Chalmers Conferences, Transvaluation: Making the world matter

Knowledge as Revealed in Built Form: Architecture’s Hermeneutic Potentials (Piscinas das Marés in Leça da Palmeira, Álvaro Siza)
Sally Faulder

Last modified: 2015-08-17

Abstract


The work of Álvaro Siza is widely recognised as, not only being sensitive to its context but also, as highlighting and often intensifying elements of its surroundings. This kind of ‘making’, which draws on memory and tradition, reveals elements of its situation and contributes to our understanding of that situation. When framed in this way it becomes apparent that it is a valuable source of knowledge formation in relation to how we ‘make’ (poiesis) and how we ‘live’ (praxis). The potential of architecture to reveal its situation can be realised through the practice of critical architecture, which Jane Rendell describes as ‘a form of design practice that occupies the territory between form and culture’. Through this kind of practice, the transformation of the environment can lead to a greater understanding of ourselves and the world in which we exist. It, therefore, has the potential to ‘transvalue’ research cultures in ways that move away from the false objectification of evaluation-controlled-knowledgeproduction.

Keywords


Siza; situation; interpretation; transformation; reveal

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