Talk:Phenomenology (architecture)

Aligning Philosophical Principles of Phenomenology to Architecture Epochs and Specific Examples
Would a structure aligning (perhaps temporally) phenomenology philosophers with eras or epochs of architecture be an interesting way to structure this entry? IDRL (talk) 01:41, 2 March 2023 (UTC)

The article is a little unclear whether it is about architectural phenomenology or the phenomenology of architecture and where the boundaries are between the two are (if they are able to be discretely defined). To me, it seems like it is mostly about the application and study of phenomenological ideas by architects, which would lead me to believe that structuring it under themes of interest would be more helpful for those seeking an overview of the topic.

The article points out that phenomenology became a force in architecture in the latter half of the 20th c so the only "eras of architecture" that have potentially been influenced by phenomenological ideas are post-modernism and whatever constitutes contemporary practice (and possibly the tale end of modernism). Considering that phenomenological inquiry isn't tied to specific stylistic concerns, the ability to stick specific ideas/philosophers to one of the two or three eras seems difficult (people still read Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Bachelard!) and unhelpful. AttemptedEdit (talk) 17:36, 8 April 2023 (UTC)


 * In order to be most informative, it seems the article should show the intersections between phenomenology and architecture - both in theory and in practice? Since Phenomenology (with Husserl) came to the forefront at the same time as the modernist movement in architecture, introducing the topic with that shared, temporal inflection point would be logical. It would contextualize the ideas of both in a shared time. Since both phenomenology and modernism were evolving concurrently, unlike other philosophical associations, it is not easy to find references that delineate that one was informed by the other. Instead, both were being built simultaneously on shared ideas, or an ethos of the time - human-centered experience, perception, what is 'knowable' (even considering transcendental ideas), meaning (what we act on), and value (what is durable). Architecture and Phenomenology are related... mostly aligned to the fourth step in the phenomenological method: 'intersubjective corroboration', which also aligns to the dialectic and the practice in architecture of architectural criticism. IDRL (talk) 22:17, 12 April 2023 (UTC)
 * While this might make for an interesting research article, I do not think that it is appropriate for a Wikipedia page (see no original research). I don't see how architectural modernism is related to the application of phenomenological insight to architecture or vice versa, considering that Moore, the first to deal with the problem, did so near the end of modernism's architectural hegemony. There may have been ideological sympathies between the two, but if the modernists weren't explicitly referencing phenomenological work (or there are scant sources making that claim), I don't think it is appropriate to be using Wikipedia to make that assertion. (I don't disagree that there might be evidence of phenomenologically adjacent thinking in modernist work but that could be addressed in a themes organization fairly easily without making the argument that architecture and phenomenology are methodologically related.)
 * It might be relevant to have a section on phenomenologists' interest in architecture (phenomenology of architecture) that precedes architects' interest in phenomenology (architectural phenomenology), but that should be separate from a discussion of architects that make explicit reference to phenomenological ideas (ex Zumthor), maybe even a separate page. AttemptedEdit (talk) 03:52, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Immersive Design Research Lab
— Assignment last updated by Professor of design (talk) 23:30, 23 April 2023 (UTC)