Bachelard’s Phenomenology and Verticality

Key Question Being Explored in This Insight:

Kati Blom discusses the understanding of the phenomenological space, sensorium between the body and the mind, with the notion of negative affordance by perception psychologist James J. Gibson.

View the page of: Katriina Blom

Institution: Newcastle University

Explore more insights in:

Architecture Professional

Media Literacy Toolkit

Faculti's Media Literacy Toolkit helps viewers critically engage with academic insights by analyzing the research context, identifying perspectives, and encouraging thoughtful evaluation.

Critical Questions to Consider ▼

What assumptions does the research make?
Are there alternative perspectives not explored?
What are the limitations of the research method?

Bias and Perspective Awareness ▼

This research comes from Newcastle University . Reflect on how the institution's academic focus and research partnerships may shape the questions being explored.

Further Reading ▼

Read the Study

Kati Blom discusses the understanding of the phenomenological space, sensorium between the body and the mind, with the notion of negative affordance by perception psychologist James J. Gibson.

Image courtesy of interviewee. May 9, 2024

Log-in or Sign-up to Faculti
Currently viewing this subject insight as a guest. You have insight(s) remaining for this month. Login to view 8000+ figures on the platform.

Generating Workspace...

Export as PDF

This video video discusses the theme of perception in relation to architecture and city life, emphasizing the importance of understanding how individuals perceive their environment through both ecological and phenomenological lenses. The speaker references the work of two key figures: James Gibson, who introduced the concept of "affordance," describing how our perception of objects is influenced by our intentions and physical interactions with our surroundings, and Gaston Bachelard, known for his exploration of the "poetics of space" which emphasizes the personal and emotional significance of spaces.

The speaker asserts that our perception is not merely a passive reception of stimuli but an active, bodily engagement with the environment, where negative affordances (such as danger) can trigger consciousness and awareness. This video video leads to a discussion of how architecture affects our experiences, particularly in urban environments where overwhelming sensory information can create a disconnection between individuals and their surroundings.

The nuances of perception are further illustrated through examples, like the experience of a lemon, which highlights the difference between scientific descriptions of objects and the subjective, relational significance they hold for individuals.

Finally, the speaker calls for architects to consider the complexities of modern urban life and the potential for communal engagement within city structures, while also acknowledging the negative experiences brought by urban living. The importance of integrating poetic and phenomenological insights into architectural design is emphasized, advocating for a deeper understanding of how spaces affect human experience and interaction.

Language:

Export as PDF

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.100 --> 00:02.305
Interested in the perception

00:02.485 --> 00:06.905
and especially perception in environmental,

00:07.845 --> 00:10.225
fields, specifically architecture,

00:10.225 --> 00:13.865
because I'm an architect, so, all the time,

00:13.895 --> 00:17.425
when I'm writing something, I go back to the perception.

00:17.845 --> 00:22.305
So there are two, two, scientific people

00:22.565 --> 00:27.105
or, scholars, which I'm interested specifically, in,

00:27.245 --> 00:30.985
when I'm thinking about the city and, the city life.

00:31.565 --> 00:35.825
One is, James Gisa, who is an American,

00:36.015 --> 00:39.625
perceptionist psychologist, if I would call it,

00:40.085 --> 00:44.705
who in fifties studied, deeply the perception

00:44.885 --> 00:49.265
of, vision, or vision as a perception he calls is,

00:49.365 --> 00:52.625
the ecological approach to visual perception.

00:53.405 --> 00:58.385
And he realized that we don't see objects as such in a void,

00:58.725 --> 01:00.745
in a space which is empty,

01:01.125 --> 01:03.945
but we are approaching them from our intention

01:04.845 --> 01:07.825
and as a moving object and,

01:07.965 --> 01:10.105
or moving subject, if you like.

01:10.565 --> 01:13.825
And the environment is sort full of services,

01:14.075 --> 01:16.385
which we read very carefully.

01:16.565 --> 01:18.905
We know exactly,

01:19.455 --> 01:21.785
what those things which are approaching or

01:21.885 --> 01:24.425
or distancing themselves from us are,

01:24.615 --> 01:27.465
whether they are eatable, whether they are stiff,

01:27.465 --> 01:30.785
whether they are smooth, whether they're living

01:31.285 --> 01:33.545
or whether they're furry and so on.

01:34.005 --> 01:37.945
So our perception of surfaces is extremely, clear

01:38.365 --> 01:39.985
and extremely complicated.

01:40.125 --> 01:44.225
And, and, and this body, the of ours,

01:44.595 --> 01:47.185
which is the source of the perception

01:47.205 --> 01:48.465
or perceives,

01:49.085 --> 01:51.225
is doing these things automatically

01:51.295 --> 01:52.905
without our consciousness.

01:53.605 --> 01:57.545
So Gibson, is looking at the perception

01:57.605 --> 02:01.465
as a bodily activity, maybe not brain activity,

02:01.645 --> 02:05.905
but an activity which is about our actions in the world.

02:06.005 --> 02:08.585
That's why he calls his ecological approach.

02:09.525 --> 02:14.465
So things appear in relation to us, either are favorable

02:14.525 --> 02:17.145
to us or neutral, or even negative.

02:17.725 --> 02:21.825
So what, what he, created then is this new word,

02:21.915 --> 02:25.705
which has become quite a big thing in design industry,

02:25.915 --> 02:27.625
which is called affordance.

02:28.685 --> 02:33.065
So the life around us, or the earth or the globe universe,

02:33.125 --> 02:34.865
or to say, allows

02:35.485 --> 02:40.385
or offers us things which we as a animal species find,

02:40.885 --> 02:43.145
capable of appropriating.

02:44.125 --> 02:49.105
Um, and we automatically see that we can sit in a place

02:49.605 --> 02:53.545
or we can handle it, or we can climb up

02:54.365 --> 02:55.505
or we can eat it.

