The Analog Traces between Architectural Design and the Body as an Object of Design

E-ISSN： 2327-1779|7|2|85-96

ISSN： 2326-9952

Source： The International Journal of Arts Theory and History, Vol.7, Iss.2, 2013-01, pp. : 85-96

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Abstract

This paper studies the analog line between the architectural design ofKevin Haas and the body as an object of design. Haas, like Paul Cézanne, “…represents the unique things of the world as inextricably linked” (Constanza cited by Jauss, 2002, p. 61). It is therefore possible that the body ‘as a singular thing of the world’ mutated from temple of the soul, as suggested by Plato, to human merchandise (Dufour, 2007). Similarly to machines and devices the body as an experiment participates within the corridor of planned obsolescence of the metaphorical shelter of the spirit body that represents the city as organizer of space, time and edges: the body is now object of design. The disturbing conclusion, as Asa Cristina Laurell points out: “...our bodies no longer belong to us. Their crossed by dogmas of all kinds… Some preach competence and efficiency, the subjection of women as reproductive and family caregiver. We live in times of darkness, which aims to suppress rational thought and science” (2011). The “architectural body” built by Haas imposes forms of thought and structure. The body becomes the backbone of a city that portrays the experiences of everyday life and the compulsion to organize and redesign the body-city where we live. It rebuilds, modifies and puts us in the margin by turning its inhabitants into objects of consumption. Using printmaking as a resource, Kevin Haas builds a non tangible urban imaginary, perceived in the sinuosity of power lines and in the game of sequences and fragments. Immersed in the game of the personal-body and public-architecture is his work. This paper argues the thesis that the body as a design object is introduced into architectural imagination as a dehumanized, cold, hard, exhausted, empty, consumerist body tracing the analog relationship with architectural design.