philosophy Archives - The Architectural Mythologems https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/tag/philosophy/ PHILOSOPHY AND PRACTICE OF ARCHITECTURE Tue, 24 Mar 2026 21:14:45 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/cropped-TAM-Large-Icon-JPEG-1-1-32x32.jpg philosophy Archives - The Architectural Mythologems https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/tag/philosophy/ 32 32 The Evolution of Aesthetic Judgment https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/the-evolution-of-aesthetic-judgment/ https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/the-evolution-of-aesthetic-judgment/#respond Tue, 24 Mar 2026 15:41:40 +0000 https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/?p=9474 On the Developmental Stages of Aesthetic Judgment Audio Essay: Evolution of Aesthetic Judgment This will be a short study of aesthetics. Of how aesthetic judgment can tell us more than ethical (moral) judgment, and how, unlike ethical judgment, it is not really subject to lying, or at least not to the same extent. Nietzsche says:…

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On the Developmental Stages of Aesthetic Judgment

Audio Essay: Evolution of Aesthetic Judgment


This will be a short study of aesthetics. Of how aesthetic judgment can tell us more than ethical (moral) judgment, and how, unlike ethical judgment, it is not really subject to lying, or at least not to the same extent.

Nietzsche says:

“Beauty will save the world.”

He also says:

“All of life is a weighing of tastes.”

I have noticed that people are prone to lying when it comes to ethical judgment. Very often they lie, or speak from the position of a projected image of what they would like to be. This is understandable, since we all strive for ethical self-improvement, and the same is true of ethical judgment, which develops and refines itself within us. On the other hand, aesthetic judgment is different. The aesthetic standard is something we begin to accumulate very early, and the aesthetic frame of reference we build during adolescence and post-adolescence very often remains unchanged.

While, on the one hand, we all know, or think we know, the difference between good and evil, the difference between the beautiful and the ugly belongs to the realm of “subjective opinion,” and as such is much more sincere, because it gives the individual the possibility of finding something that his soul recognizes as “beautiful.” However, we also know that beauty has its gradations. Words such as kitsch and schund are not inventions of social constructivism, but definitions of temporal beauty — beauty that loses its value over time and is forgotten. The impermanence of trends through time points directly to their relative “beauty,” which is valid only from a particular perspective of time and space.

On the other hand, enduring beauty is something that has survived the tooth of time and still contains aesthetic values that resonate with the observer regardless of temporal or spatial context. Thus, for example, Faust or The Lord of the Rings resonate with audiences many years after their creation and still provide aesthetic consolation.

In what follows, I will try to define the progression of aesthetic judgment as I see it, and as I believe it has transformed through time and through the needs of the soul.

In early childhood, aesthetic judgment is defined through immediate aesthetics, that is, through taste. Children prefer one ice cream or another, one juice or another, one kind of food or another. As the ego and the self-image mature, this judgment expands to clothing and to the impression we give off in the world. During the school years, we begin to care about how we appear to others, and this is the second stage of transformation, one that for many remains in place for the rest of life. Alongside this immediate taste, we also begin to develop a taste for cartoons, which is a higher level of complexity than immediate taste, since it includes the theoretical senses (sight and hearing), although it usually begins with sight, as the first theoretical sense.

As childhood progresses and our interests grow, we move from cartoons to live-action films. This is the next level of complexity, one that necessarily includes the second theoretical sense, hearing, since plot — that is, what happens — becomes the central focus of our interest. Parallel with this interest in “artistic events,” our need for objective events also grows; hence, going out begins. Going out is the next level of complexity, and our aesthetic judgment then usually takes the form of comparing which party is better than another, or how the next party relates to the previous one. This is most pronounced during adolescence.

At a certain point, events in the form of nights out begin to feel repetitive, and we find ourselves searching for the next level of complexity. At that point, literature usually enters the scene. Although artistic in character, literature offers a stereotyping of events and characters. Characters are drawn into their purest stereotypes, while situations are translated into stereotypical patterns present in frequent social mechanics. Literature represents the first leap into true abstraction. When I say “true abstraction,” I mean the truth of reality that is not empirically visible, but can be understood and recognized exclusively through the intellect. Film, music, painting, theater, opera, ballet, and so on also offer this stereotyping, but in my view it remains most visible in literature. The additional mechanical act of “reading text” is somehow fundamental for the faculty that translates one sign into another — a word or a letter into an idea. This is, among other things, the first aesthetic leap between the young mind and the mature one. The collective, for the most part, never makes this leap and remains for life within the domain of aesthetic trend.

Once stereotypes become intelligible as autonomous wholes, we arrive at a point where we need a higher pattern that will bind stereotypes together, or at least connect similar groups of stereotypes. Here we come to the final aesthetic leap: the leap from stereotype to archetype. From story into religion, philosophy, and myth. Into impersonal collective events that we may call the symbolic image of the world.

Aesthetic judgment matures from the completely personal and immediate — the sense of taste — into a fully abstract, impersonal ideational configuration. From the individual toward the universal.

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Emptiness as the Center https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/emptiness-as-the-center/ https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/emptiness-as-the-center/#respond Mon, 23 Jun 2025 15:00:20 +0000 https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/?p=8870 Srpska verzija / Serbian Version Audio Essay: Emptiness as the Center The center is a crucial element of every composition. The central motif, the central pillar, the center of focus. In everyday language, when we try to explain the concept of a center, we are guided by the logic of position. The center is a location.…

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Srpska verzija / Serbian Version


Audio Essay: Emptiness as the Center


The center is a crucial element of every composition. The central motif, the central pillar, the center of focus. In everyday language, when we try to explain the concept of a center, we are guided by the logic of position. The center is a location. However, that same center can also be explained through its content. In terms of content, the center differs drastically from what surrounds it. It is not merely in the middle – it is different.

It is precisely this difference of the center – its ontological, not just geometrical nature – that this text attempts to articulate. Through examples from spiritual practice, psychological dynamics, and philosophical thought, we will explore the idea of the center not as a place, but as emptiness – and not just any emptiness, but a positive, functional, and ontological one.


Something about Silent Retreats and Depression – and How They Relate to the Center

On Silent Retreats

The concept of a silent retreat intrigued me from the very beginning. I first encountered it more intimately through the lectures of Alan Watts, where he mentions Hindus who abandoned everyday life, went into the forest and solitude, and practiced active forgetting of language to reconnect with their own (instinctive) nature. He describes how these people killed off their “individuality” and functioned entirely spontaneously, fully surrendering to the inertia of context. Although I cannot fully grasp this idea, I can to some extent identify with that state of consciousness.

Years ago, when I first learned that language is not acquired like other sciences, but rather that we are preprogrammed for linguistic adoption, I had an epiphanic realization: that without language, I would fully immerse into my animal being. My assumption at the time was that, stripped of language, I would be reduced to basic instinctual impulses – hunger, fear, sexuality, primal movement.


Silence Before Meaning

Pre-conceptual thought, or the “house of being,” as Heidegger would call it, is the ontological site that precedes all language. It is a state of consciousness that is unarticulated, unexpressed in words, and thus hard to describe. It’s difficult to speak about this “house of being” because it is, in essence, non-contentual in the classical sense – it contains no images or words, only the potential of form.

Plato, in his theory of ideas, mentions the “Idea of Differentiation.” This idea is the foundational law by which things, in their deepest structure, differ from one another. On the conscious level of the ego, we perceive this difference through comparative analysis of content. But Plato would argue that the “Idea of Differentiation” is not necessarily content-based, but logos-based – that it exists beneath existence, before manifestation. It doesn’t distinguish by what, but by how.


