Architecture of Thought

Architecture of Thought
Author: Andrzej Piotrowski
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2011
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 0816673047

An innovative examination of how material practices and constructed environments have shaped cultures.

The Thinking Hand

The Thinking Hand
Author: Juhani Pallasmaa
Publisher: Wiley
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2009-04-20
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 9780470779286

In our current global networked culture that puts so much emphasis on the virtual and the visual, the mind and the body have become detached and ultimately disconnected. Though physical appearance is idolised for its sexual appeal and its social identity, the role of the body in developing a full understanding of the physical world and the human condition has become neglected. The potential of the human body as a knowing entity – with all our senses as well as our entire bodily functions being structured to produce and maintain silent knowledge together – fails to be recognised. It is only through the unity of mind and body that craftsmanship and artistic work can be fully realised. Even those endeavours that are generally regarded as solely intellectual, such as writing and thinking, depend on this union of mental and manual skills. In The Thinking Hand, Juhani Pallasmaa reveals the miraculous potential of the human hand. He shows how the pencil in the hand of the artist or architect becomes the bridge between the imagining mind and the emerging image. The book surveys the multiple essences of the hand, its biological evolution and its role in the shaping of culture, highlighting how the hand–tool union and eye–hand–mind fusion are essential for dexterity and how ultimately the body and the senses play a crucial role in memory and creative work. Pallasmaa here continues the exploration begun in his classic work The Eyes of the Skin by further investigating the interplay of emotion and imagination, intelligence and making, theory and life, once again redefining the task of art and architecture through well-grounded human truths.

Interpretation in Architecture

Interpretation in Architecture
Author: Adrian Snodgrass
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 345
Release: 2013-05-13
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1134222645

Drawing on cultural theory, phenomenology and concepts from Asian art and philosophy, this book reflects on the role of interpretation in the act of architectural creation, bringing an intellectual and scholarly dimension to real-world architectural design practice. For practising architects as well as academic researchers, these essays consider interpretation from three theoretical standpoints or themes: play, edification and otherness. Focusing on these, the book draws together strands of thought informed by the diverse reflections of hermeneutical scholarship, the uses of digital media and studio teaching and practice.

Thought by Hand

Thought by Hand
Author: Miquel Adrià
Publisher:
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2014
Genre: Architecture, Modern
ISBN: 9786077784753

Documents the work of FLores and Prats, an architecture studio founded in Barcelona in 1998 that combines project design and construction with a strong focus on academic activities at a number of universities.

The Architecture of the Mind

The Architecture of the Mind
Author: Peter Carruthers
Publisher: Clarendon Press
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2006-09-28
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780191525810

This book is a comprehensive development and defense of one of the guiding assumptions of evolutionary psychology: that the human mind is composed of a large number of semi-independent modules. The Architecture of the Mind has three main goals. One is to argue for massive mental modularity. Another is to answer a 'How possibly?' challenge to any such approach. The first part of the book lays out the positive case supporting massive modularity. It also outlines how the thesis should best be developed, and articulates the notion of 'module' that is in question. Then the second part of the book takes up the challenge of explaining how the sorts of flexibility and creativity that are distinctive of the human mind could possibly be grounded in the operations of a massive number of modules. Peter Carruthers's third aim is to show how the various components of the mind are likely to be linked and interact with one another - indeed, this is crucial to demonstrating how the human mind, together with its familiar capacities, can be underpinned by a massively modular set of mechanisms. He outlines and defends the basic framework of a perception / belief / desire / planning / motor-control architecture, as well as detailing the likely components and their modes of connectivity. Many specific claims about the place within this architecture of natural language, of a mind-reading system, and others are explained and motivated. A number of novel proposals are made in the course of these discussions, one of which is that creative human thought depends upon a prior kind of creativity of action. Written with unusual clarity and directness, and surveying an extensive range of research in cognitive science, this book will be essential reading for anyone with an interest in the nature and organization of the mind.

Theories and Manifestoes of Contemporary Architecture

Theories and Manifestoes of Contemporary Architecture
Author: Charles Jencks
Publisher: Academy Press
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2006-02-03
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 9780470014691

