Tbd IRJU of ,t,he apple ... lie.s inth~ ttJntat:t of t.h, frillit 'Milt' tbl! palate.

r~(Jf it} ,the fi~Ilit tIle}/;' ill' a .Iimila:r way .. Jmel'ry lies in the meeting uf the ,'oem and t"~f nol tn IIJ lines fJj Iym-bols printed tm th page;! o/,a lJonk. Wlhal' iJ ,t!JJ~111j.J is lh assthee'll' ,(let, eDit th,ill, the ~1"mI8 phyrica/,tfJlJ)tiofJ tbot, NYRMS with ,erich r,'Cllrii'l.g.

Perhapj tb.mk~'qJg, to:€], is }1#t JrJmuhing lik,e htlUdiNg a. labinel,'. ,At atly rQU, it is {/J trtilft} tl tJ1tlTillicrafi~' arid therefore' has a sp,eciaJ f';6t"ti(JN~bip to ,the h:d1'ld. In the &OtmnoN view. the ,hand II part uf OUf bod~ly mrganiurL .B:~t thti /J,tI"fi'S elJenct cali 'nftJet be. aelfrfJ'zi nra; (A" expJsi fitf-i, ">, i ts ,b,~in ," en orgr!t~J tQh ,clJ CrRJ' grGH/J. ( .•. ) T m h.'lInd' is i.'ifi.'1~i1.,ely differcrlt [rum' ,aU the gt:41jJirlg org4'11'l ..• diffWdfJ,J. by an £~lryJS of eumce. ( ... J But the craft of:.he htUJ'a is ,.icher th~ II WI &01lt11lfJ'l/]l'f1'l(1.gille .. ( ••• ) Thl hand narl:leI and ,e:ctrmJI, Yfcf4iVf!;J and u~Jru'I.ID - and nJJt jUll IJJi~gl: lhe hClna' ex tends i Sitl/f, Q;f1J. r-uei:tl.eJ in fJ1JiR zQltconn: in t.be hfZflelI ,of othe,.s. ( ... ) .B /J't lh,f hg'l'(/J ge.Jtunif rllTl erJ"}'ulhere through /al1g1iage~ in .their lIJtHt perfect puritJJ preciJ~'- 1, when man Jpeak.f hy being silett. ( ... ) Every motioll of the htmrl in wery (me, of ilJ worb ,(U,~i6!i iIJi1/f 1/;'fOllgh the element oj Ihit:oming, evtry b8u,rj,ng of the ba~d bean itself;11 that etetfJSn(;" At/' lh~ iU(Jfk of ~he lui.nd IJ tf)ot«lin thtflking'.

RETINAL AR.CHITECi-URE ANDI LOSS OF PLASTICITY

The architecture of our rime is, turning into the' rermal art of the ey.e. Alcbirect1LU'e ac large bas become' 'an art of rheprinced imag,e fixed by the hurried ey'eof ehe camera. The g,aze' ~tself [ends [0 flaeren intn a pktUlJt and lose j ts pbuaicity;, instead of expeeiencing QUI" beln,g intheworld, we belto;~d it fra,m outside as spectators of images projected on the surface of the .retina.

As buildings lose their pl,a!!ir;ic~tyandtlheir connection with (he language and wisdom of The body I rhey become isolated ,j n the' cool and. dis rant realm of vision. With che loss of tactility and the scale and details crAfted for the human .bod)' and hand, our srrucruses become repuJsi~dy Hart, sharp-edged, immateli,jal~ and unreal. The detaehmenc of consrruceicn from the realities of matter and ,crak turns archi« crure ineo stage sets fO'f the ey'e! devoid of the authem:id£Y of material and eectonic logic

Narural materials - stone, brick a-nd wood - allow (he ,gaze to pf'het['Ij't-e' [neil sur. Bees and they enable us' ,LO become convinced of [be veraci ry of marter. arural t:naterial expresses its age and hisrory as well as [he rale of irs birrh and hU[TIjIl[] usc. The pa'[ina o,f wear adds the enriching experience of rime; matter exisrs ill the continuurn of rime . But the materials of [odEllY - sheets of glass, enameled metal and synebeeie mated ds - present them r unyieldillg surfaces to rh - t:!y,e withour conveying anyifh,ing of their material essence or ~ge.