Silence as Method

In my view, silent retreats trigger something I would call artificial depression – and in doing so, they help people. As strange as that may sound, I will try to explain what I mean.

Depression as a Corrective

As I’ve moved through life, I’ve reached one conclusion. Depression – and here I don’t mean clinical depression, but the common, existential kind we all face from time to time – emerges as a consequence of poorly constructed systems of value and meaning. As human beings, we have a natural need to orient our existence through a value system. However, being imperfect, we often make mistakes in that delegation. Depression arises as a corrective mechanism.

In other words, depression is the negation of a value system. When we are depressed, nothing holds meaning or value. We become indifferent to both the external and internal world. I believe this is how the subconscious protects the whole from the errors of consciousness. When consciousness loses orientation, the subconscious revolts – radically:
“If you cannot establish values correctly, I (the subconscious) will return you to ground zero – where nothing has value, and nothing has meaning.”

That moment of total meaninglessness is what I call the starting point. In that emptiness, new meaning can be built. Without it – no true reconstruction is possible.


How Do Silent Retreats Lead to This State?

At the core of the silent retreat is non-linguistic experience. The idea is not to speak with others, not to write anything down, and – as much as possible – not to talk to ourselves either. Since our value delegation is primarily linguistic, the silent retreat introduces a complete counterpoint – a non-linguistic marking of reality.

What happens then?

Individuals begin to feel mood shifts, bodily sensations, spontaneous impulses, emotions without narrative. Neuroses, or repressed complexes, which were previously fenced off by language and thus kept under control, are now unleashed. Language no longer acts as a barrier – and the repressed comes to consciousness. These manifestations are not necessarily pleasant – often disturbing – but they are liberating.

The experience that follows is cathartic. The silent retreat, as a non-linguistic mechanism, provides a moment of release from the rigid constructs language often cements. Complexes can then emerge, no longer as unspoken problems, but as living beings, bodily experiences, images, intuitions.
The individual, in this non-linguistic space, leaves an empty center of focus – like a vessel. That emptiness is not nihil – but a functional ontological emptiness. Something ready to receive what has not yet arrived.


The Configuration of Central Value

A central value must have a negating nature. It must be an antithesis to everything previously held as thesis. Only in this way does the center become dynamic. And movement is life (Leonardo da Vinci).

Movement is exactly what is lacking in depression. Depression is a state of stagnation, of freezing. And a static center – whether it’s an ideology, goal, or dogma – creates a monolithic structure that limits the soul’s needs.

“Art for art’s sake,” Kant would say.

Regime art, in contrast, is impoverished political propaganda. Within it, there is nothing unpredictable, nothing unexpected, nothing magical. And the phenomenon of the soul, if it is to be likened to anything, resembles an artwork more than a political doctrine.

Corrective truth, as Heidegger would call it.

Homo Universalis, said Weininger.

Thesis and antithesis, as method.

If the center contains an intuited thesis – then truth demands an antithesis as correction. Dynamism is the ontology of the center.


Identity Through Negation

A child builds identity through negation:

“I am not my exterior,”
“I am not my parents,”
“I am not the objects I possess,”
“I am not my finger.”

Therefore, I am what remains – and that “something” I don’t know how to name. That is positive emptiness.

An adult, however, affirms their weaknesses – acknowledges errors and attempts to integrate them. They hope correction is possible in a new context. And that too is positive emptiness – a place for a future whole.

Such systems of negation confirm Heidegger, Weininger, Jung, and Buddha. Negation, when directed toward synthesis, can be a system of construction.

The spider’s web illustrates this vividly. A series of threads woven into a system, with emptiness at its center. That emptiness is not absence – but an ontologically active center. The point where the spider sits is not semantic – it means nothing – yet it holds the structure. It is an anchor point.


The Burden of Meaning

“Man must move between meaning and meaninglessness like a snake.” – Vladeta Jerotić

Guided by this quote, we can conclude that even meaning has its antithesis. Those who feel an inner need to bring all aspects of life under the umbrella of “meaning” know how burdensome that need can become. Meaning tends toward unification. It tries to subsume everything into one. This process leads toward ideas, but simultaneously drifts away from the material world, from motion, from everyday reality.

This isn’t necessarily bad – but it mustn’t become the everyday home.


Conclusion: The Center as Sacred Unknowing

The central element is not only positional but also semantic.

The irony is that this semantics is not something concrete – but a negation of semantics itself.

Sacred unknowing, the theologians would say.

Anti-knowledge, said Philemon.

The center as functional emptiness – the beginning of all meaning.

Not a place of dogma, but of openness.

Not meaning – but space for meaning.

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Metaphysics of Space https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/metaphysics-of-space/ https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/metaphysics-of-space/#respond Sat, 08 Mar 2025 14:31:33 +0000 https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/?p=8715 Audio Essay: Metaphysics of Space On the ontology of the existing: Metaphysical – Physical – Metaphysical This is the template of Existence. The metaphysical is both the cause and the effect. The physical is the bridge between two metaphysical realms. It is an instrument for crossing over. We can think about these instances of Cause and…

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Audio Essay: Metaphysics of Space


On the ontology of the existing:

Metaphysical – Physical – Metaphysical

This is the template of Existence.

The metaphysical is both the cause and the effect. The physical is the bridge between two metaphysical realms. It is an instrument for crossing over.

We can think about these instances of Cause and Effect in the context of two Forces. One that pushes us and the other that pulls us. One that deconstructs and fragments, and the other that distills and reconfigures (conceptualizes).

In a simplified sense, the pushing force can be thought of as negative (in terms of architecture, moving away from external negative influences), while the pulling force is positive (in terms of architecture, the values we aspire to).

Architecture as a Metaphysical Idea

From caves to skyscrapers, from agricultural fields to landscape design, architectural practice has undergone significant transformations. What initially served to protect us from external influences – the Cave – has now become an exponent of our public (or private) Persona – the House – Apartment.

Although the prevailing idea is that architecture is a practice primarily reserved for the “privileged” – historically institutions, churches, or the ruling class – because they were the only ones who could afford it, the truth is that, to a greater or lesser extent, we are all architects. Each of us has an inherent need for aesthetic space. The same can be said of philosophy. While we might argue that not everyone is a chemist, biologist, or physicist, we are all, in some way, philosophers.

Each of us seeks something more from a space than merely pragmatic or utilitarian functions. We look for stimulation, inspiration, a sense of intimacy, a sense of identity, or protection from the “negative” influences of the chaotic outside world. Space tends to be purposeful. However, how does this purposefulness shift in meaning when we move beyond its most banal (initial) functions and approach transcendental interpretations – or at least comparative inquiries.

Architecture and Linguistics

Just like the genesis and evolution of language, architecture has followed a similar path. Language moved from individual terms (Structuralism – de Saussure), through syntax (generative-transformational linguistics – Chomsky), to discourse. From the smallest meaningful unit to the largest interconnected system. Architecture evolves the same way. From simple huts, through ornamental cathedrals – seen as a series of micro-ornaments – to buildings as macro-ornaments. This type of progression appears across many scientific disciplines. It also exists within artistic movements. Architecture simply follows the natural spirit of development.

Claude Lévi-Strauss explained the development of language as follows:

First, we linguistically label what is dangerous to us. After that, what is useful to us, and finally, what has no significance to us.

