Symposium: Matter - space - change

Architectural design is fundamentally related to the concepts of matter, space and change. Architecture is about building with materials and products that originate from the earth: matter. Architecture is about designing spaces where people live their lives. When people walk, sit, work, think,  sleep,  strive or love, this takes place somewhere in space.  Architecture is always about designing and building in a context, tangible and intangible. A context that will change after the construction of the design. Change is always involved. So, if we consider matter, space and change as basic concepts of architecture the question arises ‘What do designers need to know about these concepts?’ Could or would knowledge about these concepts result in a better design of our environment, in a more meaningful design that relates to the needs of humans to be at home, a design that is in harmony with the nature of the planet on which we walk? With this in mind it becomes worthwhile for architects to investigate what philosophy has revealed about the concepts of matter, space and change. Could the vision of philosophers be of benefit to the architectural design process? Simultaneously, the question arises whether philosophers are being challenged by the thoughts of designers about matter, space and change?

MATTER

Generally, every history of the Western European philosophy starts at around 600 BC with the Presocratics philosophers. They investigated the nature of our environment, asking if it is possible to distinguish an order, a unifying principle in the natural world and if it is possible to determine a primordial substance, an arché  ( oersubstantie ) of which the whole universe is created?  Presocratic  philosophers are characterized by a great diversity of thinking: they  did not agree about the answer what such a unifying material could be. Water, fire and air are considered and discussed by Thales of Miletus, Heraclitus and Anaximenus. Anaximander introduced the concept of apeiron. Apeiron is ungenerated and everlasting, limitless, timeless. It is the introduction of an abstract principle. After Parmenides had pushed monism to the extreme, a new generation of philosophers abandoned monism for pluralism: Empedocles posited four elements – earth, water, air and fire –, Anaxagoras an infinite variety of ‘seeds’, and the atomists Leucippus and Democritus an infinite number of atoms roaming about through infinite space. Atomist physics was later developed by Epicurus, whose materialist philosophy continued to challenge the views of Plato and Aristotle.

SPACE

The philosophical thinking of the Presocratics was continued by the three brilliant and famous philosophers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. In the book Dat is architectuur. Sleutelteksten uit de twintigste eeuw, part of the curriculum of bachelor education at the Faculty of Architecture at TUDelft, Hilde Heynen, gives an account of the development of the concept of space starting with the ideas of Plato, which are described in his book Timaeus written around 360 BC.In Timaeus the genesis and the structure of the cosmic world are described. Plato distinguishes three cosmic phenomena that define the cosmic world in which we live. First of all, there is the intangible realm, only accessible with our thinking, the permanent transcendent world of being that never changes. Secondly there is the tangible temporary world of becoming, which is always changing, the touchable material world. And the third phenome is called chora of which Plato mentions that it is very hard, nearly impossible, to describe what it really is. He uses the concept of receptacle as a definition for chora. So, for the moment we can say that chora is the receptacle of all becoming.

CHANGE

Aristotle is known for his wide range of interest. He writings are focused on biology, logic, metaphysics, politics and ethics. His thoughts about the natural world are described in his book Physics which is an account of the principles of nature illuminated  with concepts of change, infinity, place, void, time and continuity. These concepts are very close related with our existence, whether on a physical level or a mental level. The book starts with a wonderfully clear statement: In any subject which has principles , causes and elements, scientific knowledge and understanding stems from a grasp of these, for we think we know a thing only when we have grasped its first causes and principles and have traced it back to its elements. David Bostock writes in his Essays on Aristotle’s Physics that if you continue reading the book you will find out that Aristotle is more interested in the principles of natural and man-made processes or changes. One could conclude that the real understanding of the natural and man-made world comes from understanding the principles of change.

Programme

08:45-12:00

The morning lectures offer a concise introduction on the early antique philosophical understanding of matter, space, and change with a focus  on the thinking of Plato and Aristotle embedded in the context of the Pre-Socratics philosophers. Speakers are Guy Claessens, researcher at the KU Leuven, and Frans de Haas, researcher at the University of Leiden.

13:00-15:00

The aim of the afternoon sessions is to explore a specific question related to the morning lectures. It is specially organised for students. Under the guidance of a Delft researcher/designer and an external researcher/philosopher, a small group of students will talk and discuss about the following questions:

• Round table talk Matter  (Stephen Read + Joana Dos Santos Gonçalves)
  Does architecture have essential elements?
• Round table talk Space. (Guy Claessens + Maurice Harteveld)
  Who owns the public space?
• Round table talk Change (Frans de Haas + Mark Pimlott)
  Why do values for architecture change?
• Round table talk Design (Wim Nijenhuis + Herman Vande Putte )
  When is design intelligent?
• Round table talk Space    (Koos Slurink + Lidy Meijers  )
  How do we experience space?
• Parallel interactive lecture Nature (Patrick Healy )
  Where does nature and architecture relate?

For the round table talks a restricted number of places are available.

15:30-17:00

The symposium will end with a plenary session discussing the topics of the round table talks. Moderator will be Patrick Healy.

More information

• The symposium is open for all students and staff.
• For registration send a mail to Alexander de Ridder.