Hapticity And Time - discussion of haptic, sensuous architecture

Architectural Review, The, May, 2000 by Juhani Pallasmaa

Save a personal copy of this article and quickly find it again with url!net! Get started now. "#t$s free!% notes on fragile architecture Materials and surfaces have a richly comple& language of their own that evolves and changes over time! #n this ma'or essay, Juhani Pallasmaa puts the case for haptic, sensuous architecture! Modern consciousness and sensory reality have gradually developed towards the unrivalled dominance of the sense of vision! (his thought)provoking development has been observed and analy*ed by a number of philosophers in recent years! +,- .avid Michael /evin, one of today$s thinkers concerned with the hegemony of vision, motivates the philosophical critique of the visual bias in the following words0 $# think it is appropriate to challenge the hegemony of vision in the ocularcentrism of our culture! 1nd # think we need to e&amine very critically the character of vision that predominates today in our world! 2e urgently need a diagnosis of the psychosocial pathology of everyday seeing )) and a critical understanding of ourselves, as visionary beings$! +2# believe likewise that many aspects of the pathology of today$s architecture can also be understood through a critique of the ocular bias of our culture! 1s a consequence of the power of the eye over the other sensory realms, architecture has turned into an art form of instant visual image! #nstead of creating e&istential microcosms, embodied representations of the world, architecture pro'ects retinal images for the purpose of immediate persuasion! latness of surfaces and materials, uniformity of illumination, as well as the elimination of micro)climatic differences, further reinforce the tiresome and soporific uniformity of e&perience! 1ll in all, the tendency of technological culture to standardi*e environmental conditions and make the environment entirely predictable is causing a serious sensory impoverishment! 3ur buildings have lost their opacity and depth, sensory invitation and discovery, mystery and shadow! Multi)sensory e&perience0 the significance of touch 4very significant e&perience of architecture is multi)sensory5 qualities of matter, space and scale are measured by the eye, ear, nose, skin, tongue, skeleton and muscle! Maurice Merleau)Ponty emphasi*es this simultaneity of e&perience and sensory interaction as follows0 $My perception is +therefore- not a sum of visual, tactile, and audible givens0 # perceive in a total way with my whole being0 # grasp a unique structure of the thing, a unique way of being, which speaks to all my senses at once$! +64ven the eye collaborates with the other senses! 1ll the senses including vision, are e&tensions of the sense of touch0 the senses are speciali*ations of the skin, and all sensory e&periences are related to tactility! 1shley Montagu$s view, based on medical evidence, confirms the primacy of the tactile realm0 $+(he skin- is the oldest and the most sensitive of our organs, our first medium of communication, and our most efficient protector +!!!-! 4ven the transparent cornea of the eye is overlain by a layer of modified skin

+!!!-! (ouch is the parent of our eyes, ears, nose, and mouth! #t is the sense which became differentiated into the others, a fact that seems to he recogni*ed in the age)old evaluation of touch as $the mother of the senses$! +7- (ouch is the sensory mode which integrates our e&perience of the world and of ourselves! 4ven visual perceptions are united and integrated into the haptic continuity of the self5 my body remembers who # am and where # am placed in the world! #n the opening chapter of 8ombray, Marcel Proust describes how the protagonist wakes up in his bed and gradually reconstructs his world on the basis of $the memory of the sides, knees and shoulders$! +9(he task of architecture is to make visible $how the world touches us$, +:- as Maurice Merleau)Ponty wrote of the paintings of Paul 8e*anne! Paraphrasing another notion of Merleau)Ponty$s0 architecture concreti*es and frames human e&istence in the $flesh of the world$! +;- #n developing <oethe$s notion of $life) enhancing$ in the l=>0s, ?ernard ?erenson suggested that when e&periencing an artistic work we imagine a genuine physical encounter through $ideated sensations$! (he most important of these ?erenson called $tactile values$! #n his view, the work of authentic art stimulates our ideated sensations of touch, and this stimulation is life)enhancing! +=- <enuine architectural works, in my view, also evoke similar ideated tactile sensations which enhance our e&perience of ourselves! (he retinal)biased architecture of our time is clearly giving rise to a quest for a haptic architecture! 1shley Montagu sees a wider change taking place in 2estern consciousness0 2e in the 2estern world are beginning to discover our neglected senses! (his growing awareness represents something of an overdue insurgency against the painful deprivation of sensory e&perience we have suffered in our technologi*ed world$! +>- 3ur culture of control and speed has favoured the architecture of the eye, with its instantaneous imagery and distant impact, whereas haptic architecture promotes slowness and intimacy, appreciated and comprehended gradually as images of the body and the skin! (he architecture of the eye detaches and controls, whereas haptic architecture engages and unites! (actile sensibility replaces distancing visual imagery by enhanced materiality, nearness and intimacy! 2e are not usually aware that an unconscious element of touch is unavoidably concealed in vision5 as we look, the eye touches, and before we even see an ob'ect we have already touched it! $(hrough vision, we touch the stars and the sun$, +,0- as Merleau)Ponty writes! (ouch is the unconsciousness of vision, and this hidden tactile e&perience determines the sensuous quality of the perceived ob'ect, and mediates messages of invitation or re'ection, courtesy or hostility! Matter and time @1rchitecture is not only about domesticating space$, writes Aarsten Barries, Professor of Philosophy at Cale Dniversity, $#t is also a deep defence against the terror of time! (he language of beauty is essentially the language of timeless reality!$ +,,- 1rchitecture$s task to provide us with our domicile in space is recogni*ed by most architects, but its second task in mediating our relation with the frighteningly ephemeral dimension of time is usually disregarded! #n its quest for the perfectly articulated autonomous artefact, the main line of Modernist architecture has preferred materials and surfaces that seek the effect of flatness, immaterial abstractness and timelessness! 2hiteness, in /e 8orbusier$s words, serves $the eye of truth$, +,2- mediating thus moral and ob'ective values! (he Modernist surface is treated as an abstracted boundary of volume, and has a conceptual rather than a sensory essence! (hese surfaces tend to remain mute, as shape and volume are given priority5 form is vocal, whereas matter remains mute! (he aspiration for geometric purity and reductive aesthetics further weakens the presence of matter, in the same way that a strong figure and 8ontour reading diminishes the interaction of colour in the art of painting5 all real colourists in painting