A similar development can be observed in architecture. In the beginning, we built simple shelters – as basic protection from the elements. Then we introduced decorative elements into these shelters. Through aesthetic symbols, we began to express our ideals, desires, and visions. Eventually, architectural space became an arena for creative play and conceptual exploration. Space ceased to be purely functional. It became a medium of expression. Through its form, we began to think about the world, ourselves, and our place in the universe.

Architecture and the Psyche

Compartmentalization is a term that originally emerged from architectural practice. Separated parts of a larger system that can function autonomously without mutual influences. If one part collapses, the other remains intact. This is a defense mechanism that, in its ontological definition, is conservative, not progressive. Although the term is architectural, it found greater application in psychological practice, particularly Freudian. What problems does this approach create?

When parts become separated from the whole, they begin to oppose each other as a result of the desire for sovereignty. This is most visible in education. In many schools, especially universities, we can observe how subjects stand almost opposed to each other. Professors will defend their department as the most important to the point of denying others. This creates an inner conflict that does not lead to a common goal. Recognizing natural connections between subjects is essential for the growth of knowledge. But compartmentalization goes against this, and therefore becomes a major obstacle.

A similar problem has occurred in architecture. By the definition of aesthetic epochs, we have reached the stage of the “macro-ornament” – where the entire object is one ornament, one message, one idea. However, its parts no longer relate through a deeper grammar. They are only stylistically connected into a visual shell. That shell is merely form, not meaning. Aesthetics have become ethics. Form has replaced content.

In the majority of cases, juxtaposition has remained the only rhetorical figure through which architecture is explained.

Room Analysis and Their Metaphysical Causes

Every room, every space we occupy, carries a certain metaphysical meaning far beyond its physical functions. It’s no wonder that in the psychoanalysis of dreams, rooms-spaces are taken as representatives of parts of the psyche. Rooms are reflections of internal states and symbolic messages that people unconsciously or consciously embed into the space. They function as physical forms of our thoughts, needs, and emotions, and their configurations can have deep consequences on our psychological state and inner world.

For example, the living room may symbolize social interaction, gathering, and sharing experiences. But it is also a place that projects our image to the outside world – how we want others to see us. In that sense, the living room is the space through which our public Persona is expressed, while the bedroom, in contrast, represents the inner self, a place of intimacy, regeneration, and introspection. Symbolically, the bedroom can be associated with retreating into the unconscious, similar to returning to the state of sleep and inner dialogue.

The kitchen, as the center of daily activities, becomes a space of transformation – a place where raw materials become something new, where physical food symbolizes the creative process. The kitchen is a metaphorical space of alchemy, the transformation of ideas into action. Similarly, hallways and passages can be seen as transitional phases of life, connecting different aspects of our being and moving from one state of consciousness to another. Hallways are bridges.

In conclusion:

Architecture is a metaphysical mirror. Just as rooms reflect our inner worlds, so too is every architectural object a result of the evolution of society, culture, and the individual. Space becomes not just a physical shelter but a medium for expressing (exploring) our philosophy of life, our relationship to the world, and ourselves. In this synthesis of the material and immaterial lies the true power of architecture – not only to shape our world but to guide us through it, connecting us to the deeper layers of existence.

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The Negation of Historicity https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/the-negation-of-historicity/ https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/the-negation-of-historicity/#respond Fri, 07 Mar 2025 11:46:40 +0000 https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/?p=8711 Audio Essay: The Negation of Historicity Further analysis, however quirky, has helped me understand (personal) relationship with work in a broader sense. I hope that the following interpretation may also assist others in finding a different perspective toward their work, one that is not solely defined by basic ideas. This interpretation mainly refers to the…

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Audio Essay: The Negation of Historicity


Further analysis, however quirky, has helped me understand (personal) relationship with work in a broader sense. I hope that the following interpretation may also assist others in finding a different perspective toward their work, one that is not solely defined by basic ideas.

This interpretation mainly refers to the movie Skyfall, though it is likely applicable to all Bond films.

Archetypal Patterns

Bond as a Man of Action – The Hero Archetype

Bond represents the archetype of the Hero, always ready to face dangers and moral dilemmas. His story in Skyfall portrays a fall, redemption, and return, passing through physical and inner conflicts, which makes him a complex hero. Action and instinct drive him through his missions, but this film adds depth to his character, making him a hero who faces his own limitations.

M – The Wise Old Woman – The Great Mother Archetype

M symbolizes the Wise Old Woman and the Great Mother, providing Bond with guidance and protection. As an authority figure and moral compass, she is someone Bond respects. Her death in the film has a strong emotional impact on Bond, as he loses a key maternal figure, forcing him to take on greater responsibility.

Death and Rebirth – The Transformation Archetype

In Skyfall, Bond undergoes the archetype of Transformation – his “death” at the beginning and eventual return symbolize a metaphorical rebirth. This cycle leads him through physical and emotional renewal, reexamining his identity and role, which is a crucial phase on the hero’s journey.

Reaching His Goals Mostly Through Women – The Anima Archetype

Bond’s relationship with women reflects his Anima, the feminine aspect of his soul. Women like Séverine often serve as catalysts for his actions, but they are also key to balancing his emotions and rational world. They open space for his introspective side, making them vital to his inner development.

The Shadow Archetype

Silva, the main antagonist represents Bond’s Shadow. He is a dark version of Bond, someone who has gone through a similar process but has chosen a different path. Silva personifies Bond’s inner fears – what he could become if he lost faith in MI6 and its authorities. As Bond’s shadow, Silva highlights the dangers of individualism without moral boundaries – the Lucifer (fallen angel) symbol.

The Father Archetype

MI6 and its institutional framework act as the father archetype, providing Bond with direction and tasks, offering him structure within which he operates. While MI6’s authority may sometimes appear cold and distant, it symbolizes a paternal figure guiding Bond through his mission, even when their relationship is strained.

Analysis of James Bond and What We Can Learn from His Relationship to Work

What caught my attention about James Bond (aside from all the well-known moments) is his relationship to his work. More precisely, the nature of his job, which differs from that of most people. The essence of his work is not about acquiring material wealth, which we can say is the nature of almost all jobs. For James Bond, his home or wealth does not matter. As a member of the secret service and a top operative, everything is provided for him. What retains importance is the Suit of Armor (his suit and watch) and his cars. Both can be seen as serving the function of defining his Persona. The suit is an exponent of a uniform (a certain mode of functioning), his watch represents precision, while the car signifies thought – its speed and elegance. These gadgets have their small additions and applications, but the core idea is deepening his purposefulness.

Bond’s Nature in Relation to Himself – The Negation of Historicity

Bond lacks historicity. He is not nostalgic in any way. Historicity, in his case, would be a crutch that would cause him to stumble. His conditional movement is directed straight toward the future. More precisely, he receives direction from MI6, the exponent of the Good (metaphysical, collectively supraconscious). This is a crucial point; Bond’s directions do not come from his personal consciousness (personal definitions of good), but from something greater, something universal. This idea is made explicit in Skyfall when Silva offers him the opportunity to “choose their own missions,” which Bond naturally declines. Although MI6 is depicted in the film as morally ambivalent (or even morally displaced), from an ordinary observer’s perspective, Bond still recognizes it as a higher moral authority.

This Good comes with collateral damage and has no sympathy for individual sacrifice, as long as the mission is accomplished – a reference to God (the metaphysical), who executes His Plan regardless of individual suffering. Bond is often in conflict with MI6 (the metaphysical) for this very reason: its lack of empathy toward individual suffering. His concern for the individual is what makes him human.

