Natural phenomena and the senses : linking memory and corporeal experience

Abstract

How could the experience of our rituals be made more meaningful? Our experience of ritual exists as an exchange between our memory and natural phenomena in a place over time. These place specific phenomena are filtered by our senses of touch, taste, smell, hearing, sight and balance before becoming part of our memory. It is the task of the architect to create place that heightens certain qualities of local phenomena in order to make more specific and meaningful our ritual s. Too often, today we are trapped in homogenized landscapes of ideas and visual images that overshadow our remaining senses. To allow for more meaningful and personal memory, we must look to total corporeal experience of phenomena in specific places. Slowing our physical actions, we allow all of our senses to engage the world around, and only then do we become more aware of our body and experience in that world. Ultimately, in better understanding our human corporeal and experiential roots we may feel both secure and inspired being part of a system that is far more pervasive and permanent than we are. The project that follows, the renovation of a house in SouthWestern France, is a physical exploration of the question and notions posed above. Phenomena of light, sound and material are explored through the architectural making of place as it relates to the rituals of those inhabiting the house.