use a weak <estalt in order to ma&imi*e colour interaction! 1bstraction and perfection transport us into the world of ideas, whereas matter, weathering and decay strengthen the e&perience of time, causa lity and reality! 1s a consequence of its formal ideals, the architecture of our time is usually creating settings for the eye which seem to originate in a single moment of time and evoke the e&perience of flattened temporality! Eision places us in the present tense, whereas haptic e&perience evokes the e&perience of a temporal continuum! (he inevitable processes of ageing, weathering and wear are not usually considered as conscious and positive elements in design5 the architectural artefact e&ists in a timeless space, an artificial condition separated from the reality of time! +,6- (he architecture of the modern era aspires to evoke an air of ageless youth and of a perpetual present! (he ideals of perfection and completeness further detach the architectural ob'ect from the reality of time and the traces of use! 8onsequently, our buildings have become vulnerable to the effect of time, the revenge of time! #nstead of offering positive qualities of vintage and authority, time and use attack our buildings destructively! 1 particularly thought)provoking e&ample of the human need to e&perience and read time through architecture is the tradition of designed and built ruins, a fashion that became a mania in eighteenth) century 4ngland and <ermany! 2hile engaged in the construction of his own house in /incoln$s #nn ields ) which, by the way, incorporated images of ruins ) John Soane imagined his structure as a ruin by writing a fictitious study of a future antiquarian! +,7(here are architects in our time, however, who evoke healing e&periences of time! (he architecture of Sigurd /ewerent*, for instance, connects us with deep time5 his works obtain their unique emotive power from images of matter which speak of opaque depth and mystery, dimness and shadow, metaphysical enigma and death! .eath turns into a mirror image of life5 /ewerent* enables us to see ourselves dead without fear, and placed in the continuum of timeless duration, the $womb of time$, to use an e&pression of Shakespeare$s from 3thello! (hese are dreams of the fired clay brick in the same way that Michelangelo$s sculptures and buildings are dreams of marble5 the observer is permitted to enter the unconsciousness of stone! (he language of matter Materials and surfaces have a language of their own! Stone speaks of its distant geological origins, its durability and inherent symbolism of permanence5 brick makes one think of earth and fire, gravity and the ageless traditions of construction5 bron*e evokes the e&treme heat of its manufacture, the ancient processes of casting and the passage of time as measured in its patina! 2ood speaks of its two e&istences and time scales5 its first life as a growing tree and the second as a human artefact made by the caring hand of a carpenter or cabinetmaker! (hese are all materials and surfaces that speak pleasurably of time! 1s a reaction to the loss of materiality and temporal e&perience, we again appear to becoming sensitive to messages of matter, as well as to scenes of erosion and decay! Materiality, erosion and ruins have been favoured sub'ect matters of contemporary art from 1rte Povera and <ordon Matta)8lark to 1nselm Aiefer and the films of 1ndrei (arkovsky! (he art of Jannis Aounellis e&presses dreams and memories of matter, whereas Fichard Serra$s and 4duardo 8hillida$s uniquely authoritative masses of forged iron awaken bodily e&periences of weight and gravity! (hese works directly address our skeletal and muscular system0 they are communications from the muscles of the sculptor to those of the viewer! 8ontemporary art and architecture are again recogni*ing the sensuality and eroticism of matter! (he popularity of earth as a sub'ect and medium of artistic e&pression is another e&ample of this growing interest in images of matter!

