Subject: “The agency of buildings, from anthropomorphism to ontological independence”
Speaker: Kostas Baliotis, Architect
Anthropomorphism is a tendency that is observed in many cultures. Usually what is meant with this term is the ascription of human characteristics and properties to non-human objects or natural phenomena. In the western world it is considered problematic if not outright wrong. It could though become a starting point for the revaluation of binary concepts such as animate/inanimate, subject/object, culture/nature that have shaped Modern western thought, and broaden our understanding of who/what can have agency. If the, until now, considered inanimate and dead objects get equal rights of representation in the parliament of agents, could we also start thinking about the agency of buildings?
Subject: “Discovering the unconscious shell: the user’s contribution to the design of his private space”
Speaker: Grigoris Grigoriadis, Architect, MAS in Architecture & Information ETH Zurich
An effort to determine a way to reach the sum of one’s actual desires, in order to define the closest to personalised
architectural project. It is difficult to decide and to render our decisions and it is of crucial importance to use our unconsciousness in order to make ourselves express exactly on what we really want and not on what it is presented to us through the
society. In Gestalt Theory, perceptions are the products of complex interactions among various stimuli and in Synesthesia
one of our senses simultaneously stimulates another sense. Through this thesis I am trying to combine and to evaluate them in a way that the potential client of an architect would feed him with the relevant information, which otherwise they would have stayed at the level of social influences. Due to this reason I created a test based on the ‘projective tests’ logic, which are designed to let a person respond to ambiguous stimuli, presumably revealing hidden emotions and internal conflicts. The final result is
usually revealing concerning their personality. Most of them realise what they really wish for their house that better expresses their personality, their desires and their goals. It is a matter of discussion and study how all this information will be exploited to design a building. I am not looking for geometrical pairing between the expressions and the final volume, but for an interpretation of them, even as an input. It could be also an artificial neural network, like a self-organizing map through which a personality could be revealed in a pretty safe way. It is also a matter of quest the way that these images are selected or if they shouldn’t be just images. I am not only interested in the form that the architect perceives as a concept, but in the volume, the internal and external space which fits to the needs and desires of every potential client.
Coordinator: Eleni Panagiotakopoulou, Psychologist
Venue: Ionic Centre for Scientific, Cultural and Spiritual Study, 11 Lysiou Str., Plaka
