ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the identification of the architect with the architectural artefact in the cases of Aldo Rossi and John Hejduk. Particular emphasis is placed on the relationship between autobiography and the design process. At the core of the chapter is the idea that the architectural artefacts conceived by Rossi and Hejduk have an autobiographic character. Their architectural artefacts are characterised by their own personality and their own idiosyncratic characteristics. This tendency of Rossi and Hejduk to identify their selves with the architectural objects they designed could explain their fixation with autobiography. Hejduk argued that movement affects the way spectators perceive objects and related tactile sensation to a moving spectator and mental perception to a fixed spectator. This dichotomy between tactile sensation and mental perception explains his intention to transform three-dimensional spaces into two-dimensional and to erase as much as possible the sense of depth. His intention to prioritise fixed spectator’s mental perception over moving spectator’s tactile sensation is expressed through his techniques of erasing depth from isometric drawings and is exemplified in his Diamond Houses series and Wall House series. At the core of the chapter is the evolution of the exchanges between Europe and the United States of America and the role that these exchanges played for architectural debates. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of certain exhibitions and events that had an important impact on the cross-fertilisation between European and American architectural scenes.
