The eyes of the skin

Eyes of the skin 

Key Notes 

-      Really interesting point surrounding how society has become dominated by the one sense “eyes”. We are designing for a snapshot in time, for that one image to display. We need to consider all of the senses, how do people interest with the space? 

-      Narcissistic architecture was mentioned, which directly relates to designing for the visual sense. 

-      Vision as a sense is separating us from the world around us and the people experiences within, whereas the other senses unite us. 

-      In western culture we are regarding sight as the dominant sense 

-      In society today we are ignoring the other senses – with the rise of technology we are depriving ourselves of these sensorial experiences and are ow designing without them (e.g looking at a computer screen – we are depriving ourselves of sensorial experiences – Paul talks about us picking up a pencil and drawing our ideas, connecting with the paper and our environment)

Terms/ Definitions

Ocular-centric design 

-      Vision based design 

-      Became popular in our modern society – become the norm of society 

-      The eyes are dominate

Narcissism 

-      Lack of empathy 

-      Selfish behaviours and thoughts 

-      Need for praise/ entitlement 

Narcissistic architecture 

-      directly relates to designing for the visual sense.

-      As a society we are becoming so caught up in how the building looks in a single photo 

-      views buildings solely on the visual aspect, just a means of visual expression 

Nihilism 

-      The nihilistic vision is the detachment of sensory and mental experiences – meaningless experiences

Nihilistic architecture 

-      Views the world of architecture negativity - meaningless 

Merleau Ponty 

-      French philosopher 

-      The senses have varying impressions on our bodies, actions and emotions 

-      “My perception is not a sum of visual, tactile and audible givens: I perceive in a total way with my whole being “ pg.21

The Cartesian eye