ABSTRACT
This chapter is both appreciative and critical of Norberg-Schulz’s theory of phenomenology applied to architecture. Massimo Cacciari denounced Norberg-Schulz’s writings for “nostalgia”, and Rowan Wilken added that genius loci was “strongly traditional and nostalgic.” Various writers and architects have drawn on Norberg-Schulz and have sometimes re-incorporated a Norberg-Schulz reading of Martin Heidegger into a more formalist architectural theory or applied both thinkers to ancient and modern architecture. Yet in virtual place design, Norberg-Schulz’s theory of phenomenology has received scant attention, even if concepts like dwelling and a sense of place as well as embodiment are desirable, if elusive, goals in computer games, virtual places, and virtual worlds. One may also propose that Norberg-Schulz has a particular but not especially well-grounded interpretation of Heidegger. For Norberg-Schulz’s theory of phenomenology in architecture avoids mention of people, of social use, and of cultural value.
