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In early eighteenth century German architecture was considered as part of mathematics and it was even taught by mathematicians. At the end of this eventful century of enlightenment architecture was regarded as one of the fine arts, at least as a discipline close to them. This fundamental change is the real theme of architectural theory in this time and it takes place outside of the theoretical writings of architects which deals mainly with proportions and columns.
It was the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, who phrases in 1757 – in an essay upon the differences between the sciences and arts – the most radical thesis as he wrote that architecture could arouse passion. Architecture was no longer just a case of sense but of sensibility and it is clear that excitement is not only a field for professionals. Theory is no longer a collection of eternal laws but reflection upon the nature of the discipline. The discussion was opened now.

(Paper in German)

___Burkhard Biella
Duisburg

Always Home -
On the Relations between Philosophy and Architecture

A philosophical reflexion about the relation of philosophy and architecture asks for the associations of theory and practice, whereby philosophy has to become practical, and architecture can enlarge her theoretical foundation. Farther a philosophical reflexion is a consideration on human essence, here in particular with a relation to language, space and death. I refer the essential purpose of architecture, to build for human beings, to dwelling as the essential purpose of building, so that the practice of human life with its individuality and sociality transfers to the centre of thinking. The conception of existential dwelling depends on a practical turn to architecture on the foundation of a philosophy of dwelling, reconstructed on the philosophy of Martin Heidegger.

(Paper in German)

___Claus-Christian Wiegandt
& Rainer Kazig
Bonn

On the Position of Architecture
in Geographic Thinking and Research

Architecture is a topic of German human geography since the 19th century. In the course of the discipline’s development we can distinguish three phases of geographical thought with specific forms to address the built environment. The traditional landscape geography is dominated by a morphological perspective on the built environment. The research in this phase is about the origins and the diffusion of regional forms of buildings and settlements. Architecture faded out of the geographical focus during the 1970s after the turn of human geography towards social sciences and the related loss of importance of the landscape geography. Since the 1990s architecture is back on the agenda of German human geography in different approaches. It is a topic in postmodern urban geography, in research about urban atmospheres, and in recent approaches of the rematerialisation of human geography.

(Paper in German)

Aesthetics

___Heidi Helmhold
Cologne

Beau désordre, Beautiful Disorder:
The Architecture of Desire

During the 19th century the boudoir turned into a place of feminine seduction. Before that, during the 18th century, it was the site of libertinage. In the novel Libertin sexuality is synonymous with erotic permissiveness as an act of liberation from the moral precepts of Christianity and a disciplined society. In the early days of libertinage ars amandi was not considered as plain sexuality and sexual satisfaction. Rather, the art of loving was geared to mastery in lustful pleasure, inventive and purposive in its means and methods. In the process body and physical experience produced a spatial counter-architecture to the geometrical social architecture of 18th century society. In the society at large space was imposed by architectural style and social restraint; in the libertarian boudoir body and space were produced by the actors themselves. Visualization and emotionality are the architectural dimensions of two distinct forms of spatial experience: Euclidian space, which is static, reliable and visually controlled, and a space of fragility, or espace négligent, which is shaped by emotions (“Affekte”). Descriptions and illustrations may be found in the novel Libertin and in the paintings by Jean-Honoré Fragonard.

(Paper in German)

Psychology

___Peter Georg Richter
Dresden

Architecture and Psychology

From a psychological view architecture has a special meaning for the human being. After a millennial progress the human race cannot be visualized without built environment. According to the concept of the circle structure of action (Leontjew, 1977) it concerns an intensive transactional relationship in which mankind is involved not only as a creator but also as a user. According to Lang et. al. (1987) this relationship includes three levels: activation, interaction as well as individual and social enhancement.
These levels can provide the outline for scientific research and the approach for architectural psychology. Three studies illustrate how these levels are empirical accessable and what statements can be derived from such surveys. It is refferred to the interventional approach of architectural psychology and a concise outlook is given.

(Paper in German)

___Kai Schuster
Kassel

Quality in Architecture -
Aproaches towards a Neglected Subject

Architecture is omnipresent and highly visible; according to Evans & McCoy (1998) it presents a permanent stimulus situation. Consequently it suggests itself to demand an architecture characterized by a high level of quality. It is, however, not easy to get a general idea of theoretical considerations about architectural “quality features”. Resorting to functional and metric quality descriptions like in the case of Neufert`s design reglements or returning to the past to Le Corbusier`s “Modulor” is suitable to only a limited extent. The topic “quality in architecture” which seems to be neglected is reflected on from the outsider’s position of psychology.

