The pressing economic, environmental and social crises emanate the need for a redefinition of the dominant views, perspectives and values in the field of architecture. The intellectual production of the last two decades has witnessed an impressive number of new design techniques and conceptual displacements reflecting the dynamic and fluid relation between man and his dwelling space. However, the contemporary market forces are favouring the growth of a star-system in architectural production based on technological innovation, spectacular imagery and formal acrobatics, and are neglecting the social, environmental and moral implications of spatial design. Perhaps the time has come to think anew the possible critical intersections between space and ethos, not only as an answer to the negative consequences of Modernity, but also as a remedy to the negative aspects of globalisation.
The aim of the present collective volume is to enliven the ethical dimensions and dilemmas of architecture as they are shaped within the complexity of our times on two levels: the level of critical and reflective discourse and the level of social and cultural reality occasioned by post-industrial modes of production and new technologies. Thirteen distinguished academics and researchers investigate the complex relations between architecture, space and ethics from divergent and inter-disciplinary perspectives: philosophy, sociology, the humanities, the arts, landscape design, environmental design, urban design and architectural history and theory.
Table of Contents:
Prologue: Rethinking Space and Ethos: Critical Intersections (Kyriaki Tsoukala, Nikolaos-Ion Terzoglou and Charikleia Pantelidou), Part I: Creating Architecture: Between Nature and Culture, Introduction to Part I (Charikleia Pantelidou), 1. The Space of Weather (Jonathan Hill), 2. In Which Way is ‘Ethos’ Revealed in Space? "…Ordine Geometrico Demonstrato" (Konstantinos Moraitis), 3. Heritage Values as Means and Ends of Place Ethics, (Vassilis Ganiatsas), 4. Ethic and Ornament in the Modern and Contemporary Age (Claudio Conenna and Kyriaki Tsoukala), Part II: Rethinking Urban Space: Intentions and Critique, Introduction to Part II (Kyriaki Tsoukala), 5. The Many-Chimneyed Distances: Ethical Prospects of Urban Space (Angeliki Sioli and Alberto Pérez-Gómez), 6. Space and Ethos in the Concept of Access (Charikleia Pantelidou), 7. The Singapore Flyer: View, Movement, Time and Modernity (Iain Borden), 8. Ethic and Space in Contemporary Western Societies (Kyriaki Tsoukala), Part III: Human Condition and Space: Philosophical Orientations and Conceptual Transpositions, Introduction to Part III (Nikolaos-Ion Terzoglou), 9. Architecture and Intellectual Development (John Hendrix), 10. On the Ethical Significance of Space and Shaping Space (Karsten Harries), 11. Architecture as the Receptacle of Mitsein (Nicholas Temple), 12. Towards a New Ethical ‘Paradigm’ in the Creation of Spaces (Nikolaos-Ion Terzoglou), Epilogue: Contemporary Problems and New Directions (Kyriaki Tsoukala, Nikolaos-Ion Terzoglou and Charikleia Pantelidou)
About the Author :
Kyriaki Tsoukala is Professor of Architecture and Socio-Psychology of Space at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
Nikolaos-Ion Terzoglou is Lecturer in Architectural Concepts and Theories at the National Technical University of Athens, Greece.
Charikleia Pantelidou is a Researcher in Architecture and Theories of Space at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
Review :
"Intersections promises by its title to contribute to the reemergence of an ethical critique of architecture. After all, its editors, all teaching in Athens, know firsthand the hardships imposed on a population by harsh austerity measures. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, and research collections." – CHOICE, A. J. Wharton, Duke University