Beyond architecrure, our culture at huge seems to. drift cowards 31 distanring, a kind (If chillIng, de-sensualization and de-errmcizatien of the human relation co realltf. Pairuin.g and sculpture have also 109,[ their sensuality, and instead of in'vllting aensery in[imacy~ contemporary works, of art flt,e= quently signal a disrancing rejection of sensuous cUfriooity.

The current over-emphasis on the mrellecrual and conceptual dimenslens of archieecrure further ccnrribures (0 at disappearance of the physiC'a1~ sensual and embodied essence of architecture.

ARCHITECTURE Of THE SENSES

In Ren~lss~[l(ie rimes. the five senseswere understood, to form a hierarchical sjsrem from [he highest sense of vision down to. the lowest sense, touch, The system of rhe senses was related ro [he image ,o,f the cosmic body; vision was correlat,ed! to fire and light, headng to air, smeU 00 vapor ~ taste ttl water ~ iljouch to esrrh.

Man bas nor always, been isolared in the realm 01 'vislon.;.3l primordial dominance of bearjng has graduallybeen replaced by [hat of vision. If] his book OmJlty &:l.it~l""dCy Walter J. Ong points out d12[ "The shift from a:ml [(I' wricren speech is essentially a. shifE from SOUfU! ro vlSOOJ Spacf .... priDt replaced [be .lihgering heating ~ dOlTlinaflce in [he wnt)d of iCMug:ht and expression 'with the sigh t dominance wh ich bad its be'ginning in wri(iD,g , .. This is an insl:n:enrwodd of cold. non-hwnlo facts."

Eyery rouching experience of archi ce,(I[UI'If' is mu Iti .. sensory; qualieies of matter. space, nd scalf! ate measured equally by rhe ey,et lear, nose skin, tongue, skeleton and muscle. Arcbiu~crure Involves seven realms of sensory experience which inreracll :and infuse each echee.

In rhe words of Medeau - Penry, We see the depth, 51 sed, sofiness and hardness, of objects - Cezanne 53y~ we' s e _ ven ,their odor. If a painter wish~ es to expre.'\ the world" his system o color mnst g nerare this indivisible compL,ex of Impressions, otherwise' his painting l1J]1), hinrs at p055,'~billtw,1!S

-chOU-I" producing rhe unity, prest;!oce and unsurpassable diversity that governs [he experience and, which is rhe definition of reality fOil us."

A walk through a forest or it J apanese garden is- ~nvi,g,u:a1l:ing and heaJ~[Jg because uf the essential interaction of aU sense modalities r~inforcin,g each other; our sense of reality is thus screngchened ,and arciculaeed,

Images of one' sensory f1ealm feed further ima:ge:'1' in. ancther ,m,ooahry, 'The Book of Tea KakuzCl Okakura givtts a fine description of the mulci-sen~ory im:agery evoked by [he. extremely !!ilmple si uat:~on of [he tea ce[ll!mlmy'~ .I ••• quiet rei,gns wilb nothing (0 break ehe silence save the note of ttl boHing water in [he iron kerrle. The kettle signs well, (or pieces of iron Me ' 0 arranged in tht! bottom as ro produce a peculiar ffi'elod, in which flue may hea.'r (he echoes of a carara t 'muffled by douds; of a disranr sea breiling among the rocks, a rainstorm s·: eeping rhruugh a bam . fo,rest 1 or o( the sou hin,g of pines, on some faraway hill. fI

Th senses do not oo1y' mediat infozmarion for [be' ju.dgment of the inrellee . chey are' also a means of arricularing s~nS()ry thought,

One who has half-risen to the sound of 9J distant train at nigbr and.

,

through his sleep" experienced [be s,pac~ (lIf the city wlrh irs rounrless niliabic3Jl[s, scattered around its structures, knows the powe,1' of sound [:(I the imaginarion; rbe nocrumel whistle of a ((lain makes one conscious or the entire sleepiag city, Anyone who has become entranced b}f the ,sound of wacer drops in thl{: darkness of a ruin can attest tiD, the extl:'.ao,rdinlU)' capacity of the ear 1[,0 carve a Y01Uffire ineo the void of darkness, The s.pa{'~ reaced by the Ear becomes a ,cavity sculpted In ehe in[eriol of the mind.