This type of conflict is something we all experience to such an extent that we often doubt the “authority” and its goals – just as we might doubt God’s plan. Skepticism is a healthy stance, and it must exist. However, faith must also exist, a faith that follows this “Greater Good,” even if we do not fully understand it.

Note: Suspension of disbelief – we interpret MI6 as it is portrayed in the film, as an objectively “greater good,” and not as a human construct full of anomalies and personal pretensions, as it probably is in reality.

On the Conditionals of This Kind of Work Relationship

Ancient Greek philosophers argued that one must rise above existential problems to engage in philosophy (higher matters). One must finish with the “lower” to deal with the “higher.”

That is exactly what James Bond does. He has finished with material accumulation and serves exclusively the “greater good.” This way of functioning puts him in an instrumental position, opposite to the autistic urges for repetition, ergo, security. His life is on the line at every moment, and each day could be his last. At the core of his actions is almost absolute Action, without contemplation or reflection on past experiences. There is no nostalgia, no desire for the old days or past events. Each day is a New Sun (Heraclitus), taken to the limit of the absolute. Thought (contemplation or conclusions) is reduced to almost instinctual (intuitive) action. He doesn’t need to reflect and conclude, he knows. Reflection is part of analysis (the material), intuitive guidance is part of instinct (the metaphysical, or already understood – conceptualized – part of a larger pattern that is not deduced but is self-evident). Intellectual muscle memory. Bond is not historical, even in thought. His identity does not derive from a historical mosaic of experiences but from active aspects that lead to his Goal, and that goal is established by an “other” – the Collective Supraconscious – the Good.

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Thesis and Anti-thesis | Interpretations of Basic Mandalas https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/thesis-and-anti-thesis/ https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/thesis-and-anti-thesis/#respond Fri, 03 May 2024 16:07:46 +0000 https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/?p=8088 Audio Essay: Thesis and Anti-thesis Freedom vs. Destiny It’s easy to fall into the trap and assume that the opposite of freedom is an empty lack of freedom or imprisonment. “The soul is free when it is educated.” – M. Eckhart, Goethe On the opposite side of freedom lies a choice. The Choice is what ends…

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Audio Essay: Thesis and Anti-thesis


Freedom vs. Destiny

It’s easy to fall into the trap and assume that the opposite of freedom is an empty lack of freedom or imprisonment.

“The soul is free when it is educated.” – M. Eckhart, Goethe

On the opposite side of freedom lies a choice. The Choice is what ends freedom and reduces it to actualization. Freedom is potential (numerous) choices, and Destiny (non-freedom) is one choice.

We make this choice, or the external makes the choice for us. The illusion is of the individual assuming otherwise.

The drawing of the simplest mandala is the most illustrative example of the relationship between freedom and Destiny, potential and actualisation.

Mandala 1

A circle describing a point. The circle is an infinite series of points (choices), or an exponent of freedom, while the point in the middle represents the “singularity” of Destiny, or as Jung says, the Self.

Ref: Jung’s autobiographical sketches of daily Mandalas


Mandala 2

A circle cut in half (into two semicircles). In this mandala, the separation of the whole by the Center line is shown. Two sets, thesis and antithesis. This mandala in its simplest interpretation represents three points, connected by a straight line (alignment of three points). Thesis, Antithesis, and the Relation between. The point of relation (Center) is an exponent of the Self and the basic reference point based on which thesis and antithesis are aligned (recognized). This Mandala is the first step in the coordinate determination of the Self and the first step towards Destiny Choice.


Mandala 3

A circle describing a point, and connected by a spiral. We all want to reach the Center, and we reach it through “freedoms”. Freedoms decrease, or “purify”, in cycles, and gravitate towards the Center. The Center is the Goal and the final step.

Freedoms push, the Center pulls. Ref: Terence McKenna and the theory of time (novum).


Maturity of consciousness is needed for Destiny. Infantile awareness, as the predominant collective neurosis, complicates this form of awareness. In a Biblical sense, the Devil is dressed in “new” garments and presents himself as the most beautiful angel, freedom.


Comment:

Free will and multiverse movies

We can often interpret movies as compensatory manifestations of our collective (or personal) shortcomings. The era of superhero movies portrays a picture of individual impotence, which is somewhat understandable due to the time we live in. However, multiverse movies provide a more interesting compensation. Compensation for the lack of free will. By depicting endless arrays of potential scenarios and possible realities, they relativize the importance of singularity behind phenomena but provide the comfort of indefiniteness (freedom).

Individual state – How Human is greater than the Cosmos

The collective existence of indefiniteness is permissible to the Cosmos, which measures its story in billions of years, and its development has practically just begun, however, this is not a good position for the individual.

Our insignificance in years, on the other hand, offers us a solution.

Every story consists of three constituents: Beginning, Middle, and End. These constituents make up the story of the Cosmos as much as they make up the story of a single Human. Although our experience of the Cosmos is of something almost Infinite, although we feel practically frightened by this magnitude, there exists in us another feeling of greatness standing as opposition to this fear. That greatness is the greatness of hypothetical inner infinity, which is as great as the external infinity, only its miniature representation.

Both infinities stand in a parallel, balanced relationship. However, while the external Infinity will potentially need hundreds of billions of years to reach the “Middle” of its Story, inner Infinity has the advantage of accelerated development.

Wrong unit of measurement (reference)

“So the World works, so will I,” is the basic fallacy. The “World” has time. The World is part of the Cosmic narrative.

The entirety of our story (beginning – middle – end) is written and played in about 100 years. All chapters, all transformations, all conceptualizations, all actualizations, all archetypal representations.

The differences between the beginning and the middle, as well as the middle and the end, are evident. These are differences between the young and the mature, the mature and the wise. It is also evident that the world is still in the infancy of its teenage years. This child is not an ethical-aesthetic norm, but merely a reference to the stage of development. A reference to the collective antithesis, which is at the beginning of development and will need much more time to mature.

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THE EIDETIC DICTIONARY https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/eidetic-dictionary-how-to-write-in-architectural-language/ https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/eidetic-dictionary-how-to-write-in-architectural-language/#respond Wed, 04 Jan 2023 12:50:39 +0000 https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/?p=6520 Srpska verzija / Serbian Version A NORMATIVE GRAMMAR OF ARCHITECTURAL EPISTEMOLOGY A contextual framework for understanding architecture as psychic reality Audio Essay: THE EIDETIC DICTIONARY WHO IS THIS FOR? This treatise is intended for architects, theorists, and students who have transcended the understanding of architecture as a utilitarian discipline of shelter-building. It is intended for…

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Srpska verzija / Serbian Version


A NORMATIVE GRAMMAR OF ARCHITECTURAL EPISTEMOLOGY

A contextual framework for understanding architecture as psychic reality


Audio Essay: THE EIDETIC DICTIONARY


WHO IS THIS FOR?

This treatise is intended for architects, theorists, and students who have transcended the understanding of architecture as a utilitarian discipline of shelter-building. It is intended for those who understand space as an ontological field – a medium through which human consciousness is structured. If you are seeking a methodology that merges engineering precision with Jungian psychology and Platonic metaphysics, the Eidetic Dictionary is your operational tool.

IMPORTANT NOTE: ON THE SCOPE OF THE SYSTEM

Before we proceed, we must establish a clear epistemological boundary. The Eidetic Dictionary does not pretend to be a final, closed “theory of everything.” It represents an initial normative framework – a necessary starting point for one who is just stepping onto the path of mature design.