02:55.925 --> 02:58.905
So this is positive affordance, if you like. It's

02:58.905 --> 03:02.005
An, an what, what life affords offers us.

03:02.425 --> 03:04.805
Uh, name is affordance.

03:05.705 --> 03:08.845
Uh, then he also realized that there are some instances

03:08.975 --> 03:11.965
where our consciousness comes into the picture.

03:12.425 --> 03:15.405
And these are so-called negative affordances.

03:16.345 --> 03:19.845
So for instance, I'm moving around a cliff in a mountain,

03:20.345 --> 03:25.045
and I hold because I'm afraid of, dropping down.

03:26.025 --> 03:30.885
So our body alerts us in these instances that say,

03:31.125 --> 03:32.285
I want to go forward,

03:32.425 --> 03:35.885
but I suddenly see a wall in front of me and I stop.

03:36.675 --> 03:38.165
This is also relational.

03:38.585 --> 03:43.325
So the wall doesn't, project itself to us as negative

03:44.025 --> 03:47.565
as he calls, preventer over action.

03:48.265 --> 03:51.325
Uh, unless we are wanting to do one, something,

03:51.745 --> 03:55.125
unless we want to enter a, a building or

03:55.185 --> 03:59.045
unless we want, to continue our walk over the cliff.

04:00.305 --> 04:02.445
Uh, normally we don't care.

04:02.585 --> 04:04.125
We don't go close to the cliff,

04:04.585 --> 04:07.565
but the body says, this is extremely,

04:08.085 --> 04:09.725
dangerous situation we have to hold,

04:10.065 --> 04:13.445
and the consciousness, alerts us.

04:14.065 --> 04:17.165
So I find this extremely interesting

04:17.165 --> 04:20.685
because at, at first, it's a body, reacting

04:20.685 --> 04:23.085
to the environment in this specific ways.

04:23.665 --> 04:25.885
We are naturally gliding into the

04:25.885 --> 04:27.845
environment, without thinking.

04:28.025 --> 04:32.085
But in some instances, we are halted, we are afraid.

04:32.745 --> 04:36.005
We, we stop, we have to consider what's going on.

04:36.465 --> 04:39.605
So this negative awareness is something I've been used in

04:40.165 --> 04:43.565
relation to city and to the vertical verticality

04:43.665 --> 04:44.885
of the mega structures.

04:45.545 --> 04:49.405
Um, so, it is, again, it is something to do

04:49.405 --> 04:50.525
with our actions.

04:51.465 --> 04:54.925
Its relation to, to what we intend to do.

04:55.865 --> 04:58.605
Uh, then, the other person

04:58.865 --> 05:03.005
or other philosopher, if you like, which I'm interested is,

05:03.145 --> 05:08.125
guin b la he hasn't been,

05:08.125 --> 05:10.045
translated, until lately,

05:10.385 --> 05:14.685
but there's one book of his which have been greatly going

05:14.685 --> 05:15.965
around the world for artists

05:16.105 --> 05:18.645
and architects, which is the poetics of space.

05:19.905 --> 05:22.005
And, I read it,

05:22.005 --> 05:23.605
when it was translated to finish.

05:23.905 --> 05:25.885
Uh, and I have read another version

05:25.905 --> 05:28.485
of it when it's translated into English.

05:29.625 --> 05:32.685
Um, and there's something very fascinating about this book.

05:33.185 --> 05:36.085
His way of writing about it,

05:36.335 --> 05:39.325
opens up new associations immediately.

05:39.325 --> 05:44.205
So it's, it's very provocative, if you like the,

05:44.715 --> 05:47.925
they, he is the one who died 62.

05:48.115 --> 05:50.965
He's one of the French continental philosophers

05:51.505 --> 05:53.485
who is interested in phenomenonology.

05:54.065 --> 05:58.365
So the, the way we are in the world, in world of perception.

05:59.025 --> 06:01.285
And he has written, many,

06:01.285 --> 06:05.005
many books about elements like air, water,

06:05.635 --> 06:07.125
fire, and so on.

06:07.745 --> 06:09.205
Um, but

06:09.225 --> 06:13.005
before that, he, was a scientist

06:13.465 --> 06:16.085
or philosophy of science,

06:16.295 --> 06:18.645
especially interested in epistemology.

06:19.065 --> 06:22.125
So how we know things, what we know,

06:22.545 --> 06:24.645
what's going on in the scientific world.

06:25.305 --> 06:29.005
And he was the one who appeared to have

06:29.735 --> 06:33.765
understood that scientific knowledge is not evolution,

06:34.175 --> 06:37.565
which is gradual, giving us more and more information.

06:37.955 --> 06:39.925
It's in, in fact, erupted.

06:40.505 --> 06:42.725
So there are these disruptions of,

06:42.945 --> 06:46.165
or breaks in epistemological disciplines.

06:46.545 --> 06:50.405
So suddenly, the whole world of,

06:50.575 --> 06:54.285
let's say chemistry changes or physics changes.

06:54.545 --> 06:56.725
So we have this new concept

06:56.945 --> 06:59.845
and new structures of knowledge, which then appear,

06:59.945 --> 07:04.165
and we are applying them to our, our scientific

07:04.955 --> 07:06.165
actions or whatever.

07:06.785 --> 07:10.645
And, because he understood then early on

07:10.955 --> 07:14.245
that this is relational, it's something to do

07:14.555 --> 07:16.685
with us wanting to know something,

07:16.945 --> 07:21.485
and then new discipline appears, and then the all goes.

07:22.385 --> 07:24.005
Um, and how do we know

07:24.005 --> 07:27.805
that the concept we are using are truth to the reality?

07:29.105 --> 07:32.325
And, of course, phenomenologists who, cell

07:32.425 --> 07:35.285
and others have been already talking about that.

07:35.425 --> 07:40.005
Uh, looking, the only way we can see the reality,

07:40.825 --> 07:43.805
is to go back to the perception.

