Poetics and Existential Meaning in Housing Architecture: Toward a Phenomenological Framework for Poetic Dwelling
محورهای موضوعی : Architecture
Farnaz Siamian
1
,
Siamak Panahi
2
1 - Department of Architecture, SR.C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 - Department of Architecture, Ka.C., Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran
کلید واژه: Poetic Dwelling, Housing Architecture, Spatial Experience, Existential Space, Design Theory,
چکیده مقاله :
Contemporary housing architecture faces a growing crisis of meaning, as designs increasingly prioritize functional efficiency, visual spectacle, and market value over deeper human needs for belonging and poetic dwelling—a mode of inhabitation that transcends mere utility to foster existential connection through sensory richness, cultural memory, and emotional resonance. This study addresses this critical gap by developing the Poetic Dwelling Experience Framework (PDEF), a comprehensive model that identifies four essential dimensions of meaningful dwelling: spatial phenomenology (the lived experience of space), sensory interaction (multisensory engagement), cultural contextuality (connection to memory and tradition), and emotional topography (affective atmospheres). Through an interpretive, phenomenological methodology, the research analyzes seminal works by architects including Zumthor, Ando, Murcutt, and Siza, demonstrating how their designs embody these poetic dimensions. The findings reveal that truly meaningful domestic spaces emerge not from formal innovation alone, but from careful attention to sensory richness, temporal rhythms, cultural narratives, and emotional resonance. The PDEF offers both a theoretical lens for understanding dwelling and a practical tool for designers seeking to create housing that nurtures human flourishing. In an era of mass-produced, alienating urban environments, this framework provides a vital pathway for recentering architecture around the profound, often overlooked needs for rootedness, intimacy, and poetic imagination in our everyday spaces.
Contemporary housing architecture faces a growing crisis of meaning, as designs increasingly prioritize functional efficiency, visual spectacle, and market value over deeper human needs for belonging and poetic dwelling—a mode of inhabitation that transcends mere utility to foster existential connection through sensory richness, cultural memory, and emotional resonance. This study addresses this critical gap by developing the Poetic Dwelling Experience Framework (PDEF), a comprehensive model that identifies four essential dimensions of meaningful dwelling: spatial phenomenology (the lived experience of space), sensory interaction (multisensory engagement), cultural contextuality (connection to memory and tradition), and emotional topography (affective atmospheres). Through an interpretive, phenomenological methodology, the research analyzes seminal works by architects including Zumthor, Ando, Murcutt, and Siza, demonstrating how their designs embody these poetic dimensions. The findings reveal that truly meaningful domestic spaces emerge not from formal innovation alone, but from careful attention to sensory richness, temporal rhythms, cultural narratives, and emotional resonance. The PDEF offers both a theoretical lens for understanding dwelling and a practical tool for designers seeking to create housing that nurtures human flourishing. In an era of mass-produced, alienating urban environments, this framework provides a vital pathway for recentering architecture around the profound, often overlooked needs for rootedness, intimacy, and poetic imagination in our everyday spaces.
Abdollahzadeh, S. M., & arzhmand, M. (2013). Investigation of the iranian houses (based on probing the lifestyle in shiraz traditional houses). Journal of studies on iranian islamic city, 3(10). https://sid.ir/paper/624896/en
Aghalatifi, A. (2019). Impression of meaning of home from physical transformation in Contemporary Era of Tehran. Journal of Fine Arts: Architecture & Urban Planning, 23(4), 41-54. [Persian] https://doi.org/10.22059/jfaup.2018.219937.671690
Alalhesabi, M. & Karani, N. (2013). Influencing Factors on the Evolution of Housing from Past to Future. JHRE, 32(141), 19-36. [Persian] http://jhre.ir/article-1-226-fa.html
Amini. A. H. & Soltanzadeh. H. (2017). Architectural and engineering analytical review of crisis phenomena species Home. Urban Management, 16(46), 321-348. [Persian] http://ijurm.imo.org.ir/article-1-1532-en.html
Antoniades, A. C. (2024). Poetics of architecture (M. R. Ai, Trans.). Tehran: Soroush Publications. (Original work published 1990) [Persian]
Archeyes. (2016, September 29). Row House by Tadao Ando – Azuma House / Light, space & concrete. https://archeyes.com/row-house-by-tadao-ando-azuma-house-light-space-concrete/
Auret, H. (2010). Toward the poetic in architecture. South African Journal of Art History, 25(2), 97-111. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC94090
Bachelard, G. (1958). The poetics of space. Beacon Press.