This system serves as a foundation for the architect who wishes to expand their practice beyond the boundaries of mere materiality and accept architecture as psychic reality. This, therefore, is not the end of your research nor a dogmatic rulebook; this is a contextual beginning and the alphabet with which one learns to articulate the deeper layers of space.


INTRODUCTION: THE CRISIS OF MEANING AND THE RETURN TO THE SYMBOL

Contemporary architecture finds itself in a state of semantic entropy. Having lost its connection with the transcendent and the archetypal, objects have become “mute,” reduced to economic viability and aesthetic exhibitionism. However, in the philosophy of The Architectural Mythologems studio, we start from a fundamental stance: Architecture is a Living Symbol. It is not a passive stage set for human life, but an active psychological agent that shapes our behavior, emotions, and cognition.

To regain the ability to articulate meaning in space, we have developed the Eidetic Dictionary.

This system is not a stylistic manual. It is an epistemological framework – a way of organizing knowledge about the world. The term “eidetic” (from the Greek eidos) refers to the essential form, the idea that precedes materialization. Our task is alchemical: to translate invisible, metaphysical truths (Ideas) into visible, tactile structure (Matter).

This process requires a methodology that unfolds in three phases:

  1. Ontological Selection (Vocabulary)
  2. Syntactic Knotting (Grammar)
  3. Phenomenological Transformation (Experience)

I. VOCABULARY: BINARY OPPOSITIONS AND KNOTTING DUALITY

The universe operates through the dynamics of opposites. Energy arises only when there is a potential difference. In architecture, space gains definition exclusively through Binary Oppositions. Our system recognizes no “gray zones” of compromise, but strives for what we call in our projects Knotting Duality (Knotting Duality) – the active, tense embrace of two primary principles.

Our operational dictionary rests on two archetypal pillars:

A. THE POLE OF THE SQUARE (LOGOS AND STRUCTURE)

The Square is the geometric manifestation of the Rational. It does not exist in untouched nature; it is the exclusive product of the human mind.

  • Cosmological Aspect: The Square is Earth. It is stable, heavy, measurable. It is the Archetype of the Ark – a safe, artificial creation floating on the waters of chaos.
  • Psychological Aspect (Animus): The Square represents the Law, the Father, the Social Contract. It provides security through limitation.
  • Architectural Application: The orthogonal grid, the wall, the column, the plan. It is the force that parcels out infinite space and makes it comprehensible. Without the square, civilization is impossible; the world would be an impassable jungle.

B. THE POLE OF THE CIRCLE (EROS AND FLOW)

The Circle is the geometric manifestation of the Intuitive and the Natural. It is a line with no beginning and no end, symbolizing eternity and cyclicality.

  • Cosmological Aspect: The Circle is Heaven and Water. It is fluid, changeable, elusive. It is the Archetype of the Flood – the force that dissolves boundaries and returns everything to primordial unity.
  • Psychological Aspect (Anima): The Circle represents Emotion, the Mother, the Unconscious. It provides care through encompassment.
  • Architectural Application: The rotunda, the dome, the vault, the meander. It is the force that allows space to move and breathe. Without the circle, civilization is a prison; the world would be a sterile grate.

Methodological Imperative: The architect does not choose one of these two principles. He is a mediator. His task is to use the rigidity of the Square (Structure) to channel the energy of the Circle (Flow).


II. SYNTAX: THE GRAMMAR OF SPATIAL RELATIONS

The mere presence of forms does not create meaning; meaning arises from their mutual relationship. Just as subject and predicate form a sentence in language, in the Eidetic Dictionary, geometric relationships form a narrative.

We define three fundamental syntactic models:

1. INSCRIPTION (HIERARCHY AND ESSENCE)

This is a relationship of containment. One form resides within another, defining the ontological core of the space.

  • The Ghost in the Machine (Circle in a Square): When an irrational, sacral, or natural core (Circle) is placed inside a rational, protective shell (Square). This is the typology of the Temple or the Atrium. Here, logic serves emotion; walls exist to guard the void in the center.
  • Consciousness in Chaos (Square in a Circle): When a rational element is placed within an organic environment. This is the archetype of the Island or the City. Here, human order is established within natural entropy.

2. INTERACTION AND DEFORMATION (DYNAMICS OF FORCE)

Space is not static; it is a field of forces. When two principles collide, a deformation occurs that tells a story of influence.

  • Logos Disciplines Eros: Straight lines cut or channel organic forms (e.g., river flow regulation or an urban grid cutting through a hill). This suggests the domination of will over nature.
  • Eros Softens Logos: Organic forces exert pressure on the orthogonal grid, bending it (e.g., the movement of people deforming planned paths). This suggests the adaptation of the system to life.
  • Minimal Grammar: Often, a minimal shift is sufficient—a slight curvature of a wall or a tangential touch—to change the entire character of a space from rigid to hospitable.

3. SYNTHESIS (HEGELIAN DIALECTICS)

The ultimate goal of every architectural intervention is The Whole. This is not a compromise, but a new quality.

  • Thesis: Square (Structure).
  • Antithesis: Circle (Event).
  • Synthesis: An architectural organism that is both stable and fluid. This is the moment when the user no longer notices the boundary between inside and outside, between themselves and the space.

III. PHENOMENOLOGY: ADVANCED ARTICULATION TECHNIQUES

Once we master the basic grammar, we move on to “stylistics” – advanced techniques with which we shape perception and deepen the experience of the user. These are the tools used to build mythologems.

1. PHANTASMAGORIC SYNTAX (SPACE OF TRANSITION)

In our work on projects such as bridges or museums, we use the concept of Phantasmagoric Syntax. This is a moment in space where the prevailing rules of reality (gravity, orthogonality) are suspended.

  • Mechanism: The gradual dissolution of the solid edges of the Square into the oneiric, fluid forms of the Circle.
  • Goal: A cognitive shift. The goal is for the user to “wake up” from the automatism of everyday life. These are spaces of liminality – thresholds between worlds (the conscious and the unconscious), where architecture functions as an inductor of an altered state of consciousness.

2. THE IDEOGRAM OF THE FOREST (RHYTHM AND DEMATERIALIZATION)

One of the most powerful tools of the Eidetic Dictionary is Rhythm. Through strict, mathematical repetition of vertical elements (straight lines), we achieve a paradoxical effect: matter becomes transparent.

  • Phenomenon: Just like in a dense forest, the individual tree (element) ceases to be important. The eye stops focusing on obstacles and begins to perceive the atmosphere.
  • Psychological Effect: Loss of ego. Rhythm nullifies hierarchy and introduces the observer into a meditative state of merging with the whole. This is architecture that is not looked at, but felt as a frequency.

3. THE SPIRAL AND INDIVIDUATION (THE TEMPORAL DIMENSION)

If we let the table of oppositions flow through time, we get the Spiral. In theory, the Spiral is the geometric equivalent of Jung’s process of Individuation.

  • Concept: The Spiral reconciles the linearity of the Square (progress) and the cyclicality of the Circle (repetition). It is an evolutionary movement toward the Center.
  • Application: The use of spiral ramps or concentric organization of the floor plan is not an aesthetic whim. It is a tool for guiding the user through a process of transformation. Movement toward the center of the building becomes a physical metaphor for movement toward the center of the Self.