07:44.625 --> 07:47.845
So this is what we know through our body

07:47.945 --> 07:49.365
and through our senses.

07:50.185 --> 07:53.765
And the perception gives, maybe,

07:54.835 --> 07:56.045
like a, a trigger.

07:56.225 --> 07:57.605
It triggers us, something,

07:57.615 --> 08:00.125
which is then the conceptual thinking.

08:00.225 --> 08:02.765
We are naming things, we are looking at things

08:02.765 --> 08:04.885
and trying to understand the structure of the world.

08:05.945 --> 08:10.525
Um, and, so things appear phenomenon, phenomenal

08:10.665 --> 08:12.605
of phenomenon are to us.

08:13.265 --> 08:15.485
And it's worthwhile looking at the perception

08:15.485 --> 08:19.045
because it gives deeper understanding how the conceptual,

08:19.725 --> 08:23.525
abstract world is constructed and how we use the concept

08:23.665 --> 08:24.925
and for what purposes.

08:25.145 --> 08:29.005
And when these, items become redundant,

08:29.005 --> 08:30.725
when we are not anymore using them,

08:31.235 --> 08:32.845
they are not anymore usable.

08:33.585 --> 08:36.565
Uh, so one example is

08:36.565 --> 08:40.925
that we don't use anymore the religious vocabulary so much

08:40.955 --> 08:43.325
because it doesn't make sense anymore.

08:43.685 --> 08:45.165
'cause we are interested in other things,

08:45.625 --> 08:46.725
not spiritual things.

08:47.705 --> 08:52.645
So this perception is of course, immediately,

08:52.875 --> 08:55.845
what I could call, difficult to understand

08:55.845 --> 08:59.445
because perception is not always stable.

09:00.625 --> 09:05.365
Um, and this unstable nature of it,

09:05.705 --> 09:07.485
is fascinating.

09:08.105 --> 09:10.805
Um, so the perception

09:11.705 --> 09:14.565
or the experience is unique each time.

09:15.185 --> 09:19.205
Uh, the instant of the movement,

09:19.385 --> 09:20.525
is what fascinates.

09:20.625 --> 09:25.325
Uh, so what happens in the instant, we see something,

09:25.625 --> 09:28.485
which we haven't seen ever feed before.

09:28.865 --> 09:32.445
So one example, which I have here is,

09:32.745 --> 09:35.405
is the, lemon.

09:36.465 --> 09:41.165
So we say, in scientific, view of this lemon, it's,

09:41.165 --> 09:43.085
it's, rough surface.

09:43.475 --> 09:48.085
It's a little bit, dusty or

09:48.305 --> 09:51.445
or watery or whatever.

09:52.065 --> 09:53.685
And it has a yellow color.

09:55.375 --> 10:00.285
These are concepts which are based on scientific knowledge

10:00.375 --> 10:03.085
about the qualities, and,

10:03.385 --> 10:07.445
and, attributes of this specific,

10:07.705 --> 10:08.765
lemon.

10:09.745 --> 10:11.885
But it doesn't interest,

10:13.465 --> 10:15.285
his interest is in the significance

10:15.425 --> 10:18.125
or authenticity of this particular lemon

10:18.785 --> 10:20.205
and the way it's formed.

10:20.945 --> 10:24.645
Uh, so it's not analyzing them from the formal points

10:24.645 --> 10:27.525
of view, but analyzing it's from the, from

10:27.915 --> 10:29.405
what it is as a whole.

10:30.065 --> 10:34.175
So the lemon has color of lemon only

10:34.175 --> 10:35.175
because it's a lemon.

10:35.955 --> 10:37.655
It can be taken away from it.

10:37.995 --> 10:41.735
It doesn't tell anything specific about this lemon except

10:41.845 --> 10:43.735
that, there are other things which are,

10:43.765 --> 10:48.295
have the same color, but this specific lemon is individual

10:49.195 --> 10:52.815
and me perceiving it and thinking about eating it.

10:53.275 --> 10:55.215
Uh, I have a specific intention

10:55.915 --> 10:58.575
to understand it in a how do I open it?

10:58.635 --> 11:01.415
And, and is it, is it raw

11:01.475 --> 11:04.135
or, is it ready to be, eaten?

11:05.075 --> 11:08.295
So he then, constructs this idea of

11:08.855 --> 11:12.415
material imagination, which is relational

11:12.555 --> 11:14.935
to our being in the world, our situation.

11:15.395 --> 11:18.615
I'm only interested in lemon if I really like citrus,

11:18.615 --> 11:21.095
and I would like to put it in into my water.

11:22.155 --> 11:26.775
Um, but also I would like to put it in my table

11:27.035 --> 11:28.815
to watch the beauty of it.

11:29.515 --> 11:32.815
Uh, so I'm deeply interested in it,

11:32.955 --> 11:34.415
in the way it's in my hand,

11:34.515 --> 11:38.695
in the way I can feel its goal in my chic and so on.

11:39.515 --> 11:44.255
So the formal imagination is, is created,

11:44.595 --> 11:48.935
using the words like color, shape,

11:49.515 --> 11:53.885
taste, I don't know, scent and so on.

11:54.105 --> 11:57.645
So it's analytically looking at the concept abstract.

11:58.465 --> 12:00.445
Uh, this formal imagination

12:00.545 --> 12:03.125
for basal is not redundant as such.

12:03.705 --> 12:07.845
Uh, it's only the, the formal imagination is

12:08.385 --> 12:09.685
taking account.

12:10.145 --> 12:11.565
The concept we are using

12:12.105 --> 12:14.645
and phenomenological study is,

12:14.645 --> 12:17.965
then looking at the deeper, whether these qualifications

12:18.185 --> 12:19.445
or these abstracts

12:19.665 --> 12:24.245
or concepts are valid in the experience of this,

12:24.455 --> 12:27.405
lemon or this specific authentic situation,

12:28.435 --> 12:31.005
momentary understanding of things.

