Although I haven't yet contributed a substantial amount of insight to the class discussions, my mind is most definitely processing statements and formulating many thoughts for the entire 2 hours. The time goes by pretty quickly, and though at first I was skeptical about the subject matter, I've come to realize that it is quite valuable.
In the beginning it seemed to me as if we were waxing philosophic, but sort of running in mental circles...so to speak. But what's certain is that I was always thinking, and questioning and struggling. Though the questions and subject matter was basic, I think the sheer ambiguity of it all made it difficult to grasp one concrete thought. I've found it hard to chime in thus far mostly because I haven't really been able to sum up my thoughts, as there are so many, and they're disorganized.
That being said,
I've enjoyed just listening, reading, and thinking. And I can understand and relate to much of what is written in the texts, though some are denser than others. I'll point out a few things I've thought about up to now.
On a sidenote, I found an interesting connection to our class in a recent MARK Magazine interview featuring South African-born, Melbourne-based Architect Leon Van Schaik. Posted next to his interview was a list of books he deemed invaluable. All three of our books were included, which I thought was kind of cool. Nevertheless, what I've found most refreshing about Architects is that they are Philosophers, and this rings true in every interview I've read or heard.
Some quotes from the books that stuck out to me (not in any particular order):
"Well-determined centers of revery are means of communication between men who dream as surely as well-defined concepts are means of communication between men who think."
"I will be an inhabitant of the world, in spite of the world."
-Gaston Bachelard from The Poetics of Space
"I believe fundamentally in a non-linear world."
-Cecil Balmond interviewed in MARK about his beliefs in structure, his love of geometry and using technology to further the possibilities of modern architecture.
In Maps of the Imagination, Peter Turchi spends a great deal of time analyzing the intention and perception of the mapped world. He has a great deal to say about the subjectivity of the truths of the world we live in, and explains how different groups of people may view the same reality completely different from one another.
He uses a map of the world as it is currently produced in Australia, with the southern hemisphere being on top and the north, at the bottom. Though I find this interesting, I think that it delineates the distinct differences between ultimate truth and subjective truth. And I do believe that both exist, or at least I do up to this point in time. Here is why:
The subjectivity of which way a map should be oriented is up for debate. A gentleman in Australia may see the world completely differently geographically than I do here in the States. However, both of us can agree that certain countries exist and cover X amount of land area. These facts are undeniable and are products of what we determine to be reality. Just because we "see" these things differently does not mean that they are inherently different things altogether. It just means we have different shades of sunglasses on.
I will keep this post short and add just a few more thoughts.
The last book I'd like to point out is another unassigned reading but one that caught my eye at the bookstore: "Gnostic Architecture."
The introduction does a great job of laying out the ideas found in this book with this:
"Gnostic Architecture is autobiographical...it comes from a definition of Gnosis as a way of knowing that subsumes the contradiction of empirical knowledge-- a (tenuously) complete knowing, arrived at personally. Internally. Person by person, one person at a time."
There is this contradictory feel to architecture, like a 'lost foundness,' a 'defined ambiguity,' or a 'structured art', 'freeform rigidity.' I've found this contrasting juxtaposition of values inherent in architecture and I think it's absolutely brilliant. I'm in love with it, and as calculated and engineered as it can be, there is an unprecedented amount of mystery to it, and personal "Gnostic" insight.
So excited.
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