(he imagery of Mother 4arth suggests that after the utopian 'ourney towards autonomy, imma teriality, weightlessness and abstraction, art and architecture are moving back towards primordial female images of interiority, intimacy and belonging! 8ollage and assemblage are favoured techniques of artistic representation in our time5 these media enable an archaeological density and a non)linear narrative through the 'u&taposition of fragmented images deriving from irreconcilable origins! 8ollage invigorates the e&perience of tactility and time! 8ollage and film are the most characteristic art forms of our century, and have penetrated into all other forms of art, including architecture! Material imagination #n his phenomenological investigation of poetic imagery, <aston ?achelard makes a distinction between $formal imagination$ and $material imagination$! +,9- Be considers images arising from matter pro'ect deeper and more profound e&periences than images of form! Matter evokes unconscious images and emotions, but modernity at large has been primarily concerned with form! Bowever, engagement with material imagination seems to characteri*e the entire $Second (radition$ of modernity, to use the title of 8olin St!John 2ilson$s recent book!$ +,:#n his development away from the retinality of the Modern Movement towards a multi)sensory engagement, 1lvar 1alto made a distinct step towards $images of matter$! Significantly, at the same time, he re'ected the universalist ideal of modernity in favour of a regionalist, organic, historic and romantic aspiration! #n his episodic architecture, 1alto suppresses the dominance of a singular visual image! (his is an architecture that is not dictated by a dominant conceptual idea right down to the last detail5 it grows through separate architectural scenes, episodes, and detail elaborations! #nstead of an overpowering intellectual concept, the whole is held together by the constancy of an emotional atmosphere, an architectural key, as it were! #n the mid) ,>60s 4rik <unnar 1splund, 4rik ?ryggman and 1lvar 1alto made remarkably parallel moves away from the unctionalist aesthetics of reduction towards a layered and multi)sensory architecture! 1spiund described this change of ideals in a ,>6: lecture0 G(he idea that only design, which is comprehended visually, can be art is a narrow conception! Ho, everything grasped by our other senses through our whole human consciousness and which has the capacity to communicate desire, pleasure, or emotions can also be art$! +,;(his transition implies a departure from the predominantly visual and masculine air of modern architecture towards a tactile and feminine sensibility! (he feeling of e&ternal control and visual effect is replaced by a heightened sense of interiority and tactile intimacy! Sensuous materiality and the sense of tradition evoke a benevolent e&perience of natural duration and temporal continuum! 2hereas the architecture of geometry attempts to build dams to halt the flow of time, haptic and multi)sensory architecture makes the e&perience of time healing and pleasurable! (his architecture does not struggle against time, it concreti*es the course of time and makes it acceptable! #t seeks to accommodate rather than impress, evoke domesticity and comfort rather than admiration and awe! (he architecture of e&periential events

2hereas the usual design process proceeds from a guiding conceptual image down to the detail, this architecture develops from real e&periential situations towards an architectural form! 1s drawings, in fact, these buildings might sometimes appear vague, fragmentary or incomplete, as the design aims solely at qualities arising in the lived e&periential situation! (his is an architecture of sensory realism in opposition to conceptual idealism! Speaking of his cultural realism, 1alto writes0 $Fealism usually provides the strongest impulses +also- for my imagination$! +,=1rchitecture is usually understood as a visual synta&, but it can also be conceived through a sequence of human situations and encounters! 1uthentic architectural e&periences derive from real or ideated bodily confrontations rather than visually observed entities! 1uthentic architectural e&periences have more the essence of a verb than a noun! (he visual image of a door is not an architectural image, for instance, whereas entering and e&iting through a door are architectural e&periences! Similarly, the window frame is not an architectural unit, whereas looking out through the window or daylight coming through it, are authentic architectural encounters! #n his description of the design process of the Paimio Sanatorium, 1alto formulates a design philosophy progressing from the identification and articulation of e&periential situations0 $+!!!- a building has to be conceived from inside outwards, that is, the small units and details with which a person is engaged form a kind of framework, a system of cells, which eventually turns into the entity of the building! 1t the same time as the architect develops a synthesis from the smallest cells onwards, the opposite process e&ists and the architect keeps the entity in his mind$! +,>Dsing this method of analy*ing e&periential situations, 1alto conceived the sanatorium as a carefully and empathetically studied instrument of healing for the benefit of human beings at their weakest, $the hori*ontal human being$, +20- as 1alto calls his hospitali*ed client! 1alto$s sanatorium could well be the one building in the history of modernity that contains the highest concentration of technical innovations, yet it is firmly rooted in human e&periential reality! ragile architecture 3ur culture aspires to power and domination and this quest characteri*es 2estern architecture as well5 architecture seeks a powerful image and impact! Feferring to a way of philosophi*ing that does not aspire to totali*e the multitude of human discourses into a single system, the #talian philosopher <ianni Eattimo introduced the notions of $weak ontology$ and $fragile thought$, il pensiero debole! +2,- Eattimo$s idea, which has aroused world)wide interest since the early ,>=0s, seems to be interestingly parallel to <oethe$s method of $.elicate 4mpiricism$ "Iarte 4mpirie%, an effort $to understand a thing$s meaning through prolonged empathetic looking and understanding it grounded in direct e&perience$ +22- #n accordance with Eattimo$s notions, we can speak of a $weak$ or $fragile$ architecture, or perhaps, more precisely, of an $architecture of weak structure and image$, as opposed to an architecture of strong structure and image$! 2hereas the latter desires to impress through an outstanding singular image and consistent articulation of form, the architecture of weak image is conte&tual and responsive! #t is concerned with real sensory interaction instead of ideali*ed and conceptual manifestations! (his architecture grows and opens up, instead of the reverse process of closing down from the concept to the detail! +26- ?ecause of the negative connotations of the word $weak$, we should, perhaps, use the notion $fragile architecture$!