12:31.825 --> 12:35.805
Um, and the poet poetry,

12:35.985 --> 12:39.005
he was interested in poet or so literature.

12:39.545 --> 12:44.405
Um, and it is why the, the why, why it is the question.

12:44.785 --> 12:45.965
Um, and I think it's

12:45.965 --> 12:49.565
because the concepts, the words, so pastor

12:49.905 --> 12:53.285
and philosophers in general are interested in concepts.

12:53.995 --> 12:57.245
They're looking closer into the concepts, whether

12:57.635 --> 13:00.925
what they give, what associations they have, are they

13:01.505 --> 13:04.765
not usable or usable, and is co poetry.

13:05.785 --> 13:10.125
And poetic language in general is a matter of words.

13:10.705 --> 13:12.045
So the materiality

13:12.785 --> 13:16.525
and the material imagination arise from understanding

13:16.545 --> 13:20.165
of the words, and it's opens up a new world.

13:20.745 --> 13:22.685
If we look at word,

13:22.685 --> 13:26.765
and the meaning of it in, in isolation, we are not

13:26.825 --> 13:28.125
so concerned about it.

13:28.465 --> 13:31.325
But if we put two things to two words,

13:31.325 --> 13:34.685
which don't belong together, normally we are

13:36.005 --> 13:37.125
approaching a new world.

13:37.585 --> 13:40.605
So the poetic, poetic, imagination

13:40.705 --> 13:44.885
or poetic language in general is associative.

13:45.425 --> 13:48.405
And that's of course something which,

13:48.965 --> 13:52.085
I realized later that Parla has been interested in

13:52.185 --> 13:55.165
psychoanalysis and psychoanalysis.

13:55.305 --> 13:57.885
It is a talking of therapy.

13:58.345 --> 14:02.405
So it, it's, trying to understand the, the language

14:03.105 --> 14:07.405
in its associative creative, emerging,

14:08.025 --> 14:11.085
situation where we see things are new

14:11.235 --> 14:12.365
through the language.

14:13.305 --> 14:17.165
And, but I haven't read so much that I, I would know

14:17.165 --> 14:20.445
how this plaque canalicular approach,

14:21.165 --> 14:24.365
situates in in her theory, in his theory.

14:25.185 --> 14:26.965
Um, so,

14:27.965 --> 14:30.285
material imagination is instant

14:31.355 --> 14:35.165
momentary temporal situation, related.

14:36.465 --> 14:41.245
Um, yeah. So, it has been quite interesting

14:41.245 --> 14:45.445
because architects have been interested in this, word,

14:45.865 --> 14:47.205
quite much lately.

14:48.305 --> 14:51.055
There are many implications for architects.

14:51.445 --> 14:53.805
When I read, bachelor for the first time,

14:53.805 --> 14:55.765
there was this book, which is called The World

14:55.825 --> 15:00.045
of Perception, which is based on his lectures, in,

15:00.545 --> 15:05.125
France Broadcasting Company, and it's quite clear book.

15:05.665 --> 15:10.005
And in one point, he talks about, proximity

15:10.345 --> 15:12.045
to things in perception,

15:12.705 --> 15:16.965
and he calls them tic, so causing vertigo.

15:18.105 --> 15:22.165
And when I read that, I have scenes kept

15:22.165 --> 15:23.485
that in mind quite often

15:24.035 --> 15:28.125
because it, it's quite, amazing,

15:28.125 --> 15:29.925
observation about perception.

15:30.585 --> 15:34.965
So, the thing is that he, in a material imagination,

15:35.065 --> 15:37.885
you are not supposed to look at things,

15:38.275 --> 15:41.485
from the perceived or priest perceived point,

15:41.985 --> 15:45.525
or for, from the world war, which you knew already.

15:45.745 --> 15:47.725
You're supposed to look at it as new.

15:48.745 --> 15:52.685
And, and in the other book of his, which is, the,

15:52.745 --> 15:55.965
phenomenonology of perception,

15:56.155 --> 15:57.205
it's quite a big book.

15:57.425 --> 16:01.685
He also talks in one chapter, which is about space,

16:01.685 --> 16:03.885
about perception of space,

16:04.665 --> 16:08.845
and especially, there is one chap, one paragraph

16:08.865 --> 16:12.765
or few pages where he talks about, depth.

16:13.785 --> 16:18.445
So the space, the space doesn't exist as a thing at all.

16:18.945 --> 16:23.445
So when we talk about space, it is not

16:24.195 --> 16:28.005
aian space, which is a void where things, appear,

16:28.865 --> 16:30.405
object, next to another.

16:31.025 --> 16:35.485
No, it is again, something which is related to us

16:35.545 --> 16:36.605
and our perception.

16:36.985 --> 16:40.525
So the world is holding us as we are holding the world.

16:40.905 --> 16:43.845
So in phenomenological thinking, the subject

16:44.145 --> 16:46.685
and the object are merging.

16:47.545 --> 16:50.805
And depending what we want, similar to Gibson,

16:51.305 --> 16:55.405
the distance is far or, or too far or close.

16:56.065 --> 16:58.605
So it is relational to ourselves.

16:59.305 --> 17:00.925
And when we realize that

17:01.515 --> 17:05.005
it's quite a radical change into our worldview,

17:05.005 --> 17:09.725
because then everything is somehow vague or oblique

17:09.905 --> 17:11.605
or not clear.

17:12.465 --> 17:16.925
Uh, I have one, one, like an example of it.

17:17.045 --> 17:19.325
I call it a morning shimmer.

17:20.065 --> 17:24.125
Uh, when I was younger, I woke up, early morning,

17:24.945 --> 17:28.845
many times, and I couldn't understand where I was.

17:29.175 --> 17:33.205
There was this morning, twilight, quite diffused light,

17:33.585 --> 17:36.245
and things were there, but there were pulsating,

17:37.465 --> 17:39.245
and I didn't know what they were.