We can recal] [be acoustic harshness of art uninhabited and unfurnished house 3.5, cempared en '[he affmbHity of a lived horne in wh ich sound is refracted and sohened by [be- surfaces, of nlU.rl'l~rollJS objects of personal life. Eve'f]t building or space has :i,ts cha'raC!1:,ensrk sound of mnrimacy Or mOr:JUmental ity~ 'rejection or invi'rarioR, hospital:ity Of' hostility.

Sight make-s us so1jtary ~ whereas bearing reates a sense of connection and :solLdarill:y; [be g,aze wanders lonesomely in the dark depths of a catbedra.l., but the sound of me organ makes us JeaJize our a:ffinicY' with [he space. We stare akme a[ the :suspense of the circus, bur rhe burst of applause aher

he relaxanon of suspense unites us to [he crowd" The sound of church bens through rhe streets makes us. aware of our dl£i:tenshjp'. The echo of step. on a paved! street has, an ernorional char_g'1! because the' sound bouncing off [he surrounding walls put us in di recr inrersccioc with s,pae;. the sound measures "pare and makes hs scale' comprehen jbl. Wetro~kJ the' ed es of [he space with. OUf ears, But t [he contemporary dry has lost j'tS echo.

However I the mos;( essential ,ilU[Jj![ory experience created byarch~r:ecturt= is tranquiUit)l_ Architectll.Ul! presents the drama of construction silenred Ineo marrer and space; archirecture is the an of petrified silence. After the clutter of building has ceased and the shouting of wcnkers has died away;. [he building becomes a museum of a waiting, patieD[ silence. 10 Egyptian temples we encouneer the silence of the pharaohs in the silence of a Gochic rarhedrel we are reminded of the I t dying noee of a Gn!goriallJ chant, and the echo FRoman footsteps has JUSt faded on eh walls of rh Pantheon.

An architectural experience sil aces all e~n~'rna~ noise; it cruses arreneion 00 one's very existence. Arch.itecrur ~ _ s all an. makes us awalie of (IIU(' fundamenml solicude, Ar [he same rime, an:h,ite ture d raches IlS from the presenr and aUows us to ,exp rience rhe slow" firm noW' of time and [[001- tion, Bui1dings and (hies are instruments and museums of rime, They enable us to see and und,erstaod the passing of his1tory.

Arcbi[ec[ure eonneccs us withrhe dead; rhrough bw~d~,ngs w'e are able to imagine the bustle of '[he medievaJ. street and fancY' a sole-mn precessiun a-pproaching [he cathedral. The rime of archirecrure is a detained time; in the g~.;ue:u: of buildlags time stands fi nIL], st ll]. Time in t,lle Gr~~u Pens ry le all: Ka rnak has p - ttjfi ed i oro ,R timeless peesenr.

Experiendn,g a work of art is a private dialogue between the work and [he viewer chat excludes. ocher interacnoes. ..Art is made by che alene for the alone," as, Cy.rille ConrmUy writes In The' Unquiet: Grave, Melancholy lies beneath moving experiences of art; ,thi. is the tragedy' of beancy's immateriaJ ~mporaliry. Alit projects an unattainable ideal.

The srrongesr memory of a space is often its 'Odor; I cannot remember the appearance of rhe door ro my grandfather'::; farm-house from my early childhood, but I do remember rhe resistance 'of its, weight, the patina of irs, wood surface scarred by-a haJf cenrury of use, and I recall especially the scene of horne rhae hit m}J fac,e as an invtsjble waJ1 behind the door.

A par icular s,me]) may make us secrerly re-enter a space cham: has been cnmpletely erased from [he rerinal memory; [be nostrils project a fo,rgo'['tcn Image and we are' enriced [0' enter a vivid daydream.