IV. METAPHYSICS OF THE VOID: THE CENTER THAT TURNS THE WHEEL

Western architectural tradition suffers from horror vacui (fear of empty space), obsessively filling space with objects. The Eidetic Dictionary, relying on Eastern philosophy and our essays on “Emptiness as the Center,” teaches the opposite: The Void is the most important form.

Take the analogy of a wheel: it is made of spokes and a rim, but what makes it useful is the empty hole in the middle where the axle goes.

In architecture:

  • Walls (Square) and vaults (Circle) are there only to define the Void.
  • That void is not “nothing”; it is Potential.
  • The architect does not design walls; he designs the silence between them. It is precisely in that silence, in that interspace between Thesis and Antithesis, that Man resides.

CONCLUSION: THE ARCHITECT AS MYTHMAKER

What, ultimately, is the goal of applying the Eidetic Dictionary?

The goal is not the creation of “beautiful” architecture, for beauty is a subjective category. The goal is the creation of True architecture – space that is in harmony with the ontological principles of reality and the psychological structure of man.

Through the Eidetic Dictionary, we transform practice:

  • From engineers, we become Encoders of Meaning.
  • From builders, we become Guardians of Archetypes.
  • From decorators, we become Creators of Mythologems.

We live in an age of fragmentation, where Reason and Emotion, Man and Nature are violently separated. Architecture has an ethical duty to reassemble these fragments. Every line you draw on paper is a decision: are you building a prison or a sanctuary? Are you making noise or music?

The Eidetic Dictionary is your instrument. Learn to play it.


APPENDIX: LITERATURE AND RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY

To fully understand the concepts of the Eidetic Dictionary, it is necessary to consult the source material upon which our methodology rests. The following works represent the theoretical foundation for anyone wishing to explore the intersection of architecture, psychology, and metaphysics.

“The Red Book” – C.G. Jung

A book written by the Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst between 1914 and 1930. It is a record of Jung’s psychological and spiritual development and contains his ideas on the nature of the psyche. It was not published until 2009, many years after Jung’s death. It is considered a central work in Jungian psychology and is often studied by scholars and practitioners of Jungian analysis, particularly in the context of understanding archetypes and individuation.

“Modern Art 1770-1970-2000” – Giulio Carlo Argan & Achille Bonito Oliva

A renowned book written by two leading Italian art historians. It covers modern art’s chronological and artistic development and comprises two autonomous studies with different methodologies and ideological approaches. It is crucial for understanding the evolution of form and the aesthetic upheavals that shaped today’s perception of space.

“History of Beauty” – Umberto Eco

A reflection on the cultural history of the concept of beauty, its evolution, and its significance, as well as its historical and cultural meanings. The author analyzes the different forms of beauty that have been valued and developed through different historical periods, cultures, and artistic movements.

“A Theory of Semiotics” – Umberto Eco

A seminal work written by the prominent semiotician, philosopher, and literary critic. It is considered a classic in the field of semiotics, providing a comprehensive and systematic approach to the study of signs and symbols and their role in communication. The book is an vital resource for architects interested in understanding how space “speaks” and conveys meaning.

“Syntactic Structures” – Noam Chomsky

A book by the American linguist, philosopher, and social critic. The book lays the foundation for the study of transformational-generative grammar, which Chomsky developed in the 1950s and 1960s. For our system, this is key to understanding how a limited set of rules can generate an infinite number of variations in language, and by analogy, in architecture.

“Gradoslovar” – Bogdan Bogdanović

A book written by the Serbian architect, town planner, and theoretician. The book is written in a Dictionary style, with each entry providing a definition, explanation, and vocabulary illustrations of architectural symbols and motifs. Overall, it is a very informative and insightful book for those who are interested in the symbolic meaning of architecture and serves as a direct methodological predecessor to our Eidetic Dictionary.

“The Republic” – Plato

A work by the Greek philosopher Plato, and one of his most famous and widely read books. It is a political dialogue in which Plato presents a vision of an ideal society ruled by philosopher-kings. Divided into 10 books, Plato considers the nature of justice and the ideal structure of the state, establishing the philosophical foundations of order and hierarchy.

“Timaeus” – Plato

Another famous book written by Plato; it is a dialogue between Socrates, Timaeus of Locri, and Critias. In this book, Timaeus presents a cosmogony or account of the origins of the universe. The book covers the nature of time and space, the nature of matter (including the geometric basis of the elements), the nature of the soul, and the relationship between the soul and the body.


Note: Overall, there are numerous resources available for those interested in the use of geometry in architecture. Whether you are an architect, designer, or simply someone who is interested in the intersection of architecture, psychology, and literature, these resources can provide valuable insights into the ways in which geometry can be used to create symbolic and complex allegories in space.

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Symbolism in Architecture https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/symbolism-in-architecture/ https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/symbolism-in-architecture/#respond Mon, 19 Dec 2022 15:45:30 +0000 https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/?p=7571 Visual Communication in Architecture | The Study of Semiotics and Signifiers Symbolism in Architecture: Crafting Spaces that Speak Architecture is more than the physical act of constructing buildings; it is the art of shaping spaces that communicate with the human spirit. At its core, architecture harnesses symbolism to create environments that resonate on a deep,…

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Visual Communication in Architecture | The Study of Semiotics and Signifiers

Symbolism in Architecture: Crafting Spaces that Speak

Architecture is more than the physical act of constructing buildings; it is the art of shaping spaces that communicate with the human spirit. At its core, architecture harnesses symbolism to create environments that resonate on a deep, subconscious level. Through the thoughtful use of forms, materials, and spatial relationships, architects can craft structures that go beyond mere functionality, becoming vessels of meaning and narrative.

Archetypes as Foundations

To understand the power of symbolism in architecture, we must look to the archetypes—universal symbols embedded in the collective unconscious. These are the foundational elements that inform the design of spaces, drawing on ancient patterns that have been etched into human experience over millennia.

Imagine a community space that blends the essence of the past with the vibrancy of the present. Here, the design subtly evokes the timeless archetype of the “village square,” a place where individuals come together to form a collective whole. This isn’t just a functional gathering spot; it’s a symbolic representation of communal life, where tradition meets modernity in a seamless dance.

The Language of Forms

Symbolism in architecture operates through a visual language—a carefully constructed grammar of forms, materials, and spatial dynamics. This language speaks to us not just on a conscious level, but on a deeper, more instinctual plane. The challenge for the architect is to balance the literal and the symbolic, creating spaces that are both functional and rich in meaning.

Consider a museum where the walls seem to whisper stories of both the past and the future. This space is designed not just as a repository of artifacts, but as a living narrative, a place where visitors can engage with history in a way that feels immediate and relevant. Here, the architecture itself becomes a medium for storytelling, weaving together different temporal realities into a cohesive whole.

Evolving Symbolism

Symbolism in architecture is not static; it evolves with time, adapting to new cultural and societal contexts. A building that once symbolized power might, over the years, come to represent resilience or transformation. The most successful symbolic architecture is that which remains relevant, resonating with different generations while preserving its core meaning.

Imagine a structure that challenges our perceptions, blurring the line between the real and the imagined. This is a space where architecture takes on a phantasmagoric quality, inviting us to question our assumptions about what is tangible and what is not. Such a design doesn’t just occupy physical space; it inhabits the mind, prompting us to explore the boundaries of our own understanding.