17:39.555 --> 17:44.485
They were like, like an energized things, which I wanted

17:44.485 --> 17:47.965
to know what they are, like an alien,

17:47.985 --> 17:49.045
coming to the world.

17:49.585 --> 17:51.845
And, like, proximity

17:52.225 --> 17:56.365
or their distance, was, was changing all the time.

17:56.625 --> 18:00.205
Oliver Sachs talks about this in his books quite a lot.

18:00.265 --> 18:05.125
So people, people are experiencing, anomalies,

18:05.425 --> 18:09.445
in the perception only after when we find minutes

18:09.505 --> 18:11.845
or something, I realize that's a drawer,

18:12.275 --> 18:15.045
it's not a living thing, or that's a painting.

18:15.475 --> 18:17.965
It's not a, animated object.

18:18.585 --> 18:23.165
So this kind of a pre perceive, world is suddenly,

18:24.105 --> 18:26.805
disappeared and a chaos exists.

18:27.225 --> 18:30.085
So this chaos of things which are not named yet

18:30.745 --> 18:31.805
is the vertigo.

18:32.155 --> 18:36.565
It's, it's us understanding that the things which were named

18:36.665 --> 18:38.765
by power parents or our culture

18:39.225 --> 18:42.045
or our language don't exist anymore.

18:42.545 --> 18:45.805
We are in the primorial situation where things are just

18:45.835 --> 18:49.925
what they are, and they affect us, not so that we see,

18:49.945 --> 18:53.285
that's a table only, or that's a painting only.

18:53.945 --> 18:58.885
Um, and this, sort of teaching us, or, confusion

18:59.025 --> 19:02.045
or perception, or is something I'm really interested in

19:02.155 --> 19:05.485
because it gives a birth to ideas about

19:05.865 --> 19:09.925
how do we see the modern world, where the perception is

19:10.615 --> 19:12.885
overloaded by central information.

19:13.465 --> 19:15.445
And we don't know exactly what's going on.

19:15.745 --> 19:20.245
Uh, possibly our body is alerted like in a Ian way.

19:20.745 --> 19:22.205
So there's something going on,

19:22.205 --> 19:24.765
which we can't really say what it is.

19:25.465 --> 19:28.405
Our body is, tense all the time.

19:29.185 --> 19:33.285
Uh, it's, like, Basler talks about poetic images,

19:33.335 --> 19:36.975
which are cozy, so pleasurable.

19:37.355 --> 19:40.855
We glide into coziness of the world.

19:41.285 --> 19:44.055
When we are in nature, for instance, we have just

19:45.175 --> 19:47.055
perceive it and we naturally live there.

19:47.475 --> 19:51.215
But when we are in the city, we are somehow bombarded

19:51.645 --> 19:53.655
with things which we don't what they are.

19:54.035 --> 19:58.175
So the linguistic, explanation comes into the picture.

19:58.795 --> 20:02.375
We are thinking about the meaning of this, what's going on,

20:02.875 --> 20:07.695
why this surface is so huge, why it is so immense.

20:07.935 --> 20:09.495
I can't fit myself into this.

20:10.095 --> 20:12.295
I can't fit myself into this war.

20:12.395 --> 20:16.695
Uh, sounds, noise, the pollution,

20:17.185 --> 20:18.895
everything is overwhelming.

20:19.035 --> 20:20.095
So I'm in an element.

20:20.875 --> 20:25.455
And, interestingly, he, talks about,

20:25.635 --> 20:29.775
the modern life and, the struggle of modern life

20:30.115 --> 20:34.775
as well, talking about this noise of the city life where

20:35.515 --> 20:39.135
we are suddenly so bombarded with this noise,

20:39.135 --> 20:40.935
which disturbs us in the night,

20:41.635 --> 20:46.455
and we suddenly think of the ocean or the element of water,

20:47.305 --> 20:51.085
Uh, because lar is interested in elements like air,

20:51.585 --> 20:54.605
higher earth, water.

20:55.305 --> 20:59.805
And he thinks that city life is like an ocean city.

21:00.065 --> 21:02.605
So it's an element we live in, not

21:02.605 --> 21:06.805
that there's one individual object we can identify as ours,

21:07.475 --> 21:11.925
it's just, we are submerged into it, like in a water.

21:12.705 --> 21:14.845
Um, and,

21:15.725 --> 21:20.125
normally we think Ard is not talking about the struggle of,

21:20.265 --> 21:21.365
modern life,

21:21.365 --> 21:25.845
but he's actually talking quite substantially about it.

21:26.665 --> 21:28.605
Uh, so there,

21:30.805 --> 21:35.705
the protection from the overloading, overloaded,

21:35.705 --> 21:39.065
sensory information is, to,

21:39.375 --> 21:42.985
retreat into language, trying to understand the meaning.

21:43.645 --> 21:47.625
One thing which, which I've been thinking a lot is

21:47.625 --> 21:51.265
that, because this poetic, of space

21:51.805 --> 21:54.865
and martial art in general has been so inspirational

21:54.925 --> 21:58.665
to architects, the material, materially imagination,

21:59.165 --> 22:01.865
for instance, is a well, well-known phrase now.

22:02.005 --> 22:03.665
And, and people talk about it.

22:04.365 --> 22:08.465
Um, there is a conflict which architects, see,

22:08.525 --> 22:11.785
or I see myself that, phenomenon

22:12.815 --> 22:15.825
talk much about the atmosphere, the sort

22:15.825 --> 22:20.065
of pleasurable things of nature, preferable things of house

22:21.215 --> 22:24.825
preservable, things of things which we glide in easily,

22:25.455 --> 22:28.185
like nukes or house or attics or whatever.

22:29.045 --> 22:34.025
Uh, and we are at the same time, applied

22:34.565 --> 22:35.905
to create

22:36.165 --> 22:40.185
and design huge buildings in the city centers.

