- Implosion -

ARCHITECTURE + HABITAT
ANTHROPOLOGY
Research Series - Online

Basic for this research is Egenter's book:

SEMANTIC AND SYMBOLIC ARCHITECTURE
[See sample (Theoretical Part) in PDF-format]
For the printed book see:
Egenter 1994 (SSA), Structura Mundi, Lausanne
=> For the whole book in PDF: see Acrobat Archives below!

Regarding 'Theory of Religion':

BOOKREVIEW IN NUMEN BY R. J. ZWI WERBLOWSKY
>PDF-version<

NEW:
PLATE SHOWING

"SOFT PREHISTORY"

=>[ RIDDLE ] <=

Acrobat Archives (New)

"Documentary Movie"
You can obtain our 'One village movie'
now free on DVD. Please send surface mail address!

INTRO-DIA-SHOW
A new 'Theory of Architecture'

Preliminary Remarks

ON THE STRUCTURE OF THIS COLLECTION OF STUDIES

HOMO TERRITORIALIS, A Short Survey of the Approach

Introduction
 THE ORIGINS OF ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH
ARCHITECTURE AND HABITAT ANTHROPOLOGY
WHAT IS IMPLOSION?
ARCHITECTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY - Outlines of a constructive human past
HABITAT THEORY OF CULTURE
HABITAT RESEARCH
WHAT IS DWELLING/HOUSING RESEARCH?

AHA1
General Theory
(see AA vol. 1)
[PDF-format - 11.6 MB]

PREFACE
THE MOSAIC OF ENDLESS MICRO THEORIES AND THE FUNCTION OF MACRO THEORIES
- Some theoretical notes on the History of Anthropology and on the Theory of Architecture
THE PRESENT RELEVANCE OF THE PRIMITIVE IN ARCHITECTURE
ARCHITECTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY: OUTLINES OF A CONSTRUCTIVE HUMAN PAST

AHA2
Fundamental Aspects

O. F. BOLLNOW'S ANTHROPOLOGY OF SPACE - A revolutionary Paradigm is under Way - Book

review on Bollnow's 'Man and Space'
A BREAKTHROUGH TO A CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE -
Architecture builds interdisciplinary bridges to the Humanities
HABITAT RESEARCH AND ARCHITECTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY - Why do we need a general
framework?
APE ARCHITECTS - The 'Primordial Hut' of architectural theory and the nest?building behavior of
the great apes
DID THE FIRST HOMINIDS BUILD ARBOREAL NESTS? Yes, probably, but their terrestric nests
were much more important! Critical notes on how the Yerkesian term "constructivity" became lost in
primatology! A reply to 'Current Anthropology'
SHORT NOTE TO A SEMIOTICIAN - About the traffic signs of the Bonobos
SOFTWARE FOR A SOFT PREHISTORY - Structural history and structural ergology - Approaches
towards a settlement genetic theory of culture
HABITAT ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL DEFINITION OF MATERIAL
CULTURE - On the way towards an anthropological prehistory
ON THE ARCHAEOLOGY AND PREHISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND HABITAT - Some
Research Problems in the Framework of wider Anthropological Horizons
THE HISTORICISM OF QUANTIFIED PROPORTION - Critical objections to Wittkower's
"Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism" - Outlining a "theory of relativity" of premodern
architectural form
VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE - WHERE DO THE SYMBOLIC MEANINGS COME FROM?
Some notes regarding the "anthropology of the house"
AHA3
Semantic Architecture:
the multidisciplinary aspect

DAGOBERT FREY AND THE ACCESS-PLACE SCHEME - A global view on architectural

principles
DID ROCK ART COPY FIBROCONSTRUCTIVE ART? Semantic architecture and the interpretation
of prehistoric rock art - An ethno-(pre-)historical approach
METABOLISM OF FORM IN ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE - Critical review of the art historian's
interpretation of the oeuvre of Gottfried Semper and the implications of his concept for research into
architectural anthropology
SEMANTIC ARCHITECTURE AND THE BIRTH OF SCRIPT- A theory of the origins of writing
based on architectural anthropology
THE CONSTITUTIONAL TRAITS OF RELIGION - Towards an Inductive Anthropology of Religion
and Ontology
THE BIRTH OF MYTH FROM SEMANTIC ARCHITECTURE - An architectural anthropological
approach to the interpretation of myth: The case of Japan
THE ETERNALLY BURNING THORNBUSH - The first revelation of the Old Testament in an ethno-
historical perspective.
THE ORIGINS OF SCIENCE AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE HARMONY OF ART - A
philosophical scenario based on the anthropology of the human mind
THE BIRTH OF CURTAIN WALLS FROM THE CONCEPT OF STYLE - Nietzsche‘s Satyr,
Woelfflin‘s analytical scalpel and the banality of pure geometry - The double roots of tectonic form

