In Search of Concepts and Components of Dwelling in Architecture (From the perspectives of the thoughts of Martin Heidegger, Christian Norberg-Schulz and Contemporary Western Architects)

Subject Areas : Life Space Journal

Saeid Ghasemi ¹ (Faculty of Art and Architecture, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad Branch, Iran)
seyed nader ziaei ² (motahhari university. mashhad. iran)
Navid Jalaeian Ghane ³ (Department of art and Architecture, Islamic Azad University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran)

Received: 2022-06-20 Accepted : 2022-10-19 Published : 2023-01-21

Keywords: environment, human, Place, Concept of dwelling, Components of dwelling,

Abstract :

Today's human is facing many cultural, social, and environmental crises. Each of these crises can be investigated from different perspectives and opinions. One of the essential factors in creating these crises in architecture and urban planning has emerged due to the undesirable human dwelling on the planet, which has been discussed under the general concept of "dwelling crisis". The beginning of human dwelling can be seen as primitive people settling in caves and trying to meet several needs, such as security and environmental comfort. However, as long as the human presence on the earth has passed in different ages, the dwelling has become more complex and extensive. In different civilizations, the dwelling has undergone many changes in terms of concept and has become more complicated. The unbreakable, strong relationship between the dwelling and concepts such as place, space, and environment has made architecture one of the essential fields in defining the concept of dwelling. The concept of dwelling consists of different aspects, such as physical dwelling, mental dwelling, and imaginary dwelling. Considering the philosophical aspects of dwelling to achieve a deep understanding of the dwelling is crucial given the correspondent relationship of these levels with humans and the environment. Looking through Western philosophy, many philosophers and experts have expressed their opinions and thoughts about dwelling directly and indirectly. Therefore, accurate knowledge and understanding of the concept of dwelling and its influential components, including physical, mental, and psychological factors, is crucial in improving the quality of human life. To this end, this research aims to compare and categorize the perspectives of a selected number of experts in terms of the dwelling concept; it then provides a conceptual framework for a better understanding of the components of dwelling in architecture from the perspective of experts in this field. Looking through Western philosophy, one can find few philosophers equal to Martin Heidegger, who directly expressed his thoughts about dwelling. Also, Christian Norberg Schultz has generally reflected Heidegger's insights in architecture, emphasizing his thoughts' importance in understanding the concept of dwelling. Thus, based on the thoughts of the mentioned philosopher and those of several prominent contemporary architects, this study will seek to understand the components of the dwelling. The current research was conducted using a qualitative method and logical reasoning strategy. First, information has been collected through library and document studies based on selected experts' perspectives (Martin Heidegger, Christian Norberg Schultz, Amos Rapoport, Richard Rogers, Christopher Alexander, Charles Jenks, Robert Venturi). By focusing on the native dwelling, Amos Rapoport has written explicitly about the dwelling and proposed solutions to achieve the ideal settlement in the contemporary period. Richard Rogers has explained sustainable dwelling on the planet by proposing architecture and urban planning compatible with nature through clean energies. While criticizing modern architecture and urbanism, Christopher Alexander has found the timeless way of building in a non-linear and non-tree dwelling. Charles Jenks has been the representative of Postmodernism in architecture and compared the architecture influenced by the role of people and their characteristics with elitist architecture in achieving an ideal settlement. Along with Charles Jenks, Robert Venturi has also explained the ideal settlement in the context of Postmodernist Architecture with features such as contrast and complexity and bringing back the decorations to Postmodernist Architecture. Through a qualitative content analysis, the components of the dwelling were then extracted from the perspective of the experts; based on logical reasoning, perspective comparisons, and categorizing the extracted components, a conceptual model of the dwelling was also presented. In this research, fifty-four essential dwelling components were extracted based on the perspective of experts; these components were then compared and categorized into six main groups. These perspectives are placed in a range of topics from "conceptual/ theoretical" to "physical/ practical," They show that the levels of dwelling begin with quantitative and objective needs and finally end with reflecting the most transcendental needs representing the qualitative themes. All these components have a complex and unbreakable relationship and are steps that, without each other, cannot become the basis for the transcendence of human settlement; therefore, the more aspects of these components are considered together in the design process, the higher the quality of architectural design and human dwelling.