(he idea of $weakness$ as an architectural principle has emerged simultaneously in various writings! 1s # was developing my own views of fragile architecture, # came across an essay entitled $2eak 1rchitecture$ ",>=;% by the Spanish architect and theoretician #gnaside Sola)Morales! +27- 1lso Peter 4isenman has used the notion of weak architecture in his writings +29- Sola)Morales pro'ects Eattimo$s ideas on the reality of architecture somewhat differently from my interpretation! $#n the field of aesthetics, literary, pictorial and architectonic e&perience can no longer be founded on the basis of a system0 not a closed, economic system such as that of the classical age +!!!- the present)day artistic universe is perceived from e&periences that are produced at discrete points, diverse heterogeneous to the highest degree, and consequently our appro&imation to the aesthetic is produced in a weak, fragmentary, peripheral fashion, denying at every turn the possibility that it might ultimately be transformed definit ively into a central e&perience$, +2:- Sola)Morales writes! Be defines $event$ as the fundamental ingredient of architecture and concludes as follows0 G(his is the strength of weakness5 that strength which art and architecture are capable of producing precisely when they adopt a posture that is not aggressive and dominating, but tangential and weak$ +2;1 recent issue of .aidalos +2=- devoted to urban strategies, refers to Sola)Morales$s essay and develops the ideas of $weak urbanism$! (he dominant trends of town planning have also been based on strong strategies and strong urban form, whereas the medieval townscape as well as the urban settings of traditional communities have grown on the bases of weak principles! Strong strategies are reinforced by the eye, the sense of distant control, whereas weak principles give rise to the haptic townscape of intimacy and participation! 1 similar weak structure has also emerged in literature and cinema! (he new rench novel, nouveile roman, deliberately fragments the linear progression of the story and opens it up to alternative interpretations! (he films of Michelangelo 1ntonioni and 1ndrel (arkovsky, on the other hand, e&emplify a weak cinematic narrative, +2>- which is based on improvi*ation, and creates a deliberate distance between the image and the narrative with the intention of weakening the logic of the story and thus creating an associative field of clustered images! #nstead of being an e&ternal spectator of the narrative event, the readerJviewer is made a participant who accepts a moral responsibility for the progression of the events! (he power of weakness (he idea of fragility suggests listening and dialogue! #n the early l>=0s, the innish painter Juhana ?lomstedt entitled a series of his paintings $(he /istening 4ye$! +60- (his notion suggests a humbled ga*e liberated from the desire for patriarchal domination! Perhaps, we should also conceive architecture through a listening eye! <eometry and formal reduction serve the heroic and utopian line of architecture that re'ects time, whereas materiality and fragile form evoke a sense of humility and duration! (he idea of weak image in architecture seems to run parallel with the idea of $weak force$ in physics, as well as the weak processes of nature when compared to the use of e&cessive physical violence in our technological processes! +6,- ?esides, architecture is an art form of inherently weak impact compared, for instance, with the flood of emotions mobili*ed by theatrical, cinematic and musical e&periences! (he strength of architectural impact derives from its unavoidable presence as the perpetual unconscious pre) understanding of our e&istential condition! 1 distinct $weakening$ of the architectural image takes place through the processes of weathering and ruination! 4rosion wipes away the layers of utility, rational logic and detail articulation, and pushes the structure into the realm of uselessness, nostalgia and melancholy! (he language of matter takes over from the visual and formal effect, and the structure attains a