22:41.005 --> 22:44.945
Um, and we don't have any advice how to go about it.

22:45.805 --> 22:48.865
Um, so it's like, those

22:49.005 --> 22:52.785
who make these high tech buildings in the city are little,

22:52.885 --> 22:55.025
but like, you know,

22:57.165 --> 23:00.505
the poor things who do that, your architects

23:00.505 --> 23:01.945
who are only do that,

23:02.045 --> 23:03.865
but not,

23:04.265 --> 23:07.065
provoke any pleasurable environments for users.

23:07.805 --> 23:10.785
And of course, that is part of the question about that.

23:10.805 --> 23:11.865
Who is the developer?

23:11.865 --> 23:15.465
Who, what are they doing when they think about these

23:15.495 --> 23:18.065
huge mega structures in the city centers?

23:18.765 --> 23:22.145
Uh, their users are not, their main interest,

23:22.315 --> 23:25.385
their profit is the main interest anyways.

23:25.685 --> 23:30.025
Um, there is also some, how could I say,

23:31.725 --> 23:36.305
poetic possibilities in the city, if you like the city,

23:36.405 --> 23:40.465
as an ocean city, the city as a, as

23:41.185 --> 23:44.105
a huge potential of communication

23:44.605 --> 23:47.205
and, encounters with other people.

23:47.965 --> 23:50.165
'cause that's why we peeled it in the first place.

23:50.865 --> 23:53.805
Um, so,

23:54.305 --> 23:58.205
so the potential I see in the cities, or mega structures

23:58.345 --> 24:02.645
or metropol is of course, the potential

24:02.645 --> 24:06.085
of the communal life and communication with each other.

24:06.945 --> 24:11.285
Uh, but at the same time, the city life is,

24:12.265 --> 24:14.605
is, we suffer in city life.

24:14.705 --> 24:16.685
The body is suffering,

24:16.745 --> 24:19.685
and we want to retreat from there at the same time.

24:20.905 --> 24:25.725
Uh, so, I'm really

24:26.815 --> 24:30.925
interested in studying negative experiences

24:31.785 --> 24:36.125
or experiences which are not normal, where we have to halt,

24:36.265 --> 24:39.565
we have to stop, we have to think,

24:39.565 --> 24:42.245
because in those moments, we are really seeing

24:42.665 --> 24:46.005
how the party reacts to, obstacles

24:46.585 --> 24:50.645
or, preventers in the environment like

24:50.865 --> 24:51.885
Gibson says.

24:52.545 --> 24:54.645
And then it means that, for instance,

24:54.645 --> 24:58.885
reflective surface in the city must be avoided.

24:59.035 --> 25:03.565
There's some sort of a sinister, like an excess

25:03.625 --> 25:05.365
of glass and steel structures,

25:05.365 --> 25:08.485
which I've been talking earlier, in my career.

25:09.105 --> 25:12.285
Um, birds don't like glass.

25:13.025 --> 25:14.245
Uh, we don't like glass.

25:14.265 --> 25:16.845
We have to really think, closely.

25:17.425 --> 25:19.885
Is it, is the glass wall

25:19.985 --> 25:23.085
or glass door, accessible or not?

25:23.425 --> 25:25.965
So it's alerting us all the time.

25:26.465 --> 25:31.365
So some, some, circumstances of environment.

25:31.365 --> 25:35.165
Some, some situations can be avoided

25:35.705 --> 25:38.925
if we know what they, how they affect us,

25:39.305 --> 25:42.165
and how the experience is negative rather than a positive.

25:42.985 --> 25:45.525
Um, so for me, phenomenologies

25:45.745 --> 25:49.805
or architects should invest in, poets

25:49.805 --> 25:51.525
of modern life or city life.

25:51.905 --> 25:53.245
Not only the poets

25:53.245 --> 25:56.365
of small little houses in the countryside,

25:56.865 --> 26:01.325
or a retreat into the traditional way of, of building,

26:01.335 --> 26:03.485
which is of course, natural thing to do,

26:04.265 --> 26:06.205
the traditional craft and so on.

26:06.585 --> 26:07.725
But there is a void

26:08.185 --> 26:12.405
and we, we can't avoid, not to think about the void.

26:13.105 --> 26:14.765
Um, theoretically

26:14.905 --> 26:17.445
and aesthetically very important questions.

Perception in Architecture and Environmental Design

00:00:00 - Interested in the perception and especially perception in environmental, fields, specifically architecture, because I'm an architect, so, all the time, when I'm writing something, I go back to the perception. So there are two, two, scientific people or, scholars, which I'm interested specifically, in, when I'm thinking about the city and, the city life.
00:00:36 - perceptionist psychologist, if I would call it, who in fifties studied, deeply the perception of, vision, or vision as a perception he calls is, the ecological approach to visual perception. And he realized that we don't see objects as such in a void, in a space which is empty, but we are approaching them from our intention
00:01:07 - or moving subject, if you like. And the environment is sort full of services, which we read very carefully. We know exactly, what those things which are approaching or or distancing themselves from us are, whether they are eatable, whether they are stiff, whether they are smooth, whether they're living or whether they're furry and so on. So our perception of surfaces is extremely, clear
00:01:40 - And, and, and this body, the of ours, which is the source of the perception or perceives, is doing these things automatically without our consciousness. So Gibson, is looking at the perception as a bodily activity, maybe not brain activity, but an activity which is about our actions in the world. That's why he calls his ecological approach.
00:02:14 - to us or neutral, or even negative. So what, what he, created then is this new word, which has become quite a big thing in design industry, which is called affordance. So the life around us, or the earth or the globe universe, or to say, allows or offers us things which we as a animal species find,
00:02:44 - and we automatically see that we can sit in a place or we can handle it, or we can climb up or we can eat it. So this is positive affordance, if you like. It's An, an what, what life affords offers us. name is affordance. then he also realized that there are some instances where our consciousness comes into the picture.

