ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on the way architectural phenomenologists — both architectural theorists and professional architects — have employed phenomenology and its insights in order to establish and develop a distinctive method of interpreting or designing the built environment. Obviously, given the variety of individuals who have taken a phenomenological approach to architecture, it would be impossible to present an in-depth account of every one of them in this book. Those who are discussed here have been selected on the basis, on the one hand, of their connection to the philosophers in question, and on the other, of their relationship to our case study architect, Tadao Ando. Christian Norberg-Schulz is explicitly Heideggerian, and one of the main figures to have produced a significant body of writings and discussions on the phenomenology of architecture. He has employed phenomenology as his departure point in interpreting and understanding architecture and has remained committed to this approach throughout his work. Juhani Pallasmaa, both as an architect and a theorist, is more Merleau-Pontian in approach and has written extensively on the phenomenology of architecture. Critic and historian Kenneth Frampton, a leading figure deeply influenced by the critical theory approach of the Frankfurt School, has proposed ideas such as critical regionalism and tectonics which have clear phenomenological implications. Steven Holl is a Merleau-Pontian architect who tries to reinterpret Merleau-Ponty's thoughts and ideas in his architectural works and projects. More specifically, Norberg-Schulz and Frampton have written on Tadao Ando, and their writings will be analysed and criticized in the coming chapters. Each section concludes with a critical analysis of the figure in question, bringing out the advantages, challenges and shortcomings of their phenomenological approach. This chapter intends, by way of preparation for the chapters that follow, to present a general view of the ‘state’ of phenomenology in architecture, to uncover its relationships to phenomenology in philosophy, and to think about probable common aspects and concerns, criticize them, and provide a secure ground on which the status of architectural phenomenology can be discussed in the next chapter.