The second half of the 20th Century witnessed an outburst of theories and manifestoes that explored the possibilities of architecture: it's language, evolution and social relevance. The many 'crises in architecture' and emerging urban and ecological problems questioned the current orthodoxy: Modernism was criticised, questioned and overthrown, only to be extended, subverted and revivified. The result was a cascade of new theories, justifications and recipes for building. This anthology, first edited in 1997, brought together a coherent collection of texts that tracked these important shifts from all the major architectural thinkers and practitioners. In this new edition of the book, over twenty additional extracts are published that present an entirely new axis for architectural thinking. Whereas much of the 20th-Century thought was dominated by the 'perceived crisis' in Modernity, 'the new paradigm' or 'complexity paradigm' has been excited by the possibilities of Emergence in the Science of Complexity and Chaos theory. The reach of complexity is expressed through the primacy of Benoit Mandelbrot's theories on geometry, with an extract from his manifesto on fractals; and furthered through an outline of Emergence by Steven Johnson. It is also handled through texts that focus on the diagram and are demonstrated in its more applied form through passages dealing with the global city and culture. Essential for the student and practitioner alike, Theories and Manifestoes since its first edition has established itself as the touchstone book for architectural thought. It features seminal texts by Reyner Banham, Peter Eisenman, Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, Colin Rowe and Robert Venturi. This is now ejected with greater currency with extracts from: Cecil Balmond, Foreign Office Architects, Daniel Libeskind, MVRDV, Lars Spuybroek, UN Studio and West 8.

Architectural Thought:

Architectural Thought:
Author: Michael Brawne
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2007-06-01
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1136428801

An introduction to architectural thought, this text is a thorough and accessible discussion in search of the principles of the design process. Documenting the non-verbal processes and decisions that architects and designers make is a difficult task, but one that is important when trying to understand the development of architectural design through the ages. Michael Brawne uses his experience as a practicing architect, academic and educator to provide an overview of the subject. By looking at the practices and buildings of architects past and present he incorporates history and philosophy in the search for a theory of design.

Mind in Architecture

Mind in Architecture
Author: Sarah Robinson
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 271
Release: 2017-03-03
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 026253360X

Leading neuroscientists and architects explore how the built environment affects our behavior, thoughts, emotions, and well-being. Although we spend more than ninety percent of our lives inside buildings, we understand very little about how the built environment affects our behavior, thoughts, emotions, and well-being. We are biological beings whose senses and neural systems have developed over millions of years; it stands to reason that research in the life sciences, particularly neuroscience, can offer compelling insights into the ways our buildings shape our interactions with the world. This expanded understanding can help architects design buildings that support both mind and body. In Mind in Architecture, leading thinkers from architecture and other disciplines, including neuroscience, cognitive science, psychiatry, and philosophy, explore what architecture and neuroscience can learn from each other. They offer historical context, examine the implications for current architectural practice and education, and imagine a neuroscientifically informed architecture of the future. Architecture is late in discovering the richness of neuroscientific research. As scientists were finding evidence for the bodily basis of mind and meaning, architecture was caught up in convoluted cerebral games that denied emotional and bodily reality altogether. This volume maps the extraordinary opportunity that engagement with cutting-edge neuroscience offers present-day architects. Contributors Thomas D. Albright, Michael Arbib, John Paul Eberhard, Melissa Farling, Vittorio Gallese, Alessandro Gattara, Mark L. Johnson, Harry Francis Mallgrave, Iain McGilchrist, Juhani Pallasmaa, Alberto Pérez-Gómez, Sarah Robinson

Mental Architecture: Building The Mind One Moment At A Time

Mental Architecture: Building The Mind One Moment At A Time
Author: Howard Blumenfeld
Publisher: Bay Company Books, Incorporated
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2019-08-20
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780578556468

This book explores the true nature of reality and brain-based experience in a dynamic and diverse world. We unravel the mysteries behind your conscious mind, including the tendency to see faces in inanimate objects, the subjective nature of time perception, and the significant limitations mathematical models and measurement systems impose in accurately describing the world around us. We also examine the physical and social challenges imposed by different perspectives and challenge the notion of objectivity. The discussion then turns further inward with a focus on what it means to be "normal" and if it is possible to have a stable identity in a body subject to the continual forces of aging and time. Every decision we make is called into question, leaving us to wonder what choices we have control over and which ones we do not. There are powerful messages of hope and humanity throughout the book, with a direct embrace of individuality, diversity, and natural beauty. Anyone who reads it will discover a renewed sense of self and purpose, and will never look at the world or themselves in the same way.

Architecture of Thought

Architecture of Thought
Author: Andrzej Piotrowski
Publisher:
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2011
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 9781452945835

In "Architecture of Thought," Andrzej Piotrowski maps and conceptually explores material practices of the past, showing how physical artifacts and visual environments manifest culturally rooted modes of thought and participate in the most nuanced processes of negotiations and ideological exchanges. According to Piotrowski, material structures enable people to think in new ways--distill emerging or alter existing worldviews--before words can stabilize them as conventional narratives. Combining design thinking with academic methods of inquiry, Piotrowski traces ancient to modern architectural histories and--through critical readings of select buildings--examines the role of nonverbal exchanges in the development of an accumulated Western identity. Unlike studies that organize around the traditional scheme of periodization in history, Architecture of Thought uses an interdisciplinary approach to investigate a wide spectrum of cultural productions in different times and places.