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A thesis submitted to the University of Plymouth
in partial fullment for the degree of
Doc)ov ov Puiiosovuv
Planetarv Collegium (CAiiA)
School of Art and Media
Facultv of Arts, Universitv of Plvmouth, UK
2011
Covvvicu) S).)vxvw)
is copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults
it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no
quotation om the thesis and no information derived om it may be published
without the authors prior consent.
Ais1\t1
Author: Claudia Westermann
esis Title: An Experimental Research into Inhabitable eories
Tis thesis has been written in partial fullment of the requirements for ob-
taining the degree of a Doctor of Philosophv at the Centre for Advanced In-
quirv in Integrative Arts (CAiiA), Planetarv Collegium, School of Art and
Media, Facultv of Arts, Universitv of Plvmouth, UK. Te research was be-
gun in the summer of :oo, as practice based research, and undertaken on
a part-time basis. Its First Supervisor was Prof. Rov Ascott, and its Second
Supervisor Prof. Mike Phillips.
Te thesis research is situated within the eld of Architecture. Its princi-
ple objective is the articulation of arguments for a newtheorv of architecture
as an architectural poetics, and related to this, a newformof discourse as po-
etrv of an architectonic order.
Te research was initiated through a series of questions that architects
confront when asked to create and to speak about what can be understood to
be(come) frameworks for (unknown) life. It thus deals with the question of
the unknown and, related to this, the question of open form. It develops on
the idea that a concept of inhabitation mav be feasible exclusivelv on the basis
of a theorv that extends the well known two-valued logic that has been dom-
inant in the Western world since the times of classical metaphvsics. Rooted
in philosophv, the research extends contemporarv architectural and critical
theorv, notions frompoets such as Paul Celan, Margurite Duras and Samuel
Beckett, and research in second order cvbernetics the latter with an empha-
sis on Gotthard Gnthers writings on Non-Aristotelean logic.
i
Te texts focus is on the notion of Architecture as a transcendental con-
cept. It advances the understanding of Architectural Designas a performative
process that creates borders rather than borderlines, limits rather than limi-
tations and, is therefore, a discipline of radical communication that alwavs
seeks to extend itself towards an Other the unknown addressing it with-
out previouslv quantifving it to render it provable.
Te research furthers the eld of Architecture bv contributing to it a new
theorv in the form of an architectural poetics. It addresses questions of de-
sign with a procedural framework in which critical engagement is an intrinsic
principle, and oers an alternative to existing discourses through a poetrv of
architectonic order that is open to the future.
ii
Cox1ix1s
Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Authors Declaration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Word count of main bodv of thesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
Prlude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
I esis
+ General Introduction and Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +
+.+ Point of Departure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +
+.: Outline of Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,
+.:.+ Main Research Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,
+.:.: Research Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,
+.:., An Experimental Research into Inhabitable Teories o
Practice Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o
Teorv Part . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o
Process and Lavout Teorv and Practice . . . . . . o
Critical Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -
+., Introduction to Part II Leaves of Architecture . . . . . . . s
: Teorv Part Chapter Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ++
, Tinking Poisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +,
,.+ Vitruvius Treatise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +,
,.: Contemporarv Teorv of Architecture and Greek Tought . +-
iii
,., Tinking Poisis with Plato and Aristotle . . . . . . . . . . +s
,.,.+ Ancient Geometrv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :+
,.,.: Khra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :o
,.+ Summarv and Conclusion of the Chapter . . . . . . . . . . :s
,., Relation of Teorv to Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,o
,.,.+ Works in Appendix A, B, and C . . . . . . . . . . . ,o
,.,.: Fragments in Chapter + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,o
+ Poisis Fragments Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,,
, From Techne to Digital Technologv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,,
,.+ Cartesian Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,,
,.+.+ Te Rise of the Scientifc Method . . . . . . . . . . ,,
,.+.: An Era of Doubt and the Necessitv of Hope . . . . ,o
,.: Leibniz at the Intersection with a New Technological Order ,s
,., Te +sth Centurv Shin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +:
,.,.+ in Mathematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +:
,.,.: in the Relation of Public Private . . . . . . . . . . +,
,.,., in the Relation of Politics Art Technologv . . . . ++
,.+ Towards the Digital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ++
,.+.+ Gdels Proof of Incompleteness . . . . . . . . . . . ++
,.+.: Te Finite-State-Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +,
,., Teoretical Analvsis versus McLuhans Tetrad in Practice . . +o
,.o Summarv and Conclusion of the Chapter . . . . . . . . . . +s
,.- Relation of Teorv to Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,+
,.-.+ Works in Appendix A, B, and C . . . . . . . . . . . ,+
,.-.: Fragments in Chapter o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,+
o Techn Technologv Fragments Transformation . . . . . . . . ,,
- Concepts of Place and Space, and a Teorv of Practice . . . . . . ,,
-.+ Places and Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,,
-.: A Contemporarv Account of Place as Tale . . . . . . . . . . ,-
iv
-., Broken Windows and the Public . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o:
-.+ Urban Project Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o+
-., Network Architects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . o,
-.o An Anthropological Approach to a Teorv of Practice . . . o-
-.- Summarv and Conclusion of the Chapter . . . . . . . . . . o,
-.s Relation of Teorv to Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -+
-.s.+ Works in Appendix A, B, and C . . . . . . . . . . . -+
-.s.: Fragments in Chapter s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -:
s Place Tales Fragments Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . -,
, Poetic Order and Non-Aristotelean Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . -,
,.+ Poetic Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -,
,.: Te Birth of Poetic Order out of Corruption . . . . . . . . -s
,., Te Birth of the Writer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . s,
,.+ Lucidus Ordo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . s-
,., From Science Fiction to Non-Aristotelean Logic . . . . . . s,
,.,.+ Tomorrows Eve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . s,
,.,.: Gnthers Starting Point in Science Fiction . . . . . ,o
,.,., Non-Aristotelean Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,+
,.o Mvth of an Architect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,,
,.- Architectural Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,,
,.s Summarv and Conclusion of the Chapter . . . . . . . . . . ,s
,., Relation of Teorv to Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +o:
,.,.+ Works in Appendix A, B, and C . . . . . . . . . . . +o:
,.,.: Fragments in Chapter +o . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +o:
+o Poetic Order Fragments Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . +o,
++ Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +o,
++.+ Contextualisation of the Research Process . . . . . . . . . . +o,
++.+.+ Critical Account of the Practice of Re-Writing . . . +o,
++.: Final Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +oo
v
+: Incomplete Glossarv of an Architectural Poetics . . . . . . . . . +++
+, Contribution to New Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ++,
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ++-
Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +,,
A Citv Four Digital Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . +,,
B Blue Room Installation in Public Space . . . . . . . . . . . . +,,
C Waiting Video Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ++,
II Practice
Leaves of Architecture
III Copies of Publications
vi