heightened intimacy! (he arrogance of perfection is replaced by a humani*ing vulnerabil ity! (his is why artists, photographers, filmmakers and theatre directors tend to utili*e images of eroded and abandoned architecture to evoke a subtle emotional atmosphere! #n his essay on Peter ?rook$s manipulation of the architectural space through destruction for theatrical purposes, +62- 1ndrew (odd writes0 $(he walls engage time in a comple& way! (here is an after)echo of the original bourgeois music hall form, and this is rendered profound, even tragic, by the opening up of the layers of time on the walls! (he top skin which seals the imagination at a specific style or period has been scorched away, so the walls e&ist in an indeterminate time, part way between cultural definition and eschatological dissolution! ?ut this is no dead ruin0 ?rook has not been afraid to bash the place around a little more, breaking holes, putting in doors +!!!-! 3ne can also speak of another virtual patina the walls have acquired through the accruing memory of ?rook$s work in there$! +66- (his description evokes Fainer Maria Filke$s stunning chapter in (he Hotebooks of Malte /aurids ?rigge, where the protagonist reads the life that has been lived in an already demolished house through the trac es it has left on the end wall of the neighbouring building5 in fact these are signs by which the young man reconstructs essential aspects of his childhood and self! +67- 1 similar weakening of architectural logic also takes place in reuse and renovation! (he insertion of new functional and symbolic structures short)circuits the initial architectural logic and opens up the emotional and e&pressive range! #t is indeed thought)provoking, that architectural settings which layer contradictory ingredients pro'ect a special charm! 3ften the most en'oyable museum, office or residential space is that which is fitted into a recycled building! (he ecological approach also favours an adaptive image, parallel to the inherent weakness of ecologically adapted processes! (his ecological fragility is reflected in today$s art, as, for instance, in the poetic works of Fichard /ong, Bamish ulton, 2olfgang /eib, 1ndy <oldsworthy and Hils)Ddo, all set in a subtle dialogue with nature! Bere again, artists set an e&ample for architects! (he art of gardening is an art form which is inherently engaged with time, change and fragile image! 3n the other hand, the geometric garden e&emplifies the attempt to domesticate nature into patterns of man) made geometry! #t is evident that the tradition of landscape and garden architecture can provide inspiration for an architecture liberated from the constraints of geometric and strong #mage! (he biological models, bin)mimicry, have already entered various fields of science, medicine and engineering! 2hy should they not be valid in architectureK #t seems to me that the more subtle line of high)tech architecture is already heading in that direction! #mages of fragile architecture (he architecture of the Japanese garden, with its multitude of parallel, intertwining themes fused with nature, and its subtle 'u&taposition of natural and man)made morphologies, is an inspiring e&ample of the aesthetic power of weak form! (he remarkably sensitive architecture of .imitris Pikionis in the footpaths leading to the 1cropolis #n 1thens, the reassuringly abstracted waterfall of /awrence Balprin$s #ra$s ountain in Portland, 3regon, and 8arlo Scarpa$s meticulously crafted architectural settings, are contemporary e&amples of an architecture that places us in a different relation to space and time than the architecture of eternal geometry! (hese are e&amples of an architecture whose full power does not rely on a singular concept or image! (he work of Pikionis is a dense conversation with time and history to the degree that the design appears as a product of anonymous tradition without drawing attention to the individual creator! Balprin$s designs e&plore the threshold between architecture and nature5 they have the rela&ed naturalness of scenes of nature, yet they read as a man)made counterpoint to the geological and

organic world! Scarpa$s architecture creates a dialogue between concept and making, visuality and tactility, artistic invention and tradition! 1lthough his pro'ects often seem to lack an overall guiding idea, they pro'ect an impressive e&perience of architectural discovery and courtesy! 1lvar 1alto$s Eilla Mairea +69- is, of course, an early masterpiece of the episodic architecture of fragile formal structure5 it is made from a sequence of architectural parts or acts in the same way as a theatrical play consists of acts and a piece of music of movements! (he composition aims at a specific ambience, a receptive emotional state, rather than the authority of form! (his architecture obscures the categories of foreground and background, ob'ect and conte&t, and evokes a liberated sense of natural duration! 1n architecture of courtesy and attention, it invites us to be humble, receptive and patient observers! (his philosophy of compliance aspires to fulfil the humane reconciliatory task of the art of architecture! Perspectival space and peripheral vision (he historic development of the representational techniques of space is closely tied to the development of architecture itself (he perspectival understanding of space gave rise to an architecture of vision, whereas the quest to liberate the eye from its perspectival fi&ation has enabled the conception of multi)perspectival and simultaneous space! Perspectival space leaves us as outside observers, whereas simultaneous space encloses and enfolds us in its embrace! (his is the perceptual and psychological essence of #mpressionist and 8ubist space5 we are pulled into the space and made to e&perience it as a fully embodied sensation! (he special reality of a 8e*anne landscape, as well as of fragile architecture, derives from the way they engage our perceptual and psychological mechanisms! 2hile the hectic eye of the camera captures a momentary situation, a passing condition of light or an isolated, carefully framed and focused fragment, the e&perience of architectural reality depends fundamentally on peripheral and anticipated vision5 the mere e&perience of interiority implies peripheral perception! (he perceptual realm that we sense beyond the sphere of focused vision is as important as the focused image that can be fro*en by the camera! (his assumption suggests that one reason why contemporary spaces often alienate us )) compared with historical and natural settings that elicit powerful emotional engagement )) has to do with the poverty of peripheral vision! ocused vision makes us mere outside observers5 peripheral perception transforms retinal images into a spatial and bodily involvement and encourages participation! (hat is why a photographic image is usually an unreliable witness of true architectural quality5 architects would do better if they were less concerned with the photogenic qu alities of their works! 4ven creative activity calls for an unfocused and undifferentiated subconscious mode of vision, +6:- which is fused with integrating tactile e&perience! (he ob'ect of a creative act is not only enfolded by the eye and the touch, it has to be intro'ected, identified with one$s own body and e&istential e&perience! #n deep thought, focused vision is blocked5 thoughts travel with an absent)minded ga*e! #n creative work, the scientist and the artist are directly engaged with their body and e&istential e&perience rather than an e&ternal logistic problem! (he margin for tolerance and error (he ideal of strong image aspires to the perfectly articulated and final artefact! (his is the 1lbertian aesthetic ideal of a work of art $to which nothing can be added or subtracted$! ?y definition, a strong image has minimal tolerance to change and consequently it contains an inherent aesthetic vulnerability in

