Architecture is usually analyzed and taught as a discipline that articulates space and geometry, but the mental impact of architecture arises significantly from its image. Written by distinguished writer and architect Juhani Pallasmaa, this book examines at the image in culture; the nature of the image and imagination; and the specific characteristics of the artistic image, concluding with the architectural image. The Embodied Image is illustrated with more than 40 paired images, ranging from scientific images to historic artistic and architectural masterpieces, and contemporary architectural and artistic works.

Juhani Pallasmaa is one of Finland's most distinguished architects and architectural thinkers. His previous positions include: Rector of the Institute of Industrial Arts, Helsinki; Director of the Museum of Finnish Architecture, Helsinki; and Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, Helsinki University of Technology. He has also held visiting professorships at several universities worldwide. Pallasmaa is the author/editor of thirty books, including The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses (Academy, 1995 and John Wiley & Sons, 2005) and The Thinking Hand: Existential and Embodied Wisdom in Architecture (John Wiley & Sons, 2009).

Leseprobe

Acknowledgements. Introduction. 1 Image in contemporary culture. Hegemony of the image. The demise of imagination. Image production and the feasibility of architecture. Architecture and the spectacle. Images of control and emancipation. The sense of the real. 2 Language, thought and image. Image and language. The philosophical image. The meanings of image and imagination. The nature of imagination. 3 The many faces of the image. The lived and embodied image. Images of matter. The multi-sensory image. The image as a condensation. The archetypal image in architecture. Architecture as mandala. The reality and unreality of the artistic image. The unconscious image. The metaphor. Image, affect and empathy. The collaged image. Images of incompleteness and destruction. Images of time. Illusionary image. The iconic image. The epic image. Poetic images as worlds. 4 The anatomy of the poetic image. The dual existence of the poetic image. Ontological difference. Significance of origins. The lived metaphor. Thinking through art. Historicity of the mind and poetic time. Unity of the arts: art and life. Aestheticisation and beauty. 5 The architectural image. Architecture and the world. Architecture as metaphor. Architecture as an organising image. Architecture as a verb. The house and the body. Historicity of architectural images. Primal architectural images and archetypes. The imagery of the window and the door. Dilution of images. The fragile image. Newness and tradition. Selected bibliography. Alphabetical index. Image credits.