..... Memory and imaginarion remain associated," Gaston Bachelard writes. "'I alone in my m rnories of mother century' can open the deep cupboard rha:r MiU retains for me alone [hat unique odor. the odor uf raisins, dryin,g an a wicker tray. The odor of raisins! It IS an odor [hac is, beyond descripnont une that it rakes a lor of llmagi,nation [0 smell /1

And what a del i,ghe [0 move from nne realm of odor 'to [he next in I[he narrow srreers of an old town; the scent sphese of a cand)' store makes Dill' think 0'£ the innocence and curiosity of childhood; [he den it: smell ofa shoemaker's workshop make one j maginc horses and saddles I harness stf"".1pS and the excitement of riding; the fragrance" of a hread shop, projects images of health, sus[I!IWlOC' and phys,lcal s'trtngthl\ whereas {he perfume of a pastry shop m . es one rhi nk of bour,gc,Q,is feliciry.

Why du abandoned houses always have the same hollow SlTU!H; is it because '[he particular smell i caused by [he visual ernptjness ubse- ,ed by rh 'I:ye~

in his 'orebook IQf lvJalra Laurids Brjgg J, Rainer Maria. Rilke grves a dra matie descripricn of images of pru;:t ~ife in an al[eadiy demolished house con"eyed by traces imprinted on [he waH of j'1I:5 neighborin,g house. 'Then were the midday meals m d SI knesses and the' exhalations and r:,h,e smoke of years, and the sweat thar breaks our under the armpi ts and makes the garrnenes heavy, and (he srale breath 'Dr mouths, and the ody odour @If perspirmug feec, There were rhe pungent: '[,a:ng of urine and th~ stench of bumJ08 soot nd In grifY reek of potatoes alld '[he heavy, sickly fumes of rancid

rease. The sweetish, 1ingt!ri,ng smell of neglected infants was there, and rhe srnel] of frightened children who go to. school and the' s[uffiness of the beds of nubile yourhs,

Contemporary images of arclnrecture appear sterile and li,feJess as (;ompared

- -

to rhe ernurirma] and associative power of R~Lkf:"S olfactory imagery

THE SHAP'E OF TOUCH

The skin reads the texture, weight density and temperature of m,aner. The surface of an old object, polished ro rfection by [he rool of rhe craftsmac and rhe assiduous hands of its, users, seduces the' stroking' of our hand, It is pleasurable to press a door handle shining Worn, (he thousand hands rhar have entered (he door befof-t! LLS; the clean shimmer of ageless wear has turned into an image 0 - W l,ume and hospitality. The' door handle is [he handshake of [he buildjng. The racrile sense conll1ect , us with time and IT'ddlti:on~ 'through marks of touch 'W,!! shake '[he' hands of countless generanons.

The skin traces spaces of remperamre wieh unerring precision; the cool and jnvigor:U:ing shadow und.er 3" tree or 'the caressing sphere of warmrh Ul I

pot of sun. In my chlldhood-Images 'of [he' couarrysjde, I can vivieHy recall walls agaiost [he angLe 0 the sun, walls which intensified the bear of radiation and melted the snow allowing the firse smell of pregnant oil U) annnunce the ,appruach of summer, These peekers of sprin,g were Idendfled by the skin and the nose as much as by [he eye.

We r ce the denair, and texture of the ground ehrouah our ales, SmtuLng barefoot 0:1::1 a smoeth glacloJ m.'k by rhe sa a sunset and sensing throu,gh one's soles the warmth of [he stone heated by the suo is a heaJjn e .. rience: j[ makes one parr: of the eternal [)'cI~ 0 na[UI1!!:'. One senses [he slow breatb~ng of [he earrb.

There IS a s[wng idennry between rhe 5k~n and rile sensation or home. 'The - rience of 11Dm!! is esseruially an 'experience of warmth. The space of Wi rrnth around a fireplace is (he' space of ultimate lot_mac)' and comfort. A sense of homecoming is, n(!Verstt'fm~r than seeing a Ugh'l: In [he "Window of a house in a snow-covered landscape at dusk; l he rem,embr-Jlnce of irs