relation to the forces of time! 1 weak <estalt, on the contrary, allows additions and alterations5 a fragile form possesses aesthetic tolerance, a margin for change! (he criteria of tolerance also takes place on a psychological level5 contemporary designs are often so constrained in their e&clusive aesthetics that they create a hermetic and arrogant sense of isolation and autism, whereas a fragile structure pro'ects a welcoming openendedness and a sense of aesthetic rela&ation! Strong image is obliged to simplify and reduce the multiplicity of problems and practicalities to condense the shapeless diversity of the task into a powerful singular image! Strong image is often reached by means of severe censoring and suppression5 the clarity of image frequently contains hidden repression! Bere # would like to stress that /am not condemning the architecture of formal strength5 lam merely critical of visually formalist architecture, and suggest an alternative to the prevalent reductive aesthetics of 2estern architectural thought! ?esides, there are architects today who combine conceptual strength with sensual subtlety, like Peter Iumthor and Steven Boll! 1lso in the case of /uis ?arragan an apparently strong image glides into the elusive world of dreams! #t was John Fuskin$s view that0 $#mperfection is in some sort essential to all that we know of life! #t is the sign of life in a mortal body, that is to say, of a state of process and change! Hothing that lives is, or can be, rigidly perfect5 part of it is decaying, part nascent +!!!-! 1nd in all things that live there are certain irregularities and deficiencies, which are not only signs of life but sources of beauty$! +6;1alto elaborated Fuskin$s idea when speaking about $the human error$ +6=- and critici*ing the quest for absolute truth and perfection0 $2e can say that architecture always contains a human error, and in a deeper view, it is necessary5 without it the richness of life and its positive qualities cannot he e&pressed$! +6>- 1rchitectural design usually aspires to a continuity of ideas and articulation, whereas fragile architecture seeks deliberate discontinuities! (he design process of 1alto, for instance, seeks differences and discontinuities instead of a unifying logic! 4laborating an idea of Michel oucault$s, .emetri Porphyrios identified 1alto$s thinking as heterotopic in opposition to the usual Modernist homotopic manner of thought! +70- Feferring to discontinuities in design logic, 1alto uses the e&pression $sympathetic error$! +7,- Be was himself a master of turning last minute design alterations or on)site mistakes into brilliant detail improvi*ations! 1esthetici*ation0 beauty as a preconception (raditional architectural environments rarely read as outstanding singular aesthetic ob'ects5 they present variations on the unselfconscious themes of tradition! 4ven aesthetically awkward units add up to attractive environments! (he pleasurable e&perience of vernacular settings arises from a rela&ed sense of appropriateness, causality and conte&tuality rather than any deliberate aspiration for preconceived beauty! #n our culture of material abundance, lost in a spiritual desert, architecture has become an endangered art form! #t is threatened by quasi)rational, techno)economic instrumentali*ation, on one hand, and the processes of commodification and aesthetici*ation on the other! Parado&ically, architecture is simultaneously turned into ob'ects of vulgar utility and ob'ects of shrewd seduction! (he architecture of modernity )) and particularly of our consumerist era )) has become too consciously engaged with aesthetic effects and qualities! 3ur culture has aesthetici*ed politics as well as war, and aesthetici*ation now also threatens the art of architecture! Joseph ?rodsky ventures to critici*e 4*ra Pound for his too direct engagement with beauty0 $(he 8antos, too, left me cold5 the main error was an old one0 questing after beauty! or someone with such a long record of residence in #taly, it was odd that he hadn$t

reali*ed that beauty can$t be targeted, that it is always a by)product of other, often very ordinary pursuits$! +62$2e should understand that beauty is not a mysterious veil thrown over a building but a logical result of having everything in the right place$, +76- wrote 4rik ?ryggman wisely already in the early ,>20s! ocused on visual imagery and detached from social and conte&tual considerations, the celebrated architecture of our time )) and the publicity that attempts to convince us of its genius )) too often has an air of self)satisfaction and omnipotence! ?uildings attempt to conquer the foreground instead of creating a supportive background for human activities and perceptions! 1rchitectural pro'ects of our day are often impudent and arrogant, and our age seems to have lost the virtue of architectural neutrality, restraint, and modesty! 1uthentic works of art, however, always remain suspended between certainty and uncertainty, faith and doubt! (he task of responsible architects is to provide resistance to current cultural erosion and to replant buildings and cities in an authentic e&istential and e&periential soil! 1t the beginning of the new millennium, architectural culture would do well to nurture productive tensions between cultural realism and artistic idealism, determination and discretion, ambition and humil ity!