Bakhtiarymanesh, M., Ansari, M., Bemanian, M. & Yeganeh, M. (2024). Being Home; An Exploratory Study on Residents’ Descriptions of the Meaning of Home in the Middle Texture of Kermanshah (Patterns for Improving the Apartments). The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar, 20(129), 57-74. [Persian] https://doi.org/10.22034/bagh.2023.393419.5363
Bchir, A. (2015). Towards a phenomenological approach in housing architecture: Between tradition and modernity in contemporary Tunisian projects. Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, 9(2), 186–198. https://doi.org/10.26687/archnet-ijar.v9i2.555
Behzadfar, M., & Shakibamanesh, A. (2014). An inquiry into the philosophy of phenomenology of place: Exploring David Seamon’s ideas on the concept of home as a place. Hoviatshahr (Journal of Urban Identity), 8(17), 1–14. [Persian] https://dorl.net/dor/20.1001.1.17359562.1393.8.17.1.4
Bianco, L. (2020). Pedagogy of poetics of architecture in contemporary Georgia. Astra Salvensis-revista de istorie si cultura, 8(15), 61-74. https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/67795
Burkhalter, S. (2011, February 9). Bruder Klaus Field Chapel/Peter Zumthor. ArchDaily. https://www.archdaily.com/106352/bruder-klaus-field-chapel-peter-zumthor
Cheraghi, A. (2020, July). Place Ontology: Poetry and the Spirit of Dwelling (an Approach on the Restoration of Allegorical Architecture Through Promoting the Worthless Concept of Shelter to the Transcendental Concept of Poetic Dwelling. In The first National Conference on Sustainable Housing (Vol. 9). [Persian] https://ssrn.com/abstract=3662875
Cucu, M., & Lența, O. (2023). The Heideggerian Ontology and The Exposure of The Being in the" Poetic Dwelling". Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience (BRAIN), 14(4), 433-444. https://doi.org/10.18662/BRAIN/14.1/428
Eslampour, S., MirRiahi, S. and Habib, S. (2022). In Search of the Meaning of Home: Explaining the Physical Components Reflecting Its Meaning Through the Theoretical Lens of Phenomenology Case study: Hamedan Yard Houses. The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar, 18(105), 79-92. [Persian] https://doi.org/10.22034/bagh.2021.274639.4813
Ghaffari, A. & Banaei, M. (2011). What is Healthy House?. JHRE, 30(133), 15-28. [Persian] http://jhre.ir/article-1-14-fa.html
Hanif, E. (2018). The Concept of Residence and its Impact on the Courtyard of Iranian Houses: A Case Study of Kashan's Houses in Qajar Era. Andishe-ye Memari (Architectural Thought Journal), 2(4), 31–44. [Persian] https://doi.org/10.30479/at.2018.1536
Hashempour, P. (2012). Improvement of home quality with Altruistic Element. JHRE, 31(140), 13-28. [Persian] http://jhre.ir/article-1-546-fa.html
Heidegger, M. (1971). Building, dwelling, thinking. In D. F. Krell (Ed.), Basic writings (pp. 343–364). Harper & Row.
Hernández, F. (2016). The intimate in-between: On Bachelard’s phenomenology and the spatial poetics of architecture. The Journal of Architecture, 21(2), 199–221.
Heydari, A. A. (2021). Evaluation and analyze the different meanings of home in two patterns of apartment and independent courtyard house. (Case study: Shiraz city). Andishe-ye Memari (Architectural Thought Journal), 5(9), 135–149. [Persian] https://doi.org/10.30479/at.2020.12120.1382
Hıçsönmezler, E. (2023). The Relation Between Emotion Regulation & Anxiety: The Moderating Effect of Age-defined Developmental Stages (Master's thesis).
Hoseini, S., Alborzi, F. and Amini, A. (2022). Recognition of the Houses in Tehran Based on Contemporary Fictions Written in the Period 1951-1978. The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar, 19(111), 91-110. [Persian] https://doi.org/10.22034/bagh.2022.279499.4848
Kabirisamani, A., Malakooty, A. & Yadeghari, Z. (2017). Recognizing The Meaning of Home in Quran: A Way to Explain Home Theoretical Bases. The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar, 13(45), 61-76. [Persian]
Khamenehzadeh, H. (2017). An Introduction to the Concept of Privacy and How it is Realized in the House Life-World1 Comparative Study in Pre-modern and Modern Iranian Houses. The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar, 14(49), 33-44. [Persian]
Lazarin, M. (2008). Temporal architecture: poetic dwelling in Japanese buildings. Footprint, 2(3), 97-112. http://dx.doi.org/10.7480/footprint.2.2.689
Malpas, J. (2020). The House of Being”: Poetry, Language, Place. Paths in Heidegger’s Later Thought, 15-44.
Markus, T. (1993). Buildings and Power: Freedom and Control in the Origin of Modern Building Types. Routledge.
Meljac, M. (2008). Poetic dwelling: Heidegger’s philosophy and its implications in architecture. Phenomenology + Pedagogy, 6(1), 45–58.
