A Tale of Two Cities: Investigating the Sensory and Embodied Aspects of Place

Abstract

In architectural education, the traditional design process often begins with an abstract concept that precedes all subsequent architectural decisions. This denotes a sequence in thinking that departs from the abstract (typically language and diagrams) and culminates in concrete architectural environments intended for human inhabitation. This paper challenges this sequence and proposes a method starting from concrete experience, which prioritises human experience over abstraction. The proposed sequence begins with immersion and experience, leading to the development of an image, concluding with representation. To do so this paper discusses two parallel student projects, in Budapest and Cape Town, where students were required to immerse themselves in urban and architectural environments and capture phenomena and people / place reciprocities through film. By critiquing the complexities of abstraction, and discussing the student projects and feedback, this research illustrates the merits of an architectural approach that suspends initial abstraction and prioritises the more phenomenological approach of immersion and embodied interaction with architectural and urban phenomena.