AHA4
The Case of Japan (1)

SYMBOLS OF REED AND BAMBOO - Living Shinto Tradition in Japan - A short report on research
done in the Omihachiman region
SHIN NO MI-HASHIRA - The Illustrious Central Pillar of the Japanese World - Village Shinto and the
secret agrarian element under the Imperial Shrines at Ise
RITUAL TRADITION AS VITAL HISTORY - Shinto festivals as a gateway to Japanese cultural
history
FOLK FESTIVALS AS A GATEWAY TO JAPANESE CULTURE
TAIMATSU MATSURI - A Festival of Traditional Village Shinto
ON-MATSURI AT NARA - A Festival of Aristocratic Shinto
SEIHAKUSAI - A Festival of Feudal Shinto
GETA-MATSURI - The Fishermen's New Year's Festival on the Isle of the Gods
JAPANESE RICE CULTURE - The Misunderstood Philosophy of the Agrarian Past
FUJISAN - THE MASTER OF TEN THOUSAND MOUNTAINS - The artificial and the natural
sacred mountain
THE RITUAL STRUCTURE OF THE TRADITIONAL JAPANESE HOUSE - Or, why the Western
architect has difficulties to understand it.
 THE JAPANESE GARDEN A JAPANESE EXAMPLE OF ROMANTICISM? - An extra-ordinary
view
THE MASTER OF THE WILDERNESS, THE BEAR, LIVES IN THE UPPER PART OF OUR
HOME - House and world-view among the Ainu in the North of Japan [PDF FORMAT]
FESTIVAL CALENDAR - The pre-urban time system

AHA5
The Case of Japan (2)

JAPAN THE BIG VILLAGE - China school, national history and modern cultural anthropology. Notes
on the history of Japanese historical consciousness.
WHAT WAS FIRST, THE NATURAL OR THE ARTIFICIAL SACRED TREE? The Sacred Trees of
Goshonai - A new approach to cognitive anthropology regarding the discovery of natural form [PDF
format]
OHMIHACHIMAN - THE (MEDIEVAL) FOUNDATION OF A TOWN - A cross-cultural theoretical
model
ANTHROPOLOGY OF AESTHETICS: CULTURE AS IDENTITY - Polarity in Art, Lifestyle and
Ontology - Japan, a visual and theoretical model [Polar Asymmetry -The evolution of Japanese art
from agrarian cult traditions]

AHA6
Architecture:
New anthropological viewpoints

THE 'DEEP STRUCTURE' OF ARCHITECTURE - Constructivity and Human Evolution. In PDF

format (part 1) (part 2)
ANTHROP-ARCH - Twisting Venturi - Contradiction creates complexity
FOUNDATION FOR AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE - What has the
Nestbuilding Behavior of the Higher Apes to do with Post-Modern Architecture? [PDF: in Japanese
and English]
ON THE WAY TOWARDS AN ANTHROPOLOGY OF ARCHITECTURE - A critical survey of the
modern architect's role from the standpoint of cultural history
RENE MAGRITTE THE ARCHITECTUROLOGIST - Regarding the complementary structure of
architectural space in the paintings of Rene Magritte
ANTHROP-ART - The re-Creative way to see the world of art
ARCHITECTURE, MOVEMENT, MIND - The ocean steamer subject in modern architecture
BOTTA: HISTORY IS MY GOOD FRIEND - Historical misrepresentation as a design principle?
MARIO BOTTA DECLARES DEFEAT OF POSTMODERNISM - Very negative prophecies by a
international star architect
HOW MUCH HORIZON DOES AN ARCHITECTURAL THEORETICIAN NEED? - Critical
remarks regarding the GOOD-FORM-theology of the architectural-doctrine - With reference to the
New Years Eve tradition of Urnaesch as a vital tradition of agrarian philosophy and as core element of
a traditional architecture and settlement identity
THE UGLY ONES AND THE BEAUTIFUL ONES - The New Year's Eve Philosophy of a small
Swiss Town (Urnäsch, Appenzell) A Photo Report
 ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM: THE PROBLEMS - The Congress of the 'International Union
of Architects' in Barcelona, June/July 1996 - Short report by an architectural anthropologist
UIA 96 BARCELONA MANIFESTO
SWITZERLAND's 'NEW URBANITY - 'ART BRUT', POSTMODERN 'PLANNING KITSCH' OR
'NEW ECONOMY'? - Critical Notes regarding Franz Oswald's "Visions" of Switzerland as 'New Las
Vegas Wellnessland'