Primirsve man used his bgdy 15, the di_m,enSl'[)fii~ and proportienirsg SYSl tern of his cnnst"!IlCrdoJU" The' 'builders, of rradieionsl societies. shaped thea buildings with. their own bodies in the same way that a, bird molds its 'Utes! by its body. Th,f essence ofa tradirien ~s rhe wisdom of the bod, stored ~n_ rhe haptic memory. The essential kru]lw ledge' of the' ancient hunte r t fish~r·

man and f11lrnler. ~!S w~n as ofrhe n:J.aW'rJI and scone curter, was an ,UnI[[adoo BODILY m;ENT.lFIICATfON

of an embodied rcSJdiICioo of the rrade stored in rhe muscular illnd tarot

senses. Henry Moore wrote perceptively of the nelces~ty of a bodi~y iderl'cificaltion in art, '"1"hjs i~ wnatrbe ocuJpnlr must do. He mU5t strive' cloFltinu.allly 1[0

warm. inrerice .gently warms one's frozen limbs. Horne I.tJd skill rum inroa single sensation.

Bur ehe eye' 31~ fjouche=:;; ebe gaze implies, an uneonseiaus bodily mimesis, ideru::itlcation, Perhaps, we should think of 'IDOnctJ as the unconseious of vision. Our gaze serokes dis,tao.'[ surfaces" contours and edges, ;inC! the unconscious taceile sensaaionderesmines [be agreea1hh;:ness or unpleasantness of the experience. The diseanr and the near are experienced wirh tnt

. .

same ~ n te fIlS·) ty ..

Greae archieecruee o:ffers; shapes and su:diu:es mo~dedl fo:r fht.: p~,~asulablr touch of the eye.

The eye i,s the sense of separation and distenoa.whereas much is ehe sense of nearness. i nri m,acy and affection. Du ring overpower] ng emil) tiona] :S,l~tes we tend to close off th~ distancing sense of v'isiofl; we close our eyes when caressi Ilg our loved !O'D.f!" Deep SbadOIWS, and darkness are essential, be(caImSf [hey dim tht! s.harpflti'$:i! o,f Yis~on and invite unconsdou$periphemi 'vision and ra!C'tlie fantasy. Homogeneous light paralyzes me' imagan'81l0n in th~ same way that hom 0rg\t! n l2;ui[J(~ Ildiminates, the experience of piRce,

[11 his In Praise of Sh~dow'~, J un'ie-hi ro Tanizaki points OU[ rhet even Japanese cooking depends upen shadows and is inseparable irolll dukfU!8S. 'J\.:lJld when yokan is served in I.. lacquer dish, i[ is as if thr darkness 'Of 'th~ room were rnelting on f'our {iongue.;' III ,o]den rimes ehe blackened tet:m o! the 8'e"rsha Bnd h .. er green-blaek lips and white: face were also intended ro emphasize idle daekness and ShadOW5 6f [be room. hl Luis B:arra:gan'S ,,;~v.' most of contemporary houses would be more pleasant with only half of their window surface,

In emorional SliUeS'1 sense scimuli seem [os,hiftftom th~ more 'r~fif'led sensIrt5 towards the more archaic, from vision down. [0 rouchand smelt A cw[LU't' dlar. seeks to control its ,citi~eos ~.5 ~ike~y to vahie du:: oppo.:rite' direr, rion of ~nt'erfa.ce't away frn,m [he mrlrnare idencifieeeion towards, [be pulr ,~kly disranr detachmenc, A roci,f[), of surveillance 5 necessarily asuci{~~ U a vUyl~o.;rlst eye.

"'TL.· . rd '1..- L_-.' .

[le' wo . ·ll.aDlit:' l~, 11"'00;· ""''''''''''1-", ''''n word tc ,. '. . ,,"'b.!, '. . ~..

. "''- .. """A'UIO ,A' '. um.O exp,ress W1JlSpaifJu::tnBte lI.~aJso,n OIf

our bodies, which do not £Drget'j' with 3.1J uuforgenab1e house II ,. writes Bachel31rd ,of '[he strengrh of bodily fiJ:em,o,ry,

There is an jnher't:llc suggestion of action in images of a.rchitecnUif; che

mQtn.en£ of active ent:oumrel Of :a promise .",f .... "'" '-lilf'iod .,,~-. .'. A.' L. d)'~.

