Rethinking Dwelling - by Jeff Malpas (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Over the last twenty years, Jeff Malpas' research has involved his engagement with architects and other academics around the issues of place, architecture and landscape and particularly the way these practitioners have used the work of Martin Heidegger.

In Rethinking Dwelling, Malpas' primary focus is to rethink of these issues in a way that is directly informed by an understanding of place and the human relation it. With essays on a range of architectural and design concerns, as well as engaging with other thinkers on topics including textuality in architecture, contemporary high-rise construction, the significance of the line, the relation between building and memory and the idea of authenticity in architecture, this book departs from the traditional phenomenological focus and provides students and scholars with a new ontological assessment of landscape and architecture. As such, it may also be used on other 'spatial' or 'topographic' disciplines including geography, sociology, anthropology, and art in which the 'spatial turn' has been so important.

Review Quotes

"Malpus succeeds at a difficult task: to garner fresh insights from already well-trodden territory. Sensitive to the dynamic relationships between organisms/persons and environments/lifeworlds, the book explores the historically unfolding modes of being-in-place. The tangle of major figures and positions is laid out with admirable clarity, as are the phenomena of dwelling, home, authenticity, identity, displacement, and exclusion." --Robert Mugerauer, Professor and Dean Emeritus, College of Built Environments, University of Washington, USA

"This book is a meticulous investigation of the layers of meaning in Martin Heidegger's writings and lectures related with dwelling and architecture. The writer points out the misreadings and misinterpretations of numerous commentators of the philosopher's writings, and reveals meanings that have been entirely passed or lost. In its precise, careful and calm argumentation Jeff Malpas' treatise is an exemplary philosophical study, especially for persons engaged in the multilayered field of architecture. Regardless of its philosophical tone, it is an evocative and assuring presentation of the mental grounding of dwelling and architecture." --Juhani Pallasmaa, architect HonSAFA, HonFAIA, IntFRIBA, professor emeritus, Aalto University, Member of the Pritzker Prize Jury 2008-2014, Finland

"After having read this book architects can approach building and place anew, from a perspective that is inquisitive and reflective. They are encouraged and inspired to investigate in greater depth basic but foundational conditions of dwelling and thinking, of a thoughtful dwelling that is meant for and addresses our human needs, dreams and aspirations ... In Rethinking Dwelling architects can find many more relevant insights or clarifications of ideas and concepts that are mistakenly taken for granted in present architectural discourse and practice." --Montreal Architectural Review

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