Isabel Potworowski
University of Cincinnati, Ohio
potworil@ucmail.uc.edu
Keywords: design, practice, experience, architecture, pedagogy, geometry
In current architectural practice and pedagogy, there is at times a tendency towards formalistic design processes that emphasize visual compositions of forms while neglecting the felt, embodied experience of space and place. This tendency has been described by Finnish architect and scholar Juhani Pallasmaa in The Eyes of the Skin, whose work is part of a resurgence of interest in the material and sensory qualities of architecture that arose in the 1990s. Embodied experience and attunement to place are significant aspects of architecture with a spiritual quality, understood as spaces and environments that give an experience of harmonious connection between one’s (embodied) self and the greater environment and (meta)physical whole.
This dialogue circle proposes a discussion about a design and building process that privileges felt, embodied experience, based on the approach of Christopher Alexander (1936-2022). In his multi-volume work The Nature of Order (2002-2005), Alexander describes an unfolding process of incremental construction techniques that integrate a built intervention with its surroundings, contribute to its ‘life,’ and create a feeling of wholeness. It is based on model-making and designing through full-scale in-situ cardboard mock-ups; at every step of the process models are judged through embodied feeling, based on how the designed object gives a deep feeling of wholeness and harmony, and how it enhances its surroundings.
This method relies on being attuned with ‘subjective’ feeling, which may at first seem to be overly personal; however, in Alexander’s search for an architecture that can “sustain human feeling and the human spirit,” that has a quality of “life” in it, he found that creating it depends on the recognition that “our feelings are legitimate.” According to him, “[w]hen questions about the subjective are asked carefully, and in the right way, they are as reliable as the experiments of physics.” The human becomes the “measuring instrument” that can lead to results that are shared. Further, he says that when architecture (following this method) is designed successfully, it can lead us towards the divine.
The dialogue circle will be structured as follows:
- Presentation (5 minutes): An introduction to Alexander’s notion of wholeness and unfolding design process, illustrated by three brief examples (small, medium, large): (i) a floor-to-ceiling cabinetry project that also serves as an entrance transition into an office, built by the author as part of the Building Beauty architecture program initiated by Alexander and his colleagues, (ii) a kitchen interior designed and built by Julian Lang, one of the Building Beauty instructors, and (iii) a house by Christopher Alexander.
- Questions and individual reflection (3 minutes): Two discussion questions will be proposed for the dialogue: (i) Based on your experience of architectural practice and/or teaching, what might be the potential or value, but also challenges, of applying (aspects of) Alexander’s approach to enhance the life and wholeness of a place? (ii) What are examples of other design/build processes that enhance the life and wholeness of a place? Participants will reflect on these questions and write their responses on a sheet of paper.
- Discussion (12 minutes): Participants will share their responses and engage in a moderated discussion. Roughly 6 minutes will be allocated to the discussion of each question.
The outcome of the dialogue will be a whitepaper that will be shared with participants, based on the written responses and on the discussion.
References
- Alexander, Christopher. “Making the Garden.” First Things, February 1, 2016. https://firstthings.com/making-the-garden/, accessed May 20, 2025.
- Alexander, Christopher. The Nature of Order, Books 1-4. The Center for Environmental Structure, 2002-2005.
- Holl, Seven, Juhani Pallasmaa, and Alberto Pérez-Gómez. Architecture + Urbanism July 1994 Special Issue, Questions of Perception: Phenomenology of Architecture.
- Ingham, Susan and Or Ettlinger. “Teaching wholeness in architecture education: advancing Christopher Alexander’s teaching legacy through the Building Beauty program.” Journal of Architecture and Urbanism 47 (2): 125-134. https://doi.org/10.3846/jau.2023.18358
- Pallasmaa, Juhani. The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses. Polemics series. Academy Editions, 1996.
- Pérez-Gómez, Alberto. Attunement: Architectural Meaning after the Crisis of Modern Science. MIT Press, 2016.