Conclusion

In the architecture we create, symbolism isn’t just an afterthought—it’s the essence that breathes life into the spaces we inhabit. By tapping into the deep well of archetypal imagery, we transcend the mundane and craft environments that speak directly to the human spirit. Each structure becomes a dialogue between form and meaning, where every line, every material choice is infused with intent. In this way, our buildings do more than house—they communicate, they resonate, and they invite us into a story that is as old as time yet ever-evolving. Here, architecture is not just a profession; it is a mythic journey, where each project is a step towards understanding the deeper truths that lie within and around us.


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Architecture and Philosophy https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/architecture-and-philosophy/ https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/architecture-and-philosophy/#respond Mon, 19 Dec 2022 14:09:13 +0000 https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/?p=7561 Understanding the deeper philosophical implications of the spaces we inhabit Architecture and Philosophy: Building a Bridge Between Thought and Matter Architecture is not merely a matter of aesthetics or functionality—it is, above all, a philosophical act. At its core, architecture represents the physical manifestation of ideas, cultural values, and philosophical paradigms that shape societies throughout…

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Understanding the deeper philosophical implications of the spaces we inhabit

Architecture and Philosophy: Building a Bridge Between Thought and Matter

Architecture is not merely a matter of aesthetics or functionality—it is, above all, a philosophical act. At its core, architecture represents the physical manifestation of ideas, cultural values, and philosophical paradigms that shape societies throughout history. To understand architecture in its full complexity, we must view it as a bridge between thought and matter, between the abstract and the concrete.

The Architect as Philosopher: Translating Ideas into Space

The architect is, in essence, a philosopher who shapes space through a deep understanding of the world. The role of the architect is not merely technical or artistic; it is ontological. The architect translates abstract ideas—concepts of time, spatial relationships, harmony, and societal values—into tangible forms that affect human experience.

This philosophical approach is clearly evident in projects such as Knotting Duality, where the dialectical interplay of opposites is intertwined throughout the space, creating tension and harmony between different elements. Such an approach exemplifies how architecture can become a reflection of complex philosophical ideas, transforming them into experiential narratives through space.

Philosophical Foundations of Architectural Movements

Every architectural movement carries with it a philosophical foundation. Renaissance architecture, with its obsession with symmetry and proportions, directly arose from humanism, which placed man at the center of the universe. Postmodernism, on the other hand, denies the idea of universal truths and absolutes, playing with symbols and meanings in ways that reflect poststructuralist ideas about relativism and the multilayered nature of meaning.

In projects like The Grammar of Taste, philosophical principles of beauty and taste are explored through architectural form, creating a space that reflects the complex relationships between cultural norms and individual perception. This project is a prime example of how abstract philosophical theories can be transformed into concrete spatial experiences.

Concreteness Through Examples: Stone as a Bearer of Meaning

To bring this point closer, let’s consider Renaissance churches, where every proportion, every detail, is not merely aesthetic but also a philosophical act. Architecture here becomes a meditation on divine order, where every dimension relates to the human body, to harmonious proportions that reflect cosmic harmony. Or, in a more contemporary context, take the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, designed by Frank Gehry. Its radical form is not just an artistic provocation but also a physical manifestation of deconstructivist ideas about fragmentation, uncertainty, and instability as key elements of modern life.

A similar philosophical provocation can be seen in The Story of the Present Museum Proposal, where the idea of the present is materialized through architectural elements that explore the relationship between past, present, and future, challenging visitors to reflect on their place in time.

A Critical Approach: Openness to Debate

However, it is important to maintain critical distance. Not every architect must be a philosopher, nor does every building carry deep philosophical meaning. Architecture can and should be open to different interpretations, as this is its strength—to inspire and provoke, to open a dialogue between space and mind, between creator and user.

This approach is evident in the Forest Ideogram Commercial Building, where architecture raises questions about the relationship between nature and commercial space without offering definitive answers. Such a building is not just a workspace; it is a place of contemplation and reflection on the modern world and our role in it.

Conclusion

Architecture and philosophy are inextricably linked—one builds the world, while the other builds meaning. In this union, architecture becomes more than construction; it becomes a narrative, an expression of philosophical thought that endures through the ages, shaping both space and our consciousness of it. Through projects like Gardens of Individuation or Story of Oshun, we can see how architecture can become a story of human nature, of our aspirations, fears, and dreams. Ultimately, architecture is an act of creating meaning, a space where thought and matter meet and intertwine in an endless dance.


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On architecture, art, language, and philosophy https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/on-architecture-art-language-and-philosophy/ https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/on-architecture-art-language-and-philosophy/#respond Mon, 19 Dec 2022 13:08:49 +0000 https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/?p=7555 On Architecture, Art, Language, and Philosophy – A New Synthesis Architecture is not merely a structure; it is a meta-structure, a profound synthesis of art, language, and philosophy. It is a living dialogue between material and metaphysical realms, where architecture becomes a narrative medium—each structure telling a story, conveying emotions, and reflecting the collective consciousness…

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On Architecture, Art, Language, and Philosophy – A New Synthesis

Architecture is not merely a structure; it is a meta-structure, a profound synthesis of art, language, and philosophy. It is a living dialogue between material and metaphysical realms, where architecture becomes a narrative medium—each structure telling a story, conveying emotions, and reflecting the collective consciousness of its time.

The Artistic Dimension

Art in architecture transcends the physical form; it is the embodiment of human creativity and expression. Buildings, like great works of art, are not static objects; they are dynamic entities that interact with their surroundings and evoke a range of emotions and thoughts in those who experience them. In this sense, architecture is akin to a visual symphony, where each element—from the curvature of a wall to the interplay of light and shadow—contributes to a larger composition.

Art, much like the process of individuation, is an unfinished datum—a continuous journey toward an ever-elusive ideal. It is within this perpetual striving that we find the essence of creation, where each attempt brings us closer to a stable ideal, yet the journey remains incomplete. This dynamic is geometrically illustrated in the Paths of Individuation project, where the stable square is never fully realized. Each successive step attempts to complete it, yet it remains part of an unending pattern—a visual metaphor for the ongoing process of growth and self-realization. The architectural design reflects this ever-developing part of artistic methodology, emphasizing that both art and individuation are ever-evolving, always in pursuit of perfection, yet inherently embracing the beauty of their perpetual incompleteness.

Language as Structure

Language is the framework within which architectural ideas are conceived and communicated. It is through language that we give shape to abstract concepts and translate them into tangible forms. However, architectural language is not confined to words alone; it is a multi-sensory experience, where visual, tactile, and spatial elements converge to create meaning.

Architecture functions as a distilled language, where every element, form, and material serves as a precise signifier in a broader narrative. Each design encapsulates a dialogue with its cultural and historical context, reducing complexity to its essential elements while still conveying profound meaning. By refining architectural language to its purest form, spaces are created that resonate deeply, allowing the subtleties of context, intention, and emotion to emerge with clarity and impact.

Philosophy: The Underpinning of Design

Philosophy in architecture is the pursuit of deeper understanding and meaning. It is the inquiry into the fundamental principles that guide the creation of spaces. We believe that architecture is not just about solving practical problems; it is about exploring the human condition and addressing the existential questions that arise in the process of design.

Architecture is deeply intertwined with philosophical exploration, where space becomes a medium to express and embody complex ideas. As a language of form and structure, architecture serves as a tangible reflection of philosophical concepts, with the unity of diverse elements under a cohesive design narrative conveying profound meanings. Each line drawn is not merely a functional gesture but a response to an underlying aesthetic-logical system, anchoring the design in a broader philosophical and cultural context. Through this lens, architecture mirrors the epochs, creating spaces that resonate with both the historical continuum and the evolving human condition, inviting reflection on the interplay between individual, society, and the unfolding future.

