecture and how these cross-disciplinary relationships can evolve and inform one another beyond current limitations.

The relationship between the self and the world that the self inhabits is defines our concept of reality. The fact that the body is the medium through which this relationship occurs, leads to an intrinsic binding of embodiment, space and experience. As this relationship is reflected upon and influenced and altered by new emergences in thought, new modes of embodiment can be described. This essay deals with how a current, contemporary notion of embodiment can be defined, one which reaches further is bridging and melding the gap between the initially recognisable inherent dualism of the concept.
This thesis proposes that two aspects of embodied architecture can be defined. First, the internal sense, which is the internal cognitive map of our perception of ourselves in relation to our surroundings, the absolute grounding of the body within space as the interface by which we can make sense of the world. The second is the external manifestation of this sense of self in the world, this is the conventional description of architecture, the one which we recognise in the stone carved cathedrals of the past and the steel and glass ambiguous forms of the present.
Recent discoveries about the physiology of the brain and the subsequent altering, evolving relationships between subject and object imply a new form of embodied architecture, a more dynamic interchange between the self and the environment. One which has been described / prophesised already in the 20th century by Merleau-Ponty, Baudrillard and Virillio among others.
This new embodiment by turn necessitates a new form of representation, one which has the ability to convey its complexity and corporality. In this paper I argue that new modes of representation in the multi-disciplinary medium of film are most suited to achieving this.

By viewing this second form of embodied architecture as a method of reflecting on the internal form of embodied architecture, External physical architecture (Embodied architecture) as the manifestation of our sense of self in the world can be seen as the tool by which we know reality more fully. This I argue is one of architecture’s important roles beyond its conventional use to merely shelter. Embodied architecture can be used to understand the world in ourselves and ourselves in the world. Architecture above all other art forms / disciplines has an ability to transmit meaning to human beings due to its spatiality; its ability to envelop, surround, immerse, to engage with multiple senses.
For embodied architecture to play its role as initially stated ‘to make visible how the world touches us’, to create external manifestations of our sense of self in space, I will argue it needs to embrace the representational tools available to it and given to it by the age it exists within. It needs to ask difficult questions about the fundamentals of representation? Does a building need to be functional on a practical, physical level to transmit meaning and reveal the truth? Indeed, can a fully physically realised space adequately represent such subtle and complex relationships? I argue that is cannot. That paradoxically only in the rejection of the obviously recognisable, physical architecture can we begin to truly represent space and ourselves in it realistically. I argue that the medium of film in its current multi-disciplinary phase of development is most suited to the representation of this form of intensely embodied space, one in which the senses are linked to a sense of oneself, one of immersion and transience, a landscape in which the two side of the chiasmus have started to merge into a pure haecceity (of subjective experience).
Alongside, the theoretical research and explorations of this subject a practical exploration will also be made. Although it will take its starting point for each point of departure from the theories discussed in each chapter, the approach will be more reflective and intuitive, providing visual interpretations of the concepts through drawing and montage in the first half and later a filmic representation.