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In memory of
Gonçalo Pereira Ribeiro Telles
Título: Nas nuvens também crescem raízes / Even in clouds roots are born
Edição / Publisher: Ordem dos Arquitectos – Seccão Regional Norte
Coordenação / Editor: Constantino Pereira Martins
Capa: Imagem da fotografia de Rodrigo Tavarela Peixoto
Title: Chaos hydro-generator
Dimensions: 105 x 131 cm
Inkjet print
2013
ISBN: 978-989-54638-7-9
© dos autores das respectivas comunicações
Dedicatória
Ao Arquitecto Peter Zumthor.
Ao meu filho Guilherme,
luz dos meus dias.
AGRADECIMENTOS
AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Foremost, I would like to thank Architect Eduardo Queiroga for all the work we have done together
to build the symposium that risks the possibility to bridge Architecture and Philosophy, many times
against all odds.
To thank and underline the crucial role that the Ordem dos Arquitectos played in making possible
the existence of this book, and in particular its Director Conceição Melo.
My gratitude to Rodrigo Tavarela Peixoto for his generosity in sharing one of his beautifull
photographs, and Nuno Maia Vilela for his unwavering friendship.
Last but not the least, this book would not have been possible without the financial support of the
FCT Foundation regarding my study and time.
Caldas da Rainha, October of 2021
Non erit vobis in Deum non erit vobis in gratia Dei
ÍNDICE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prefácio_1
Foreword
I.
PALAVRA
WORD
Diogo Ferrer, Universidade de Coimbra / Centro de Estudos Clássicos e Humanísticos – CECH
1. A Linguagem da Arquitetura no Idealismo Alemão_10
Resumo
Esta comunicação destaca alguns aspectos do pensamento de F. J. W. Schelling e G. W. F. Hegel
acerca da arquitetura, mostrando que estes autores, transformando a base kantiana de que partem,
pela primeira vez tornaram a arquitetura inseparável do pensamento filosófico. A arquitetura passa a
ser considerada parte de um sistema da razão humana e das relações desta com a sensibilidade, a
natureza, a história e o conhecimento em geral. Schelling define a arquitetura através de uma
abordagem tópica, ou seja, do estabelecimento do lugar sistemático que cada arte, e a arquitetura em
particular, ocupam no mundo humano. Este lugar é definido em função de três eixos: ideal e real;
ação e conhecimento; particular e universal. A arquitetura é, para Schelling, uma linguagem
significativa, que referencia e exprime sistematicamente a relação entre a natureza e a consciência
humana.
Na continuidade de vários aspectos da sistematização filosófica de Schelling, Hegel desenvolve uma
teoria da arquitetura que combina a história da arte com um sistema das condições de representação
da consciência humana por si e para si mesma. Na história da arte, Hegel estuda esta tese nas etapas
da arquitetura simbólica, clássica e romântica, mostrando que é possível ler em cada pormenor dos
diferentes estilos arquitetónicos históricos, uma semântica da consciência de si, individual e coletiva.
Procura-se assim mostrar que apesar das grandes diferenças entre os dois autores apresentados, foi a
filosofia idealista que tornou pela primeira vez possível pensar a arquitetura, nos seus pormenores
artísticos, históricos e contextuais, como uma linguagem, expressiva e referencial.
The Language of Architecture in German Idealism
Abstract
This paper highlights some issues of F. J. W. Schelling and G. W. F. Hegel’s thought about architecture.
It shows that these authors, transforming the Kantian base from which they start, for the first time
made architecture inseparable from philosophical thought. Architecture can henceforth be seen as
part of a system of human reason, and of its relations with sensibility, nature, history and knowledge
in general. Schelling defines architecture by a topical approach, i.e., by establishing the systematic
place that each art, and architecture in particular, occupy in the human world. This place is defined
according to three axes: ideal and real; action and knowledge; particular and universal. Architecture
is a meaningful language, which systematically refers to and expresses nature and human
consciousness to itself.
In agreement with some aspects of Schelling’s philosophical systematization, Hegel develops a theory
of architecture in which history of art is combined with a system of conditions for the representation
of human consciousness by itself and for itself. In the history of art, Hegel studies this thesis through
the stages of symbolic, classical and romantic architecture, showing that it is possible to read in every
detail of the different historical architectural styles a semantics of self-consciousness, both individual
and collective.
The paper tries to show that despite the great differences between the two authors, it was the idealism
that allowed for the first time to think of architecture, in all its artistic, historical and contextual details,
as an expressive and referential language.