Mirmiran, S. M., Malekafzali, A. & Karimifard, L. (2022). Interpretive Phenomenology of Interface Spaces in House Architecture. The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar, 19(106), 57-68. [Persian] https://doi.org/10.22034/bagh.2021.293968.4934
Nair, S. & Zakkir, F. (2023, 29-31 March). Analysing Emotiveness in Architecture by decoding ‘Poetics of space’. [Paper presentation]. In The Seventeenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices. Lisbon, Portugal.
Nasiri, N. (2009). A comparative study on the conception of privacy. Journal of Fine Arts: Architecture & Urban Planning, 1(39), 37-46. [Persian] https://doi.org/10.22059/jfaup.2018.68319
Niknam Asl, S. A., Zarqani, M., Farshi Haqi, Z. (2014). A Semiotic Analysis of Architectural Culture in the Age of Globalization, With an Emphasis on Post-Structuralism Architecture from House to Non-House. Urban Management, 13 (36), 299-322. [Persian] http://ijurm.imo.org.ir/article-1-346-en.html
Norberg-Schulz, C. (1980). Genius loci: Towards a phenomenology of architecture. Rizzoli.
Nouri, F. , Soroush, M. M. , Foroutan, M. and Shairi, H. R. (2021). Architecture Poetics in Some Selected Religious Contemporary Architecture Works: The Comparative Study of Poetics Capabilities in Poetry and Architecture. The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar, 18(98), 95-106. [Persian] https://doi.org/10.22034/bagh.2021.241150.4612
Novaković, N. (2022). The Concept of Appropriation in Collective Housing Design: Understanding Dwelling as a Poetic Practice. Writingplace, (6), 90-106. https://doi.org/10.7480/writingplace.6.6358
Nylander, C. (1998). Non-measurable architectural qualities in modernist housing: A qualitative phenomenological lens.
OfHouses. (2016, May 5). 309: Álvaro Siza. https://ofhouses.com/post/144638753968/309-alvaro-siza
Özdamar, E. G. (2024). The experience of a dweller: exploring the concept of modernist planning in Ataköy housing. Housing and Society, 52(1), 57–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/08882746.2024.2393499
Ozetecture. (n.d.). Marie Short / Glenn Murcutt House. Retrieved May 25, 2025, from https://www.ozetecture.org/marie-short-glenn-murcutt-house
Pallasmaa, J. (2005). Eyes of the skin: Architecture and the senses. Wiley-Academy.
Panahi, S. (2021). Conceptual Architecture and Cinema, Tehran: Asr-e-Kankash Publications. [Persian]
Sami, P., Jalalian, S. and Dejdar, O. (2020). A Comparative Study of the Effects of Light on the Sense of Place in Traditional and Contemporary Houses. Armanshahr Architecture & Urban Development, 13(31), 97-109. [Persian] https://doi.org/10.22034/aaud.2020.113261
Seamon, D. (2018). Life takes place: Phenomenology, lifeworlds, and place making. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351120032
Seamon, D. (2024). Ways of Understanding Wholeness: Place, Christopher Alexander, and Synergistic Relationality. World Futures, 80(2), 93-110. https://doi.org/10.1080/02604027.2024.2330288
Shui-ping, H. (2006). Poetic dwelling and the modern aesthetic crisis: A neo-rationalist critique. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, 64(4), 369–382.
Spurr, D. (2008). An end to dwelling: Reflections on modern literature and architecture. In Modernism (pp. 469-486). John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/chlel.xxi.37spu
Tabatabaie ebrahimi, S. A. & Tafazzoli, Z. (2022). The Narrative of Home: A Method for Interpretation and Representation of the Desirability of the Lived Experience of Being at Home. Journal of Iranian Architecture Studies, 7(14), 125-147. [Persian] https://doi.org/10.22052/1.14.125
Tulkowska-Słyk, A. (2023). Architecture on the water: Contemporary design of waterside housing. Sustainable Cities and Society, 94, 104556. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2023.104556
Van Manen, M. (1990). Beyond assumptions: Shifting the limits of action research. Theory into practice, 29(3), 152-157. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405849009543448
Van Schaik W. (2015). The human gut resistome. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 370(1670), 20140087. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.0087
Varmaghani, H. (2022). Searching for the concept of Iranian house based on the adaptation of historical descriptions and physical structure (Study of Yazd and Isfahan houses). Contemporary Islamic Architecture Journal (CIAUJ), 7(1), 173–191. [Persian] http://ciauj-tabriziau.ir/article-1-380-en.html
Wainwright, O. (2025, January 11). Ryue Nishizawa's Moriyama House is "one of the most important houses of the 21st century". Dezeen. https://www.dezeen.com/2025/01/11/ryue-nishizawa-moriyama-house-21-century-buildings/
Zumthor, P. (2006). Atmospheres: Architectural environments. surrounding objects. In Atmospheres. Birkhäuser.
