‘The Phenomenology of Architecture: A Short Introduction to Juhani Pallasmaa’

Image: Juhani Pallasmaa. Source: Soppakanuuna, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

‘The Phenomenology of Architecture: A Short Introduction to Juhani Pallasmaa’
Tomoko Tamari

Published in Body & Society 2016, Volume 23, Issue 1

Abstract

This piece focuses on the work of Juhani Pallasmaa who introduces phenomenological aspects of kinesthetic and multisensory perception of the human body into architecture theory. He argues that hand-drawing is a vital spatial and haptic exercise in facilitating architectural design. Through this process, architecture can emerge as the very ‘material’ existence of human embodied ‘immaterial’ emotion, feelings and wisdom. Hence, for Pallasmaa, architecture can be seen as an artistic practice, which entails multisensory and embodied thought in order to establish the sense of being in the world.