A Unified Vision

At the heart of our practice is the belief that architecture, art, language, and philosophy are not separate disciplines but interconnected facets of a single vision. This vision is one that seeks to create spaces that are not just buildings but living symbols—expressions of the values, beliefs, and aspirations.


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Phantasmagoric Syntax https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/phantasmagoric-syntax/ https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/phantasmagoric-syntax/#respond Sun, 14 Nov 2021 14:42:34 +0000 https://thearchitecturalmythologems.com/?p=6498 Theoretical elaborate for the J BRIDGE project. Audio Essay: J Bridge This is a philosophical-ontological game. This heuristic game will bring our attention back to the basic stories. The stories we articulate with the bridges of language. Phantasmagoric syntax The bridge is a sculptural manifestation of an archetypal sentence, a sentence that can be imagined…

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Theoretical elaborate for the J BRIDGE project.


Audio Essay: J Bridge


This is a philosophical-ontological game. This heuristic game will bring our attention back to the basic stories. The stories we articulate with the bridges of language.

Phantasmagoric syntax

The bridge is a sculptural manifestation of an archetypal sentence, a sentence that can be imagined to be the basis of all others. Given the full content of the conceptual background, the architectural structure had to be executed in a polysemantic manner, forming lines of meaning in relation to the four (2 x 2) perspective axes:

a) with regard to the normative position of observers (on or outside the bridge, that is, with or towards the bridge), two dimensions of depth are revealed, the macro and micro world of symbols.

b) with regard to the position of the examining subject (recipient, spectator), the distinction is established at the end of the centuries-old division of theoretical and practical life:

a) Theoreticos (with original meaning: top view) is defined in the bird’s eye view diagram.

b) Praxis (since it is set in the idea of ​​activity, movement, and process) is noted in the matrix of development of the idea visible on side elevation.

In order to unite the intuitively accessible visual elements (pre-discursive form) in the aesthetic vision, thus making it a kind of super-structural unity (architecture in its original and pure meaning), the central part of the theoretical exposition will be defined as eidetic vocabulary.

The end of the text will explain the idea of ​​hyper-textual reading of the bridge as a dynamic macro-symbol with the possibility of creating an infinite number of internal lines/units of meaning and significance.

Eidetic Dictionary

Symbol 1 – Genesis

The first symbol is given in the perspective of the side section where it is outlined in the dominant constructive lines. Looking from top to bottom, the symbol represents the ontological matrix of the development of almost all phenomena: singularity, duality, multiplicity. The matrix in question contains a whole range of conceptual levels and nuances. Singularity: the first and highest principle, always essentially thought of as one thing. Captured in the historical sequence through various archetypal performances. One planet, one sky, one sun, one moon. Duality: Duality is the first step of progress, the first separation. It represents the relaxation of the previous tension created by the cohesive forces of self-direction. In Borges’s lucid cosmogony, the demiurge and creator shape the world with the first doubling. Doubling is also a creation. To be real means to be special, different from others. Here one thing stands against the other. Multiplicity: The accompanying multiplicity is the complete realization of the previous duality. It is multiplicity as a way and moment of existence: the multiplicity of existence. It is by its nature usually first in knowledge (Aristotle), in the way in which a child’s consciousness first touches many different external objects. In this, the world of exterior-multiplicity is seen on the line of one’s own logical development. This time it is a matter, not of the distant, but of the logical past.

Symbol 2 – Duality

Double Tetractys. The symbol stands in relation to the ideal and real side of the sentence structure. A look into oneself reveals thought as the source of a sentence. In its essence, the thought is affected by this symbol. (one: thought before thought, two: defined thought, thought in relation to its opposite, three: thought in the context of thought, four: articulated thought). As for the sake of communication – one’s own realization – the thought from ideality must be reported to reality, the symbol is given as a pleonastic ideal, doubled and conditioned, as the reality of an ideal. The previous ideality has been preserved as something obsolete.

Symbol 3 – Constituent

Like any dialogue, we start from a point that is formed under the influence of principles (circles). Places where the thought is put before action. Where a solution (overcoming) of the situation is needed. From that starting point, the point from which the context (problem) is visible, and the visible goal (from the other “desired” side), the (archetypal) sentence begins to be built. The sentence is constituted of three ideal terms. Three, as the basic number of the first geometric image (triangle), implies the first solid construction, ergo the first resolution. The term decreases, “specifies”, by its surface of functioning following the Pareto distribution.

– A Pareto distribution pattern is a universal matrix that shows the numerical use of words (terms) in a language. It applies to all existing languages. In addition to the presence of this pattern in language, it is also visible in other phenomena of nature, and the general principle of natural distribution.

In addition to the assumed ideal concepts, which are connected, rounded off, and grouped, this bridge-dialogue also implies contextual influences. Influences from the outside. Influences are all invisible factors that suggest the formation of a newly formed sentence. These influences are also represented by the ideal form of the circle, however, unlike the concepts, their basic ontological continuum is not the form per se, but its lack – emptiness. Circle void – an allegory of circular suggestion.

Symbol 4 – Binegation

Bridge dialogue is a formal representative of one of the most famous mathematical theories. Bertrand Russell’s theories of binegation. Binegation in distilled simplification represents the basic truth of mathematics in one simple idea. We will paraphrase the idea for better understanding.

– When two sets, on the polarities of the relation, are annulled, the relation that remains between is the only truth of existence. That is, the relation is true, free from the restriction of semantics.

This universal pattern of binegation can be seen in various natural phenomena and dynamic events, which within their existence contain sets and groupings.

A tree has a root (first set), a crown (second set), and a tree as a relative relation that holds two sets.

Man possesses external infinity (the first set), inner infinity (the second set), and consciousness as the relative relation that connects the two sets.

There are groups (sets) that stand in apparent polarities and surround us in the form of contrasting motifs. Very often they appear as logical systems made up of only two constituents because the third constituent (relative relation) is often of an intellectual (non-physical) nature.

Examples:

Emotion – Logic

Female – Male

Spirit – Body

Magnet poles

Symbol 5 – Story

It’s all a story. If we agree that the definition of a story is everything that has a beginning, a middle, and an end, every space-time phenomenon is a story. The symbol of the story is visible in our design through two perspectives. And as such, this symbol is doubled. It is doubled in structure and stylistics.

Symbol 6 – Rising Sun

The silhouette of the basic constructive and basic pragmatic part of the bridge draws one of the most famous primordial images. An archetypal picture of the Sun rising behind the Temple-City. We find this image (and its analogues) throughout the history of almost all civilizations and cultures as a well-known symbol of God’s action above human creation.

Fractal dimension

The sculpture is, as can be seen from the above, not only polysemantic but in the same aspect fractal. Forms of the fractal structure represent a systematic ontological and cognitive meta-function visible in the whole plane of existence. It is a moment of transformation of quantity into quality. A repetition matrix in which macro and micro constituents stand on the same conceptual principle. The big is reflected in the small, and vice versa. Basically, it is the genetic principle of creation. Each cell contains information about the whole in which it is located. The conceptual generative unit of the bridge-dialogue is derived in the form of an eidetic morpheme: the bridge as a relative relation in the indifference of its own signification. Bridges are woven into the Bridge, concepts into the Concept, and between the concepts are placed bridges and concepts into those bridges. Their communication is complete. The entire sculptural creation in terms of multiple and multi-dimensional symbolism can be interpreted as the key of the hyper-textual work.

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