",!% or instance5 Martin Jay, .owncast 4yes )) (he .enigration of Eision in (wentieth 8entury rench (hought, Dniversity california Press, ?erkeley and /os 1ngeles, ,>>7! .avid Michael /evin, Modernity and the Begemony of Eision, Dniversity of 8alifornia Press, ?erkeley and /os 1ngeles, california, ,>>6! "2!% /evin, p209! "6!% Maurice Merleau)Ponty, $(he ilm and the Hew Psychology$! #n Maurice Merleau)Ponty, Sense and Hon)Sense, Horthwestern Dniversity Press, 4vanston ,>:7, p!,=! "7!% 1shley Montagu, (ouching0 (he Buman Significance of the Skin, Barper L Fow, Hew Cork, ,>=: ",>;,%, p6! "9!% Marcel Proust, Aadonnulla aikaa etsimassa "Femembrance of (hings past%! 3tava, Belsinki, ,>:=, p=! ":!% Maurice Merleau)Ponty, $8e*anne$s .oubt$, in Maurice Merleau)Ponty, Sense and Hon)Sense, Horthwestern Dniversity Press, 4vanston ,>:7, p,>! ";!% (he notion derives from Merleau)Ponty$s dialectical principle of the intertwining of the world and the self! Be also speaks of an $ontology of the flesh$ as the ultimate conclusion of his initial Phenomenology of perception! (his ontology implies that meaning is both within and without, sub'ective and ob'ective, spiritual and material! See Fichard Aearney, $Maurice Merleau)Ponty$, Modern Movements in 4uropean Philosophy, Manchester Dniversity press, Manchester and Hew Cork ,>>7, pp;6)>0! "=!% Montagu, pp60=)60>! ">!% Montagu, pM###!

",0!% 1s quoted in Modernity and the Begemony of Eision, p,7! ",,!% Aarsten, Barries, $?uilding and the (error of (ime$, Perspecia0 (he Cale 1rchitectural Journal, ,>, Hew Baven, ,>=2, pp9>):>! ",2!% 1s quoted in Mohsen Mostafavi and .avid /eatherbarrow, 3n 2eathering, (he M#( Press, cambridge, Mass!, ,>>6, p;:! ",6!% See 3n 2eathering! ",7!% See John Soane, $8rude Bints$ republished in Eisions of Fuin0 1rchitectural antasies L .esigns for <arden ollies, John Soane Museum, /ondon, ,>>>! ",9!% <aston ?achelard, $#ntroduction$, 2ater and .reams0 1n 4ssay 3n the #magination of matter ",>72%, .allas #nstitute, (e&as, ,>=6! ",:!% 8olin StJohn 2ilson, (he 3ther (radition of Modern 1rchitecture, 1cademy 4ditions, /ondon, ,>>9! ",;!% 4rik <unnar 1splund, $Aonstoch (eknik$ "1rt and (echnology%, ?yggmastaren, ,>6:! 1s quoted its Stuart 2rede, (he 1rchitecture of 4rik <unnar 1splund, M#( Press, cambridge, Mass, ,>=0, pl96! ",=!% 1lvar 1alto, untitled manuscript for a lecture held its (urin, Milan, <enoa and Fome in ,>9:! Published partly in #talian in 1lvar 1alto, $Problemi di architettura$, Nuaderni 18#, 4di*ione 1ssocia*ione 8ulture #taliana, (urin, ,>9:! ",>!% #bid, p6! "20!% #bid, p7! "2,!% Eattimo introduced the notion in the late ,>;0s! (he idea was developed in a volume of essays entitled #/ pensiero debole edited by Eattimo in collaboration with Pier 1ldo Fovatti! Eattimo also discusses the notion in his seminal (he 4nd of Modernity ",>=9%, John Bopkins Dniversity press, ?altimore, ,>>,! "22!% $(here is a delicate empiricism which makes itself utterly identical with the ob'ect, thereby becoming true theory$! <oethe, <oethe0 Scientific Studies, Princeton Dniversity Press, ,>67, p60;! 1s quoted in .avid Seamon, $<oethe, nature and Phenomenology0 1n #ntroduction$, .avid Seamon and 1rthur Ia'one, <oethe$s 2ay of Science, State Dniversity of new Cork Press, 1lbany, ,>==, p2! "26!% .istinguishing between opening and closing design strategies and artistic structures, /awrence Balprin speaks of $open and closed scores$! "27!% #gnaside Sola)Morales, .ifferences0 (opographics of 8ontemporary 1rchitecture ",>=;%, M#( Press, 8ambridge, Mass, ,>>;, pp9;) ;0!

