THECONCEPTOFDWELLING,SCHULZ

Thefourmodesofdwelling1ThesettlementWherenaturaldwellingtakesplace,2
Theurbanspaceaplaceofencounter,amilieuofpossibilities,collectivedwellingof
gatheringandassembly,3Institutionsorpublicbuildingordwellingwherepatterns
ofagreementscommoninterestsorvaluesareestablished,whichformsthebasisof
fellowshipandsociety,4Privatedwelling,houseorhome haveacommon
denominator:language.
Heidegger:Languageisthehouseofbeing.Languagecontainsthewholeofreality.
Thismeansthateverythingthatisknownisknownthroughlanguage.Itisthename
whichmakeswhatisperceivedpartofaworld,andhencemakesitameaningful
percept.Inspeakingmanrevealshowthingsare,ratherthanexpressinghimself.
Heideggersunderstandingoflanguagediffersfundamentallyfromthecurrent
linguistictheorywhichconsiderslanguageasystemofconventionalsignsorcode.
Poetryspeaksinimages,poetryiswhatreallyletsusdwell.Anditisshared.Being
intheworldisalwaysbeingwithothers.
Thelanguageofarchitecture:
Howisarchitecturealanguage,buildingsdonotnameanything,theyarenotwords
anditisevendoubtfulwhethertheymaybeconsideredsigns.Andstilltheyspeak.
Scott:alanguageoftheirown,withtheirmeaningstoodeepforwords.Whenthis
happenstruthisnotputintowordsbutrathersetintowork.Itisnotenoughthat
mansaysthethings,healsohastokeepandvisualizetheminconcreteimages
whichhelpusseeourenvironmentasitis.
Heideggerexplicitlynamesarchitectureasoneoftheartswhichinessenceare
poetry.Ingeneralartisthesettingintoworkoftruth.Basicallythishappensasa
poeticprojectionwhichsetsitselfintoworkasfigure.Figureisthestructureinwhose
shapetheriftcomposesandsubmitsitself.Thewordriftmeansthedifference
betweenthingandworld,thatisbetweenbeingsandtheBeing.Thewordfigure
doesnotmeananabstractshapebutaconcreteembodiment.Thesettingintowork
becomesastrifebetweenworldandearththeworldofferingthemeasureandthe
earththeboundaryofthefigure.
Heideggersexample......
TheGreekexamplestartswiththeimageofarockcleftvalleyandlaterrefersto
someconcreteelementsofearthandsky.Butitalsosuggeststhatlandscapecannot
beisolatedfromhumanlifeanddivine.Theinhabitedlandscapethereforeisa
manifestationofthefourfold,andcomesintopresencethroughthebuildingswhich
bringitclosetoman.Wecouldsaythattheinhabitedlandscapedominatesthe
spatialityofthefourfold.Thisspatialitybecomesmanifestasaparticularbetweenof
earthandsky,thatisasaplace.Aworkofarchitectureisthereforenotanabstract
organizationofspace.Itisaconcretefigurewheretheplanmirrorstheadmittance,
andelevationtheembodiment.Thusitbringstheinhabitedlandscapeclose,andlets
mandwellpoetically,whichistheultimateaimofarchitecture.
Morphology
Themeaningofabuiltformconsistsinitsstanding,risingandopening,thatis,inits
beingbetweenearthandsky.Throughitsbeingbetweenearthandskyitgathers
andembodiesaworld.Theembodimenttakesplaceintheboundarieswhichdefine

thespaceswherelifetakesplace,primarelyinthewall.Indifferentmodesof
dwellingthewallisdistinguishedbycertaincharacteristics.Thecitywallmainly
appearsasasilhouette,theurbanwallasavariedrepetitionofatheme,the
publicwallasaconspicuousorder,andtheprivatewallasasarelativelyinformal
reflectionofaparticularhere.Thefloorandroofalsoplayaroleinthedefinitionof
thebuiltform.Theroofusuallyrecallstheformsofthelandscape,whereasthe
publicroofmayactasalandmarkAdome.Thewalliscomposedofdifferent
elements,forinstanceofstories.Thewallhasaryhthm,andtensioninshort
proportions.Thusthewallmaytellthelifeitisrelatedto,ashorizontaladmittanceof
actionsandandverticalembodimentofcharacters.
Thefiguralqualitywhichthelanguagegiveshasbasicrelationsbetweenearthan
sky,thesettingofftowardsearthandskybyclearlydefinedelements,free
terminationofboth,clearbaseandfreetowardstheskyorviceaversa.
Topology
Spatialorganizationimpliesthecompositionofspatialelements.Aspatialelement
maybeanykindofenclosure,delimitedbybuiltorsuggestedboundaries.To
becomeapartofacomposition,however,ithastopossessadefinedformofits
own.Theymaybeasquarerectangleetc.Suchgeometricalunitsdonotonlyhavea
definedoutlinebuttheyalsocontainaninvisiblestructuralskeletonofcentersand
axeswhichmakeitpossibletojointhemorganicallytogether.Anorganizingaxis,
thus,isnotalwayssuperimposedontheplan,butmaybelongtothespatial
elementsthemselves,andacenterisnotnecessarilyintroducedasaforeign
feature,butispotentiallyalreadythereaspartofthestructuralskeleton.Aspatial
elementisnotonlydeterminedbyitsplanbutalsobyitssection.Thecompositionof
spatialelementsarecomposedwithadditionanddivision.Andintegration.
Renaissance,cellsFreeplanhomogeneityaspointofdeparture.
Typology
Thespatialfigureisavolume,whenitissetintoworkbeingbetweenearthandsky,
itbecomesabuildingwithadefinedcharacter.Therearenamesforcertainbeings
suchastower,wing,hall,etc.Theseconcretefiguresanditsarchitecturalapproach
isincontrastwiththeabstractdiagramsoffunctionalism.Heretherearetypical
elementswhicharerepeated,combinedetc.Theseelementsarecalledarchetypes.
Therearealsomemorieswhichareaddedtothesearchetypalfigures.
Mandoesnotonlydwellinurbanspacesandbuildings,butalsointhelanguageof
architecture.
Languagetoday
Thelossofthebuiltformandthespatialfigureisnotonlyaresultofaweakened
understandingofthenatureofformandspace,butfirstofalloftheabolishmentof
thelanguageofarchitecture.Being,knowing,MEANING.