Body Awareness and Environmental Perception

00:03:16 - So for instance, I'm moving around a cliff in a mountain, and I hold because I'm afraid of, dropping down. So our body alerts us in these instances that say, I want to go forward, but I suddenly see a wall in front of me and I stop. This is also relational. So the wall doesn't, project itself to us as negative
00:03:48 - unless we are wanting to do one, something, unless we want to enter a, a building or unless we want, to continue our walk over the cliff. normally we don't care. We don't go close to the cliff, but the body says, this is extremely, dangerous situation we have to hold, and the consciousness, alerts us.
00:04:17 - because at, at first, it's a body, reacting to the environment in this specific ways. We are naturally gliding into the environment, without thinking. But in some instances, we are halted, we are afraid. We, we stop, we have to consider what's going on. So this negative awareness is something I've been used in relation to city and to the vertical verticality of the mega structures.
00:04:49 - with our actions. Its relation to, to what we intend to do. then, the other person or other philosopher, if you like, which I'm interested is, guin b la he hasn't been, translated, until lately, but there's one book of his which have been greatly going around the world for artists
00:05:19 - And, I read it, when it was translated to finish. and I have read another version of it when it's translated into English. and there's something very fascinating about this book. His way of writing about it, opens up new associations immediately. So it's, it's very provocative, if you like the, they, he is the one who died 62.
00:05:51 - who is interested in phenomenonology. So the, the way we are in the world, in world of perception. And he has written, many, many books about elements like air, water, fire, and so on. but before that, he, was a scientist or philosophy of science, especially interested in epistemology.

Exploring Disruptions in Scientific Knowledge

00:06:22 - what's going on in the scientific world. And he was the one who appeared to have understood that scientific knowledge is not evolution, which is gradual, giving us more and more information. It's in, in fact, erupted. So there are these disruptions of, or breaks in epistemological disciplines. So suddenly, the whole world of,
00:06:54 - So we have this new concept and new structures of knowledge, which then appear, and we are applying them to our, our scientific actions or whatever. And, because he understood then early on that this is relational, it's something to do with us wanting to know something, and then new discipline appears, and then the all goes.
00:07:24 - that the concept we are using are truth to the reality? And, of course, phenomenologists who, cell and others have been already talking about that. looking, the only way we can see the reality, is to go back to the perception. So this is what we know through our body and through our senses. And the perception gives, maybe,
00:07:56 - It triggers us, something, which is then the conceptual thinking. We are naming things, we are looking at things and trying to understand the structure of the world. and, so things appear phenomenon, phenomenal of phenomenon are to us. And it's worthwhile looking at the perception because it gives deeper understanding how the conceptual, abstract world is constructed and how we use the concept and for what purposes.
00:08:29 - when we are not anymore using them, they are not anymore usable. so one example is that we don't use anymore the religious vocabulary so much because it doesn't make sense anymore. 'cause we are interested in other things, not spiritual things. So this perception is of course, immediately, what I could call, difficult to understand
00:09:00 - and this unstable nature of it, is fascinating. so the perception or the experience is unique each time. the instant of the movement, is what fascinates. so what happens in the instant, we see something, which we haven't seen ever feed before.

Exploring the Essence of Perception in Lemons

00:09:32 - is the, lemon. So we say, in scientific, view of this lemon, it's, it's, rough surface. It's a little bit, dusty or or watery or whatever. And it has a yellow color. These are concepts which are based on scientific knowledge
00:10:03 - and, attributes of this specific, lemon. But it doesn't interest, his interest is in the significance or authenticity of this particular lemon and the way it's formed. so it's not analyzing them from the formal points of view, but analyzing it's from the, from what it is as a whole. So the lemon has color of lemon only
00:10:35 - It can be taken away from it. It doesn't tell anything specific about this lemon except that, there are other things which are, have the same color, but this specific lemon is individual and me perceiving it and thinking about eating it. I have a specific intention to understand it in a how do I open it? And, and is it, is it raw or, is it ready to be, eaten?
00:11:08 - material imagination, which is relational to our being in the world, our situation. I'm only interested in lemon if I really like citrus, and I would like to put it in into my water. but also I would like to put it in my table to watch the beauty of it. so I'm deeply interested in it, in the way it's in my hand, in the way I can feel its goal in my chic and so on.
00:11:44 - using the words like color, shape, taste, I don't know, scent and so on. So it's analytically looking at the concept abstract. this formal imagination for basal is not redundant as such. it's only the, the formal imagination is taking account.
00:12:12 - and phenomenological study is, then looking at the deeper, whether these qualifications or these abstracts or concepts are valid in the experience of this, lemon or this specific authentic situation, momentary understanding of things. and the poet poetry, he was interested in poet or so literature. and it is why the, the why, why it is the question.

Exploring Language and Poetic Imagination

00:12:45 - because the concepts, the words, so pastor and philosophers in general are interested in concepts. They're looking closer into the concepts, whether what they give, what associations they have, are they not usable or usable, and is co poetry. And poetic language in general is a matter of words. So the materiality and the material imagination arise from understanding
00:13:20 - If we look at word, and the meaning of it in, in isolation, we are not so concerned about it. But if we put two things to two words, which don't belong together, normally we are approaching a new world. So the poetic, poetic, imagination or poetic language in general is associative. And that's of course something which,
00:13:52 - psychoanalysis and psychoanalysis. It is a talking of therapy. So it, it's, trying to understand the, the language in its associative creative, emerging, situation where we see things are new through the language. And, but I haven't read so much that I, I would know how this plaque canalicular approach,
00:14:25 - so, material imagination is instant momentary temporal situation, related. yeah. So, it has been quite interesting because architects have been interested in this, word, quite much lately. There are many implications for architects.
00:14:53 - there was this book, which is called The World of Perception, which is based on his lectures, in, France Broadcasting Company, and it's quite clear book. And in one point, he talks about, proximity to things in perception, and he calls them tic, so causing vertigo. And when I read that, I have scenes kept
00:15:24 - because it, it's quite, amazing, observation about perception. So, the thing is that he, in a material imagination, you are not supposed to look at things, from the perceived or priest perceived point, or for, from the world war, which you knew already. You're supposed to look at it as new. And, and in the other book of his, which is, the,

