Oral versus Visual Space

the transition from an oral, auditory-focused culture to a visual, sight-dominated

one. It discusses how vision has gradually replaced hearing as the dominant
sense, impacting human consciousness, perception of space, and understanding
of the world. The author argues that this shift has led to a detachment from the
world and a loss of situational, embodied thinking.
The Primordial Dominance of Hearing

1 Collective Importance of Other Senses

human culture has transitioned from a primordial dominance of hearing to one dominated by
vision. While many cultures still value senses like smell, taste, and touch, the focus has shifted
towards vision over time. uman culture has transitioned from a primordial dominance of hearing to
one dominated by vision. While many cultures still value senses like smell, taste, and touch, the
focus has shifted towards vision over time.

2 Edward T. Hall's Proxemic Studies

Edward T. Hall's book "The Hidden Dimension" explored the roles of senses in
the use of collective and personal space in different cultures. His proxemic studies
provided insights into the unconscious aspects of our relation to space and its use
in behavioral communication.

3 Transition from Oral to Written Culture

Walter J. Ong analyzed the shift from oral to written culture and its impact
on human consciousness and the sense of the collective in his book "Orality
& Literacy." He argued that this shift was essentially a transition from
sound to visual space, replacing hearing-dominance with sight-dominance.
The Hegemony of the Eye
The Sixteenth Century
According to Lucien Febvre, the
sixteenth century marked a shift
towards vision, as it became
"seriously and actively engaged
in geometry, focusing attention
on the world of forms." This
unleashed vision in the worlds of
science, physical sensations, and
beauty.
The Hierarchy of Senses
Robert Mandrou argued that the
hierarchy of senses was different
in the past, with the eye being
less favored than hearing and
touch. The eye, which organizes
and classifies, was not the
preferred organ in a time that
favored hearing.
The Separation of Self
and World
The growing hegemony of the
eye seems parallel to the
development of Western ego-
consciousness and the increasing
separation of the self and the
world. Vision separates us from
the world, whereas the other
senses unite us with it.
The Role of Art and Poetry
1 Artistic Expression and Pre-
Verbal Meanings
Artistic expression engages with pre-
verbal meanings of the world, meanings
that are incorporated and lived rather
than intellectually understood. Poetry
has the capacity to bring us back to the
oral and enveloping world, re-oralizing
the word and bringing us to the center of
an interior world.
2 The Task of Art and
Architecture
The task of art and architecture is to
reconstruct the experience of an
undifferentiated interior world, where
we are not mere spectators but
inseparably belong. Existential
understanding arises from our encounter
with the world and our being-in-the-
world, rather than being conceptualized
or intellectualized.
The Loss of Plasticity in Architecture
Traditional Architecture and Tacit Wisdom
The architecture of traditional cultures is connected with the tacit wisdom of the body, rather than
being visually and conceptually dominated. Construction in these cultures is guided by the body,
like a bird shaping its nest, with indigenous clay and mud architectures born of the muscular and
haptic senses more than the eye.

The Transition to Visual Control

The transition of indigenous construction from the haptic realm into the control of vision can be
seen as a loss of plasticity, intimacy, and the sense of total fusion characteristic of indigenous
cultural settings.

The Dominance of Vision in Western Architecture

Western architectural theory since Leon Battista Alberti has been primarily engaged with questions
of visual perception, harmony, and proportion. The perspectival paradigm became the instrument of
architectural thinking, gradually leading to the detachment of the observer from an incarnate
relation with the environment through the suppression of other senses.
RETINAL ARCHITECTURE AND LOSS OF PLASTICITY
As Pallasmaa well states un his book called “the architecture of the seven
senses”, “Buildings loose their plasticity and their connection with the
language and wisdom of the body, they become isolated in the cool and
distance realm of vision The detachments of the human body turns
architecture into stage sets for the eye devoid of an authenticity of
material”.
The Modernist Embrace of Vision
Le Corbusier's
Ocularcentric Statements
Le Corbusier made statements like
"I exist in life only if I can see"
and "Architecture is a plastic
thing... what is seen and measured
by the eyes," clearly privileging
the sense of vision in early
modernist theory.
The Scientific Basis of
Vision
Walter Gropius emphasized the
need to "adapt knowledge of the
scientific facts of optics and thus
obtain a theoretical ground that
will guide the hand giving shape,"
further confirming the central role
of vision in modernist thought.
The Architecture of the Eye
Le Corbusier's credo,
"Architecture is the master(y,
correct and magnificent play of
masses brought together in light,"
unquestionably defines an
architecture of the eye, though his
sense of materiality and plasticity
prevented his work from
becoming purely ocularcentric.
The Visual Paradigm in City Planning

Renaissance Town Plans Idealised visions reflecting the visual paradigm

Functionalist Zoning Principles of planning reflecting the "hygiene of the

optical"

Contemporary City Increasingly the city of the eye, detached from the
body through rapid movement or aerial views

Planning Processes Favoring the idealising and disembodied Cartesian

eye of control and detachment
The Dominance of Vision in Architectural
Education
Architectural Theory and Criticism Educational Philosophy
Educational philosophy has likewise
Until recently, architectural theory and understood architecture primarily in terms of
criticism have been almost exclusively vision, emphasizing the construction of three-
engaged with the mechanisms of vision and dimensional visual images in space.
visual expression, analyzing architectural
form through the gestalt laws of visual
perception.

The Neglect of Other Senses

The perception and experience of architecture have been predominantly focused on vision, neglecting
the role of other senses in shaping our understanding and appreciation of built environments.