AHA7
Semantic Architecture:
Ethnology and History

ARCHITECTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE STRUCTURAL VIEW OF DESIGN - Why

should we conserve relatively intact Domains of Vernacular Architecture for Future Generations?
SETTLEMENT CORE COMPLEX AND NUCLEAR DEMARCATION WITH
FIBROCONSTRUCTIVE SIGNS - The method of village research
PLANT AND BLOSSOMPILLARS - Symbolic columns in architecture and cult of Ancient Egypt
LIFE TREES AND TREES OF COGNITION - The problem of interpreting the rich sources of the
Ancient Near East
THE HOLY PILLAR ON THE FESTIVE CAR - The Babylonian New Year festival - An ethno
historical comparison (Nepal, Japan)
THE SACRED CITY PILLAR OF BANGKOK AND THE SPIRIT HUTS OF THAILAND. Urban
forms and rural types
ASCENDING TO HEAVEN - The function of ritual pillars in shamanism
FALO - SEMANTIC AND SYMBOLIC ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY - Traditional survivals of
neolithic worldviews on the Italian-Peninsula
RESPLENDENT POLES AND PEST CANDLES. - Semantic architecture in the region around
Salzburg, Austria. A folklore report

AHA8
Research in India

INTRODUCTION - Searching for Semantic Architecture in the cultural manifold of the Indian
Subcontinent
THE SACRED PILLARS OF HINDU TRADITION IN SOME TEMPLES OF SINGAPORE -
Extracts of a travel notebook
MANGO PILLARS AT VILLAGE HOLI FESTIVALS IN MAHARASHTRA - Indicators of pre-
bramahnic times
THE FOUNDER'S HUT - Identification in a tribal village of the Santhals, Orissa
TEMPLES AND SACRED PILLARS IN SOUTHERN INDIA - Are the pillars the prototypes of
temples?
GODDESS LAKSHMI - A BUNDLE OF RICE - Glimpses of an agrarian cult in Orissa
THE TEMPORARY HINDU TEMPLE AND THE CONSTRUCTION AND DECONSTRUCTION
OF ITS PROTOTYPE AT KOVALAM BEACH IN SOUTHERN INDIA - An illustrated travel report
of a surprising Hindu rite
ANTHROPOLOGY OF AWARENESS - An interview in the Indian Architect and Builder, Nov. 1994
 ARCHITECTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY - A short report on a lecture held at the Indira Gandhi
National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi (Reprint from Vihangama, the IGNCA Newsletter)
GLOBAL THEORY VERSUS LOCAL THEORY - Village Anthropology in India: Some Critical
Remarks