Perception and the Nature of Space

00:15:56 - it's quite a big book. He also talks in one chapter, which is about space, about perception of space, and especially, there is one chap, one paragraph or few pages where he talks about, depth. So the space, the space doesn't exist as a thing at all. So when we talk about space, it is not
00:16:28 - object, next to another. No, it is again, something which is related to us and our perception. So the world is holding us as we are holding the world. So in phenomenological thinking, the subject and the object are merging. And depending what we want, similar to Gibson, the distance is far or, or too far or close.
00:16:59 - And when we realize that it's quite a radical change into our worldview, because then everything is somehow vague or oblique or not clear. I have one, one, like an example of it. I call it a morning shimmer. when I was younger, I woke up, early morning, many times, and I couldn't understand where I was.
00:17:33 - and things were there, but there were pulsating, and I didn't know what they were. They were like, like an energized things, which I wanted to know what they are, like an alien, coming to the world. And, like, proximity or their distance, was, was changing all the time. Oliver Sachs talks about this in his books quite a lot.
00:18:05 - in the perception only after when we find minutes or something, I realize that's a drawer, it's not a living thing, or that's a painting. It's not a, animated object. So this kind of a pre perceive, world is suddenly, disappeared and a chaos exists. So this chaos of things which are not named yet
00:18:32 - It's, it's us understanding that the things which were named by power parents or our culture or our language don't exist anymore. We are in the primorial situation where things are just what they are, and they affect us, not so that we see, that's a table only, or that's a painting only. and this, sort of teaching us, or, confusion or perception, or is something I'm really interested in

Perception in Overloaded Urban Environments

00:19:05 - how do we see the modern world, where the perception is overloaded by central information. And we don't know exactly what's going on. possibly our body is alerted like in a Ian way. So there's something going on, which we can't really say what it is. Our body is, tense all the time. it's, like, Basler talks about poetic images,
00:19:37 - We glide into coziness of the world. When we are in nature, for instance, we have just perceive it and we naturally live there. But when we are in the city, we are somehow bombarded with things which we don't what they are. So the linguistic, explanation comes into the picture. We are thinking about the meaning of this, what's going on, why this surface is so huge, why it is so immense.
00:20:10 - I can't fit myself into this war. sounds, noise, the pollution, everything is overwhelming. So I'm in an element. And, interestingly, he, talks about, the modern life and, the struggle of modern life as well, talking about this noise of the city life where we are suddenly so bombarded with this noise,
00:20:41 - and we suddenly think of the ocean or the element of water, because lar is interested in elements like air, higher earth, water. And he thinks that city life is like an ocean city. So it's an element we live in, not that there's one individual object we can identify as ours, it's just, we are submerged into it, like in a water.
00:21:15 - normally we think Ard is not talking about the struggle of, modern life, but he's actually talking quite substantially about it. so there, the protection from the overloading, overloaded, sensory information is, to, retreat into language, trying to understand the meaning.
00:21:47 - that, because this poetic, of space and martial art in general has been so inspirational to architects, the material, materially imagination, for instance, is a well, well-known phrase now. And, and people talk about it. there is a conflict which architects, see, or I see myself that, phenomenon talk much about the atmosphere, the sort

Urban Design Challenges and Human Experience

00:22:21 - preservable, things of things which we glide in easily, like nukes or house or attics or whatever. and we are at the same time, applied to create and design huge buildings in the city centers. and we don't have any advice how to go about it. so it's like, those
00:22:52 - but like, you know, the poor things who do that, your architects who are only do that, but not, provoke any pleasurable environments for users. And of course, that is part of the question about that. Who is the developer? Who, what are they doing when they think about these huge mega structures in the city centers? their users are not, their main interest,
00:23:25 - there is also some, how could I say, poetic possibilities in the city, if you like the city, as an ocean city, the city as a, as a huge potential of communication and, encounters with other people. 'cause that's why we peeled it in the first place. so,
00:23:58 - or metropol is of course, the potential of the communal life and communication with each other. but at the same time, the city life is, is, we suffer in city life. The body is suffering, and we want to retreat from there at the same time. so, I'm really
00:24:31 - or experiences which are not normal, where we have to halt, we have to stop, we have to think, because in those moments, we are really seeing how the party reacts to, obstacles or, preventers in the environment like Gibson says. And then it means that, for instance, reflective surface in the city must be avoided.
00:25:03 - of glass and steel structures, which I've been talking earlier, in my career. birds don't like glass. we don't like glass. We have to really think, closely. Is it, is the glass wall or glass door, accessible or not? So it's alerting us all the time. So some, some, circumstances of environment.

Investing in Urban Poetics and Experience

00:25:35 - if we know what they, how they affect us, and how the experience is negative rather than a positive. so for me, phenomenologies or architects should invest in, poets of modern life or city life. Not only the poets of small little houses in the countryside, or a retreat into the traditional way of, of building, which is of course, natural thing to do,
00:26:14 - But there is a void and we, we can't avoid, not to think about the void. theoretically and aesthetically very important questions.

Faculti AI can make mistakes

Research

Policy

Analysis

Data

Originals

Explainers

Podcasts

Faculti

New on Faculti

Idea Explorer

Definition

News Context

Exploratory Questions

Faculti AI Answers

Research Summaries

Bachelard’s Phenomenology and Verticality

Media Literacy Toolkit

Critical Questions to Consider ▼

Bias and Perspective Awareness ▼

Further Reading ▼