Choral Works in Architecture in Terms of Hermeneutics

Abstract

Discussions of the theoretical foundations of architecture increasingly refer to hermeneutics, a branch of continental European philosophy concerned with human understanding and the interpretation of written texts. Perez-Gomez, Vidler, Vattimo, Palmer and some contemporary theoreticians draw heavily on hermeneutics to question the ethical and epistemological latency of architecture . The concept of "hermeneutics as architectural discourse", which was first introduced by Perez-Gomez, naming "choral works", offers insights that may contribute to the understanding and procession of architecture regarding this issue of architectural epistemology . After briefly reviewing the historical development of hermeneutics as a method of interpretation, from its classical use through the modern debates, and confining the boundaries of "choral works" as architectural meaning, this thesis examines the contributions of choral works in architecture in terms of hermeneutics to the contemporary production methods and strategies of architecture. This background provides perspective for a review of recent hermeneutically-oriented architectural production modes. This includes the "event" diagrams of Bernard Tschumi redefining programming and de-structuring in architecture, Eisenmann's .space of between., Libeskind.s .traces of the invisible. for coding the affective structures of narratives and "hypersurface" theories confining [de] territories by computer aided design parameters.