Sensuous Architecture [antikvár]

:__ INTRODUCTION: ARCHITECTURE AND EROTICISM "Originally Eros is thought ofos the systematising principle of the genesis of the world, as a child of strength and beauty Eros also addresses the senses, however; physicality and joy. play and pleasure, illusion and dream are the domains of Eros. Those are the wonderful dimensions beyond rationality and functionality which we have largely lost in today's architecture."^ Cunlher Feuerslein 'Architecture, more fully than other art forms, engages the immediacy of our sensory perceptions. The passage of time, light, shadow and transparency; colour phenomena, texture, material and detail all participate in the complete experience of architecture. only architecture can simultaneously awaken all the senses—all the complexities of perception."^ Steven Holl "There is absolutely no doubt that architecture has a sensual, an erotic component—like life itself and the behaviour of people. A sterile conception of architecture, such as has gained ground especially over the last few decades in the federal Republic of Germany, has had the effect of negating—with its technocratic and materialistic viewpoints—what for us human beings is such an eminently important aspect. And not without consequences for our environment, the sheer desolation of which we experience at first hand every day."^ Wolfgang Meisenheimer If these statements from Günther Feuerstein, Steven Holl and Wolfgang Meisenheimer are true, and there is nothing to confute them, why then has there been so little published on architecture and eroticism? Does it have something to do v\/ith deficiencies in the training of our architects?-^ Or with the underestimation of the body and sensuality in industrial and post-industrial societies?^ With taboos, caused by psychological, cultural and religious repression mechanisms? With the hostile attitude towards sexuality shown by most of our Western churches? With the lack of relevance eroticism has to the drafting and execution of architecture? With the almost exclusively rational and commercial character of most architecture? How can architecture deny the human being's most powerful and creative source of energy, particularly when it claims to be an art form? For there is no doubt that eroticism has something to do with sexuality; it represents to a certain extent the cultural aspect of our sexual instincts, whereas sexuality embodies its natural side. The two are capable Opposile page: Georges Rousse, Rome, 1987 of overlapping in myriad ways, and are found in a variety of connotational forms depending upon language and culture. But no matter the variety of forms in which they appear, they always involve the sensual attraction between bodies. It is for this reason that the body constitutes the interface between people and architecture. It is not for nothing that since time immemorial we have referred to the 'build' of a body and the 'body' of a build-ing.6 It is in this sense that our book is intended as a contribution to the present 'body' discussion, from the perspective of architectural history and theory. The aim is to rescue the word 'erotic' from the shady side of life, where it lingers as a result of the current irresponsible tendency to use superlatives in an inflationary sense, as though in the interest of quick money. Where the word has become clichéd through advertising, where "sex shops" mutate into "eros boutiques" and sex for money is generally equated with eroticism, there is still a vague sense of the cultural nature of eroticism, but such a concept wears thin and is ultimately debased when used to serve unworthy causes. In contrast to this trend, our book introduces arguments supported by carefully chosen examples that are designed to encourage architects to find their way back to a language of the senses, which, as lacques Derri-da has demonstrated in philosophical terms, predates our understanding of the world through language.^ But it is precisely this sensual, pre-linguistic experience which gives human beings the sense of well-being enabling them intuitively—accgmpanied by the spirit of discovery and a sense of community—to find their way in the world, to feel at home. It is through the senses, the long-range senses of seeing and hearing and the close-up senses of smell, touch, and taste, but also skin-sensation, pain and pleasure, that the human body perceives and experiences the world. The brain processes sensual experience and then encodes it intellectually and emotionally. From this point of view, eroticism takes place essentially in the mind. That is where bodies and objects are given an erotic connotation and deemed desirable by Philippe Starck, Asahi la Flamme, interior view, Tokyo, 1989 both body and mind. Eroticism allows us to extend all of our sensual feelers, as it were, and the same is true of the interplay of attraction between bodies of architecture and human bodies. When it comes to eroticism, the intellect and the body, the head and gut, are always one. The differences which do occur, depending, of course, on the historical and social context and the psychology of perception, confirm that what we are dealing with here are cultural constructs.» There is an essential link between man's experience of the world through his own body and creativity,9 just as there is between the self's experience of the human body and its discovery of identity and a physical sense of space. During the years in which 1 have been preoccupied with the subject of this book and recording examples of sensual architecture, my experience has paralleled that of Richard Sennett. Sennett was prompted to write his book on cultural history and cultural theory, Flesh and Stone, as the story of the city and the relationship between its buildings and streets and the human body. He felt prompted to tackle the subject because of his