"29!% #n his recent pri*e)winning scheme for the 8ultural 8ity of <alicia in Spain, 4isenman generated the architectural structure semi)automatically by the traditional street pattern of the historic centre of the ad'acent pilgrimage town of Santiago de 8ompostela and the imagery of a natural mountain top! (he formal language is consequently the result of a generative process rather than distinct formal intention! "2:!% Sola)Morales, pp9= and :0! "2;!% Sola)Morales, p;0 "2=!% Simon Bubacker, $2eak Drbanism$, .aidalos, ;2, ?erlin, ,>>>, pp,0),;! "2>!% See Juhani Pallasmaa! (he 1rchitecture of #mage0 4&istential Space in 8inema! Dnpublished book manuscript, ,>>>! "60!% Barold 1rnkil, Juhana ?lomstedt, 2eilinO<oos, Belsinki ,>=>! "6,!% (he power of a weak force in nature can be illustrated by comparing the toughest known material of nature with that of ours! Hone of the man)made metals or high)strength fibres of today can come even close to the combined strength and energy)absorbing elasticity of spider dragline! (he line spun by the spider is five times stronger than steel, and much tougher than polyaramid Aevlar, the material used in bullet)proof vests and facial masks5 it can absorb five times the impact force of Aevlar without breaking! 1ccording to an article in Science Hews, 2, January ,>>9, a web resembling a normal fishing net in its thickness of thread and the scale of the mesh could catch a passenger plane in flight! (he spider line is produced with low energy at spider body temperature whereas in the production of Aevlar petroleum) derived molecules are poured into a pressuri*ed vat of concentrated sulphuric acid and boiled at several hundred degrees ahrenheit to force it into a liquid crystal form! (he energy input is very high and there are problematic to&ic by)products! Janine M! ?enyus, ?iomimicry, 2illiam Morrow, Hew Cork, ,>>=, pp,62, ,69! "62!% 1ndrew (odd, $/earning from Peter ?rook$s 2ork on (heatre Space$! Dnpublished manuscript, 29 September ,>>>! "66!% #bid, p7! "67!% Fainer Maria Filke, (he Hotebooks of Malte /aurids ?rigge, 2!2! Horton L 8o, Hew Cork and /ondon, ,>>2, pp7;)7=! "69!% See Juhani Pallasmaa "editor%, 1lvar 1alto0 Eilla Mairea ,>6=)6>, 1lvar 1alto oundation and Mairea oundation, Belsinki, ,>>=! "6:!% or the role of unconscious vision, see 1nton 4hren*weig, (he Bidden 3rder of 1rt ",>:;%, Paladin, /ondon, ,>;6! "6;!% 1s quoted in <ary J! 8oates, 4rik 1smussen, architect, ?yggforlaget, Stockholm, ,>>;, p260! "6=!% 1lvar 1alto, $#nhimillinen Eirhe$ "(he Buman 4rror%, <oran Schildt, editor, Hain Puhui 1lvar 1alto "(hus Spoke alvar 1alto%, 3tava, Belsinki, ,>>;!

"6>!% #bid, p2=2! "70!% .emetri Porphyrious, Sources of Modern 4clecticism, 1cademy 4ditions, /ondon, ,>=2! "7,!% 1lvar 1alto, $Speech at the 8entennial 8elebration of the aculty of 1rchitecture$, Belsinki Dniverisity of (echnology, 9!,2!,>;2! Schildt, p2=6! "72!% Joseph ?rodsky, 2atermark, Penguin ?oooks, /ondon, ,>>2, p;0! "76!% 4rik ?ryggman, $rural 1rchitecture$, Fiitta Hikula "editor%, 4rik ?ryggman ,=>,),>99, 1rchitect, Museum of innish 1rchitecture, Belsinki, ,>>,, p2;>! , ragile architecture ) Scarpa$s entrance to the 1rchitectural aculty of Eenice Dniversity! 2 Pathology of the eye ) still from ?unuel and .ali$s Dn 8hien 1ndalou! 6 Significance of skin ) ?onnard$s scintillating Hude in a ?athtub! 7 1rchitecture of the muscles ) steps at the Belan Shrine <arden, (okyo! 9 1rchitecture and time ) detail of 1alto$s iconic Eilla Mairea! : Multi)sensory e&perience ) the town of 8asares in southern Spain! ; #mage of brick))saynatsalo (own Ball by 1lvar 1alto! = 1 dream of stone tomb of <iuliano de Medici by Michelangelo! > #mage of memory and matter) 1thens 2all, installation by Cannis Aounellis! ,0 #magination of form )/edou&$s Spherical Bouse for a ?ailiff! ,, #magination of matter )) sensuous #slamic fountain! ,2 1rchitecture of strong #mage ) /ethbridge Dniversity #n 1lberta by 1rthur 4rickson! ,6 1rchitecture of fragile #mage )) garden of Aatsura .etached Palace! ,7 ragile art )) ?roken Stones Scratched 2hite, by 1ndy <oldsworthy! ,9 /andscaping for 1cropolis in 1thens, by .imitris Pikionis! ,: 1ppropriateness and humility of design )) a innish seal hunter$s lunchbo&! (he boatlike ob'ect can float on bllgewater! ,; 1rchitecture engaging peripheral vision )) 1alto$s innish Pavilion for ,>6> Hew Cork 2orld$s air!

,= (he strength of fragility )) Pollen from Bo*elnut, installation by 2olfgang /aib! 83PCF#<B( 2000 4M1P 1rchitecture 83PCF#<B( 2000 <ale <roup