Philosophy of Achitecture

Published in English with parallel Chinese translation. The book considers the relationship between Western philosophy and architecture. We discuss philosophy’s contribution to architecture and the way in which we can reflect philosophically about architecture, that is to say principally about individual buildings rather than cities. This double role of philosophy is unusual in what might be seen as a technical field: a philosophical investigation would more often look critically at the process of gaining new knowledge or designing and producing something, or it would try to understand or evaluate types of artefacts (for example computers). In contrast, the practice of architecture is already deeply involved in and shaped by philosophical reflection and ideas. Architecture is guided by architectural theory, an ongoing discourse that bridges between philosophy and the practical discipline. Thus when philosophy looks at architectural artefacts or production, it investigates something that is itself partly philosophical, at least in the widest sense of the word.