0-470-01578-0
The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses, 2nd Edition
Author: Juhani Pallasmaa, Paperback, 80 pages, May 2005
$35.00

Since the book's first publication, interest in the role of the body and the senses has been emerging in both architectural philosophy and teaching. This new, revised and extended edition of this seminal work will not only inspire architects and students to design more holistic architecture, but will enrich the general reader's perception of the world around them.

The Eyes of the Skin has become a classic of architectural theory and consists of two extended essays. The first surveys the historical development of the ocular-centric paradigm in western culture since the Greeks, and its impact on the experience of the world and the nature of architecture. The second examines the role of the other senses in authentic architectural experiences, and points the way towards a multi-sensory architecture which facilitates a sense of belonging and integration.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Part 1

Vision and Knowledge

Critics of Ocularcentrism

The Narcissistic and Nihilistic Eye

Oral versus Visual Space

Retinal Architecture and the Loss of Plasticity

An Architecture of Visual Images

Materiality and Time

The Rejection of Alberti's Window

A New Vision and Sensory Balance Part 2

The Body in the Centre

Multi-Sensory Experience

The Significance of the Shadow

Acoustic Intimacy

Silence, Time and Solitude

Spaces of Scent

The Shape of Touch

The Taste of Stone

Images of Muscle and Bone

Images of Action

Bodily Identification

Mimesis of the Body

Spaces of Memory and Imagination

An Architecture of the Senses

The Task of Architecture