..... -or.... '!;I"IUII • Pi .... (pose, ... ,IJO h f

mtltion is an inseparableaspect of rhe exp- erience of archieecrure ,. ., ... ,., .:

r -....... .'~!-'l.II.,1.LII _ a:li, ,a, oo,nse-

qUf[l,Ce of this impljoo action. A real archl[lecl:ura~ Icxp;erie.Olr:e is nor s~mply

iii. series flf retina] images; a buHding is encnantered .. ~I: is a.,ppfoilcrn,ed, C~AfronlJed~ t!:ncollnrer-&:ttre'~ated [0 ene's 'body. mCfVied abour, utiJ~zed as, a conditilOo fOI' other chings" ere,

Stepping srones set in [he gl'a$.5 of a garden are imag,es; and imJPfir~ts of h\ID1ID steps"

As we open a dOCNl".. our body weighr meets [he Wtf1ght of '[he dOf)J'; our legs J'Il'.Ilf'a.SUJ'le the S,[(!'p5 3.Si we ascend at stair;'! our harId strokes the haadrail and our entire body moves djag~naJi:f anddrdlm3ltkaHy through s,par:e,

It bui~ding is not an end '1:0 irself i!!: framcs~ ar[Lc!:Jtatll!5~ resrru ctures 'I' gives si.gJlificahcCt relaees, separaees and uni res, fad HlI'tes andp[Qh~biu.

Conseq1l.lC'ndy I elemears of am archireceural eYnA,.,,;O,i ...... "" ll"_..m "n. I .... - . '. '. -L.

- .• ~Jr'-'.oLJII!;;HL.". .::I,"".... "' .... Have 91 llf'flJ

form rather than being [lOURS. Authentic architeerural Il:!xperi'cnces cOfishu: then of approac:i1jng'l Of ronfronring a building rachel' (han 'the :mcade; of dJ;f act 'Dr entering ,and not :li,jmplYILh£ :frame of [he 1100[1 ef Looking In or out of ~ wind.o:w~ nuhe'f than the .;:ndow irself

In the amalysis of Pra Angelico is Annu.rl,ciaf~on in hss ~S5aiy "From rhe Dti)tSfep '[0 [he 'Common £OQnJ; (15)2,6) Alvar Aalto re<:og.ni~€s the verb. essence of archirecrural experience; he speaks of entering a room, DOE of the pH"EIl or 'thed!xn .. , for inseanee ...

The au~ht'n:tkky of archl reeeurs] experience IS groun.ded ~n the eeeronic lorJJguagea[ buiJdi,ng .and the cO:fIllpreheasibihty of (he ace of COnS,[fiLU:tion ro [he senses. We behold, touch~ lisren and measure the wodd with our entire boday exisrence and the eXFler'i,ential 'wodd is organized and afdcu~

Ired areund [he (S~Dter of dle body. 'Our domicile is the refug.e of our tady) ,memory and identity. We are in constant dlaJogl1ft. and inU!filCtjO.n withl die env1tonmenrt to the degree that if is impossible to detach [he I magf' of 1f.i1 e Stdf from, its spacial and sitw[ioll.al existence. qr am [he Spice. wlleJ'fl am," as the peer I\l'Del Arnaud eseablished.

think of, and use, f,orm in irs full ,spatial complerene ss, He gets the ,wlin shape, as ,~t were, ins~de hjs head - he thinks, of itl whatevler its size, as if he were holding it complerely enclosed. in (he hollow of his hand. He mentallyyisuaJizl~s a com1plex IUIm from aU round itself he knows wbHe he lookS ar oae side whar rb _ other side is like; he identifies biros,elf wirh its center of gravity. its mass, i es wei~ht~ be realizes its vol ume, and the sp,ace dllll:

the shape displa,ces in the air."

The encounter of any work of art implies a hodil.y interaction. .A 'work ,0' arr funcrions as another person, with whum Wt: eonverse. Melanie Klein'~ notion of p[Qjectnr idenrificacion 5uggeS[s dun:" i n fact~ all human interaction implies projeo ion of frag,ments, !of the SeL to the other p~rson. ' pamrer Graham Sutherland expresses rhe same' view in regards [0 hLs"own work" "In a sense the landscape pa,j neer mus,t almost look ,at d,t! landsr,;,a as i ,it wer . himself - h&msclf as a human being." In Paul Qza_nne's vi,E'W the landscape thinks, through him and h :is tht: oonsciousness of ehe land-

scape.