AHA9
Synthesis

NATURAL SCIENCES AND THE HUMANITIES, MARKET AND EFFICIENCY - Do Asian

Studies have the Potential to offer us a new Enlightenment?
ASIA - COMPETENCE? - A new bone of contention between Enterprise Culture and Cultural
Sciences
ARCHITECTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY - Structure and Method - an Introduction to Research
THEORY-AND FOR WHOM? - Some notes regarding the construction and function of theories in the
field of vernacular architecture
SOME IMPORTANT REVIEWS AND REPORTS
THE WORLD'S FIRST ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE PEOPLE -
'The Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World' edited by Paul Oliver - A new global
Dictionary of Architectural Ethnology -
HOMO DOMESTICATUS? - P. J. WILSON'S "THE DOMESTICATION OF THE HUMAN
SPECIES" - A methodologically new view on cultural anthropology
MAN THE MODELING SPECIES - A Commented Reveiw
ON THE WAY TO ARCHITECTURAL SCIENCE - Notes on the fifth IASTE Conference 14th -
17th December 1996, University of California, at Berkeley
ARCHISACRA 95 - GLIMPSES INTO THE FUTURE OF THE MIDDLE AGES - Report on
the International Conference of the IUA, Section Poland, at Warsaw
DEBATE ABOUT BRUNO TAUT, JAPANESE SACRED SYMBOLS AND APE
ARCHITECTS - The art historian's architectural theory at the end of its wits - Report on
indications of an educational emergency case at the Institute for the History of Art, Tuebingen,
Germany.
OPEN VIEWS - A Collection of Hypotheses of Architecture- and Habitat Anthropology
CRITICAL VIEWS ON PRESENT HUMANITIES
THE URBAN RURAL DICHOTOMY - Do the Humanities live with historistic speculations? A final
outlook on Megalopolis- problems
ARCHITECTURE, SPACE AND SEDENTARY CULTURE - TOWARDS A GLOBAL
ANTHROPOLOGY - Outlines of a Theory of Cultural Evolution based on the architecturally
demarcated settlement
HOW DID PALEO-SIBERIAN HUNTERS AND GATHERERS LIVE IN THEIR ENVIRONMENT?
Reconstructions regarding spatial, aesthetic and metaphysical aspects of Ainuculture in the North of
Japan (Scientific Publications of the Neanderthal Museum, Mettmann, Germany)
HABITAT RESEARCH TOWARDS A HABITAT ANTHROPOLOGY OR HABITAT THEORY OF
CULTURE
THE CRISIS OF POST-MODERN ANTHROPOLOGY AND NEW APPROACHES TOWARDS AN
OMNIDISCIPLINARY CRITICAL AND SYSTEMATIC 'SCIENCE OF MAN' - Notes related to the
anthropological seminar 'Between Reflexivity and Social Critique - for an Anthropology of the 21st
Century
HISTORY BUBBLE - The urban-rural Dichotomy - Are the disciplinary humanities widely an
Eurocentric historistic construct?
 GALAPAGOS - An Interstellar Correspondence
ANTHROPOLOGY OF HABITAT AND ARCHITECTURE - A new Survey
ARCHITECTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY - An Encyclopedic Contribution to Anthropology
OPENING ARCHITECTURAL HORIZONS TOWARDS RURAL DEPTHS AND TRUTHS -
Arguments against the elitarian construct of the history of architecture
CONCEPTS OF ARCHITCTURAL INTERPRETATION IN THE FRAMEWORK OF RECENT
ETHNOLOGICAL AND ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH INTO THE EVOLUTION OF
ARCHITECTURE

Annex

PRACTICAL ADVICES FOR A PLURIDISCIPLINARY VIEW OF CULTURE

CONFERENCES AND THEIR FUNCTION IN THE BUILDUP OF A NEW PLURIDISCIPLINARY
RESEARCH METHOD
LECTURING IN ARCHITECTURE AND HABITAT ANTHROPOLOGY
ICONIC DATA RELATED TO ARCHITECTURE AND HABITAT ANTHROPOLOGY
SLIDE SHOW OF SEMANTIC ARCHITECTURE OF JAPAN
DOCUMENTARY MOVIE - About ancient ways of building Sanctuaries in Japan
RECOMMENDED LITERATURE
INSTRUCTION MATERIALS FOR ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELDWORK - Manuals and Questionnaires
for cross-cultural Settlement/ Village Studies among Traditional Societies (gatherer/hunters, agrarian)
You need Acrobat Reader for -> PDF FORMATE!)
BABYLONIAN SCIENCE - The Calamity of the Superficial: Critical Notes on Kenneth E. Foote's
bookreview on Architectural Anthropology
THE MYSTERIOUS MUSEUMS GIFT - An anthropological Report between Science and Fiction
(Radio Play)
SOME IMPORTANT ADRESSES- Associations related to Architectural Ethnology, Architectural
Anthropology, Habitat Research
DISCUSSION LIST - Archived from e-mail lists
EVALUATIONS / REPORTS FOR SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS [1], [2]
ON OUR OFFICE

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