The Philosophical Platform of the Architect. Why Philosophers Make Such Good Drawings?

Abstract

Theoretical interpretations and attempts at instrumentalisation of the ties and exchanges between philosophy and architecture have mostly been directed at questions of language or the institutionalisation of the discipline of architecture. In this text, I suggest a different approach to philosophical engagement in architecture: a simultaneous use in the methodology of the architectural project and constitution of a philosophy of architecture, not only as a question of interdisciplinary exchange, but as an integral part of comprehensive architectural processes, with philosophy still maintaining its original authenticity. My approach is twofold: explain the methodology and delineate its framework, but also raise the question what is an architect’s philosophical platform. To that end, I will attempt to elaborate three models: 1) the first delves partially into the fields of fiction and illusion, and in it the architect adopts the role (position) of the philosopher, 2) the second model is the architectural engagement of philosophical notions, and 3) the third is the use of philosophical concepts in the creation of architectural ones. Corresponding to each, I will suggest the activity of “repetition of difference” as a possibility of creation of the authentic architectural concept.