(Paper in German)

___Bettina Graf
Berlin

'Atmosphere' in the City -
An Approach to a Psychologically Reflected City Planning

The article takes a psychological look on architecture and urban landscape. First some theoretical considerations on the relation of physical environment on the one hand and emotion as well as health on the other hand are presented. Afterwards it is shown in which way those considerations had been put into practice in the context of the inter- and cross-disciplinary research project called ‘Zeilenumbruch’. The research team (consisting of economists, psychologists, architects and urban planers assisted by several practical agents) worked on sustainable reconstructions of post war apartment houses. A special focus lies in the evaluation of external spaces and the quality for recreation and sojourn of nearby open spaces. For this a survey with inhabitants concerning different alternatives for reconstruction had been conducted. According to the results of the survey there are distinctions in appreciation and evaluation between the inhabitants on the one hand and researchers and planers on the other. Finally a method for participation developed in the research project called ‘Grüne Mappe’ is introduced and first approaches of integrating results of such participation methods into designing processes are shown.

(Paper in German)

Sociology

___Heike Delitz
Dresden

Architecture of Society - Architecture and Architectural Theory from a Sociological Perspective

From a sociological perspektive modern architecture is a typical feature of ‘modern’ society. This society, as it is characterizing itself in the new science sociology since the end of the 19th century, is accompanied by a specific kind of architecture. With the functional differentiation of this society the autonomous discipline architecture emerges, legitimizing and observing itself within its theory. Hence, the character of modern society becomes visible within architecture and architectural theory. At the same time modern architecture undertakes social change on its own account.

Despite the sociological importance of modern architecture the sub-discipline ‘architectural sociology’ does not exist so far. Therefore, a range of possible sociological approaches for the architecture of modern society will be sketched out. In the second point, an own approach will be tested: it considers architecture, from the point of Philosophical Anthropology, as “medium of the social”, as a medium of expression and constitution of society. In the third point deconstructive architecture will be analysed exemplarily.

(Paper in German)

Gender Studies

___Barbara Zibell
Hannover

From Outer Space? Architecture and Gender Studies.
New Perspectives on an Old Discipline

Gender Studies have a special position among the perspectives of this issue. As a cross-over topic they should generally be part of each scientific discipline, in architecture as well. However, gender studies are still a fresh research perspective and so their presence in the sciences, especially in architecture, has hardly been granted up to now.
Against this background the author focuses on a change of perspectives. For this she develops three theses on the different perception of female and male producers and users of buildings:

Planning and constructing are not gender neutral: It is important who plans and designs, who builds and decides.
Everyday life forms needs and demands to space. Therefore requirements are to be differentiated not standardized.
Not only differentiated projects are required, but also different structures and processes.

It is true that architecture cannot change power structures, but it is able to make a contribution to reduce ignorance in reappraising knowledge. For this the author finally phrases three fundamental research perspectives.

(Paper in German)

___Dörte Kuhlmann
Vienna

La Cité des Dames

Gender studies offer many useful perspectives and interdisciplinary tools for the study of architecture. One field of study focuses on the way the built environment is used to structure society, establish asymmetrical power relations, privilege or marginalize people based on sex or other characteristics, including age, class, creed, race etc. Therefore the design of the environment could perhaps become a tool for emancipation and empowering; however, there are very few famous female architects. This investigation concerns the relatively minor presence of women in the history of modern architecture and art. Are there so few female stars in architecture because women approach design differently, or is it the deliberate result of exclusionary mechanisms in the art world?

(Paper in German)

___Susanne Frank
Berlin

Suburbia's Women -
on the Frings or in the Centre of Society?

Within gender-related urban research, “suburbia” is commonly perceived as the utmost “antifeminist environment”. This chapter aims at differentiating this picture: By referring to the process of suburbanization in the United States it is demonstrated that Suburbia is indeed a highly gendered socio-spatial model. But, as the study points out, Suburbia’s gendered character has at no time been undisputed. It was in particular Suburbia’s gendered character – respectively the gender-images and gender-roles which it is built on and formed by – that has always been, and still is, subject of partly enraged disputes on its negotiation and interpretation. The latter are analyzed along the three phases of the US-American suburbanization process. It becomes clear, that social change does not only intensely effect the change of suburban living- and settlement-structures, but that their very change is again of great importance to gender relations.

(Paper in German)

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Link to Part 2 (Issue 2/05)