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"An Abstract
Today, architecture constitutes the greatest range of the built environment; yet our buildings are causing physiological and mental stress to the public. If architecture is designed intuitively by engaging the public’s senses through innate habits, we can reduce the stress caused by ‘counter-intuitive’ design and delight the guests. This Thesis explores ‘intuitive design’ through an ancient typology—the bathhouse—built cliff-side of Lake Superior in Northern Minnesota. By utilizing the concurrent transformative mixed research method, qualitative and quantitative data will present a cohesive analysis to complete the architecture.
Key Words: Intuitive Architecture, Purposeful Design, Public Space, Ethics, Senses, Habit, Memories, Connotation"
"I
Today, we stand before a catastrophic threshold. A majority of our built environment has thrown-out meaningful design and replaced the collection with efficiency. Our priorities care neither for the individual nor quality; rather we abide in amount, money and haste. We squeeze employees into small lifeless cubicles where job focus becomes null. Efficiency has been crowned King. The trademark of our modern job atmosphere is a gloomy, isolated, dry-walled and uniformly lit space. As Juhani Pallasmaa, a critical architect of the 20th century exposes, “An efficient method of mental torture is the use of a constantly high level of illumination that leaves no space for mental withdrawal or privacy” (J. Pallasmaa, 2012, p.51). These cubes may save us a few dollars now, but will eventually wound our spirit and weaken our fortitude. Architecture today is the craft of costly warehouses and we are its storage. Therefore, we must acknowledge the
emergency and take action... "
"II
The genesis of intuitive architecture is purpose. The word intuitive refers to the perception of truth. That which is felt to be true without reasoning or logic is intuition. Purpose then, refers to a meaningful form or design—something that is practical and particular. We understand intuitive design through our senses. These built-in traits which all humanity possesses construct a repertoire of instinctual actions. When we were young, we never sensed high temperatures and in consequence we burnt ourselves. Suddenly, we intuitively know when something nearby is hot through our senses. Intuition allows habits to form which ultimately ease our over-stimulated mentality. Thus through the senses, innate habits allow for intuitiveness to blossom. Regrettably, our architecture today causes bad habits to form. Furthermore, intuition perhaps refers to the ease of some activity. While this certainly seems true, it is somewhat skewed. Because intuition is the perception of reality rather than a logical understanding, we find that ease or hardness is only a matter of the latter. On the other hand something that is intuitively understood suddenly becomes easy because little conscious thought is needed to understand the idea: it is instinctual. So like the old adage, a square is a rectangle but a rectangle is not a square, the same holds true here. Intuitive architecture is easy for the guest but ease is not intuitive for it is not instinctual but rather logical..."
--excerpt: A Need For a New Desire
Masters Thesis by jeremiah i. johnson
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