Daniel Pacheco, Universidade Nova de Lisboa
2. Knowledge, Self-Cultivation, and Naturalism: Nietzsche and Architecture in the Middle
Works (1878-1882)_23
Abstract
This chapter explores Nietzsche’s thoughts on architecture in his “middle period” (1878-1882). I
show that Nietzsche has a number of striking insights into architecture that merit being taken seriously
and claim that these contribute to our understanding of a number of his philosophical undertakings in
these works, including the passion for knowledge (D: §429), self-cultivation (GS: §335) and his
naturalism. Nietzsche calls for an architecture for the search of knowledge (GS §280) which
encompasses a naturalistic retranslation of our knowledge and values. His goal is to supply us with
both a symbolic naturalism that will replace the otherworldly discourse of churches and a practical
environment for studying the natural origins and history of our values.
Marco Damonte, Università degli Studi di Genova
3. Wittgenstein’s House and Architecture as a Gesture_41
Abstract
In the studies on Wittgenstein, the house he designed and planned in Kundmanngasse for his sister
Margaret between 1926 and 1928, is usually considered an exemplification of his philosophical
thought. The aim of this paper is to reverse this approach, appreciating Wittgenstein’s experience as
an architect as one of the decisive stages of his philosophical development. In the first two paragraphs,
I will show that Kundmanngasse House cannot be understood only as a representation of the
philosophy of the Tractatus, nor only as an anticipation of Philosophical Investigations, even if it is
possible to discover in it some Tractarian elements and some intuitions developed after his return to
Cambridge. Paying attention to Wittgenstein’s biographical data and to the cultural context of his
work as an architect, I will suggest the relevance of Schopenhauer’s reflections about architecture in
order to appreciate the Margarete Stonborough-Wittgenstein's House as a gesture. Following this clue,
I will conclude that an architectural gesture is not only a representation of a thought, but a revelation
of the will.
Angelos Sofocleous, University of York
4. Scruton’s aesthetics and functionalism: The distinction between ‘function as it is’ and
‘function as it appears’_70
Abstract
In this essay, I deal with Roger Scruton’s (1979) claim that “Aesthetic experience [for functionalism]
is nothing more than an experience of function - not function as it is, but function as it appears” (p.
38). In particular, I suggest that ‘function as it is’ (i.e. experienced function) must also be taken into
consideration when defining a work of architecture, additionally to ‘function as it appears’ (i.e.
perceived function). Through promoting the importance of experience through ‘function as it is’, I
challenge the notion of a work of architecture as a ‘decorated shed’, and I argue that a work of
architecture is more than a functional building with an added aesthetic component. Moreover, I argue
that there are aspects of a building which ‘function as it appears’ cannot reveal; namely, potential
function – a function which has not yet been actualized but which is inherently tied to ‘function as it
is’ and is present in the building’s structure. In addition, I challenge Scruton’s support of the claim
that architecture is “inescapably public” (Graham, 2012, p. 166) and I argue that Scruton ignores the
interior of a work of architecture, thereby dismissing ‘function as it is’. In contrast to the exterior of
a work of architecture, which is only made for the people, I argue that the interior is made by the
people too through their usage of a building – something the architect cannot predict nor determine.
By examining the definition of a work of architecture as a functional structure which is aesthetically
pleasing, I argue that ‘function as it is’ needs to be included in the definition in order to emphasize an
important aesthetic aspect through which a work of architecture can attain aesthetic perfection.
5. Joaquim Braga, Universidade de Coimbra
O tempo das ruínas no espaço da arquitectura segundo Denis Diderot_82
Abstract
Três pontos de reflexão enformam esta análise sobre a concepção estética das ruínas em Denis Diderot:
1) As ruínas introduzem, na arte arquitectónica, uma dimensão temporal que é, originariamente,
esbatida pelo predomínio estético da espacialidade; 2) Diderot pensa os efeitos estéticos das ruínas
por meio da figuração pictórica, ou seja, também o medium da pintura, marcado pela dimensão
espacial, é capaz de adquirir uma pregnância temporal. O objecto da representação – neste caso, as
ruínas – gera uma tensão estética no medium da representação – o da superfície de inscrição pictural;
3) Com isso, mostra Diderot, uma vez mais, a sugestividade partilhada entre as várias modalidades
artísticas, expressa, em grande parte, com as possíveis formas de articulação do espaço com o tempo,
ou, nos seus termos, do “instante” com a “sucessão”.