Similarly an archirect &nl[ernaH2Ie:5 a building in his body; movement, balance, distance and scale 31~e r~~t unoonS{~(n1SJy through tht= bvdy as tension in [he mus-cular aysrem and in rhe postciona of the skeleton and inne.z organs. As. the ~'urk inrerarts w:i,th the hody of the observer the experiellcf mirrors, these bodily sensations of ' the maker. Consequently ~ architecture ~ communi,cation [rom rhe body of the arrhjrect directly to the body of the

inhabitant.

Underc:llantling al,d'JIi.rectural scale implies the unconscious measuring of an ob,ect 'or a building wirh one s body, ;and projecting one's bodily scbem~ on '[he space in queseion. We: feel pleasure and prot,ec,tion when the bod'

di iCovers its resonance in space.

When experiencing a struClLurr1.w,e unoonsd.oudy mimic its confi.gunl'[io~ with bones and muscles. rhe plleasurably 'animated n,DIW of a piece of m~i~ is suibcons( iously transformed into 'bod lly sensations I the composition of aD absrrscr painting is experienced as rensio:m to the .muscuJar system Tht structure of a huild:iog are unconsci'cmsly imitated and Icomprehended through the skelecal sys'[em, unknowin,gly, as we perform the task lof'ttl t:nl,umn 0'1' the vault 'With our body. The brick wants, 'to become a vault, ill Louis Kahn has said, but [his. merc'a.o10rpbosis takes place t.hrough iEI-.e

mimesis of QUI own body.

The sense ,of gravity is the essence of all archieectonic structures and great irchieecrure makes us consciaus of gra.vhy and earth. Architecrun: szren ,them verticality of our experience of the workl, At the same rime tbar architecrure makes us .l1ware of the depth 10£ earth. jre makes us dream o ll!vinrion and fligbc,

. STE OF ARCHJTECTURE

drian Srokes w.rltes. aboue the "oral invieacion of Veronese rnarble." Ther,:e i_ a subtle '[tansfereucf! between tactile and tasre experiences. VisjOD also becomes transferred to taste; certain colors as well us delicate details evoke oral sensa'[ions.A deliouely colored polished stone surface is subliminally sensed by the congue, Many years ,ago I fel r compelled [0 kneel and touch the white' marble threshold of rhe James, residence in Carmel, Ca.lifornia d ..igned hy Charles and Henry Greene. Carlo Starpa~s arclrieecrure also

, u~nt1y presents similar experiences of rasee,

Tancraki gives an impressiv descripeion of the subtle ineeracrien of the .nses,

.. irh lacquerware mere is a beaury in that moment between removing ehe lid and li'fting the bowl [0 the mouth when one gazes at the srill, silent Uqld In the dark depths of [he blJwlt its colour hardly differing from the bowl jOi'l!tf. What lies within the darkness one cannot distinguish, but rhe p lm senses the geode' mevements of (be Iiquid, vapor rises, From within m1i.Lng droplets on rhe rim, and ,I. ft"d.grance carried upon the vapor brjngs

d J' • ."

a e iesrc armctpauon.

THE TASK 'OF A~CHITEcrURE

The tuneless task of archireccure is [0 create embodied exrsrent ia] :horrs rhat Co ncr rise and structure man's Indng in the world, Images architecture reflect and externalize ideas and images of life' architecture terializes our ilnages of [,d,ed life. Buildings and [owns enable UlS :[0 rrurture, un de rsrand, and remember [be shapeless A[)Iw of realiey and, ulti .. m (,dy, [0 recognize and remember who, we are. Ar,chireicture enables LlS to . e ourselves in the continuum of cuh:ure.

All experience implies. [he acts of recollecting) remembering and cornparun! Ao embodied memory :IVdS an essential role as [he basis of remember- 10 a space or a pJK'C'. Our home and domicile are ineegrsred with our self~ entity; they becQ,me part of lour own body and being.

n memoreble experiences. of archirecrure, space rnarter and rime fuse mro smgle dimension. into the basic substaece of being, that penetrates the enscrousness. We idenrify ourselves wirh this space, thjs place, this m meet and these dimensicnsas they beccme ingredients of our very exist .. ct. Archiltlecture is tile an of mediation and reconciliation.