ABSTRACT

Architecture is a Verb outlines an approach that shifts the fundamental premises of architectural design and practice in several important ways. First, it acknowledges the centrality of the human organism as an active participant interdependent in its environment. Second, it understands human action in terms of radical embodiment—grounding the range of human activities traditionally attributed to mind and cognition: imagining, thinking, remembering—in the body. Third, it asks what a building does—that is, extends the performative functional interpretation of design to interrogate how buildings move and in turn move us, how they shape thought and action. Finally, it is committed to articulating concrete situations by developing a taxonomy of human/building interactions.

Written in engaging prose for students of architecture, interiors and urban design, as well as practicing professionals, Sarah Robinson offers richly illustrated practical examples for a new generation of designers.

chapter 1|13 pages

Situated Poetics

chapter 2|17 pages

From Vitruvius to the Resonant Body

chapter 3|16 pages

Extended Organisms—Surrogate Bodies

chapter 4|17 pages

Questioning Perception

chapter 5|14 pages

Constructing Consciousness

chapter 6|18 pages

Taxonomy of Interactions

chapter 7|31 pages

The Primacy of Breathing

chapter 8|28 pages

Homo Faber

chapter 9|29 pages

Collective Dreaming

chapter 10|23 pages

This Lesser, Rebellious Field

chapter 11|32 pages

The Soil of the Sensible

chapter 12|5 pages

Fields of Care: Concluding Thoughts