Page 9 - Between light and shade

Introduction

Our senses and the paradox
The use of all five senses is essential, Merleau-
Ponty writes “…for my body to awaken the asso-
ciated bodies. 7” It is by means of the five senses
that architecture, an activity of the human body
and mind, acquires its reality in the world.

However, the oculocentric culture of Plato
(~428 to 348 B.C.) places us in a cave where
shadow and reflection ignore the sense of touch,
smell and taste, even where, in extremis, they
conjure up the acoustic echo, as described in such
an inspirational way by Victor Stoichita 8.

So, am I a prisoner of this cave? The answer
is both positive and negative.

On the one hand, it must be admitted,
without regret, that this work cannot aspire to
cover the entire architectural field, but focuses
solely on one aspect of the art of building, which
has essentially developed to serve the senses of
sight and hearing. There is no need to invoke,
as if to apologise, a “dematerialisation” effect
triggered by new “virtual reality” technolo-
gies, since the following thoughts themselves,
put down on paper, can only be read with the

7 Maurice Merleau-Ponty, L’œil et l’esprit (Eye and Mind),
preface by Claude Lefort, Paris, Gallimard, Folio essais, 1964,
p. 13.

8 Victor I. Stoichita, Brève histoire de l’ombre (A short history
of the shadow), Geneva, Librairie Droz, 2000.

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