Thoughts on Architectural Pedagogy, Draft 02, Paragraph 3
Why is this inability of the architect to complete his or her work to the benefit of the people who engage it? For the individual, the flawed assertions, the voids, shadows, and contradictions are invitations to exit the fabric of the ordinary. Because they attempt to say something and fail, extraordinary or exceptional works bear upon us to make internal corrections or correlations to their space, context, and association. They expose and enable certain complex, enriching types of experiences and manners of exploration, awaken sensitivity to the details of memory and the external physical manifestations of the personality. They lay bare their status as discursive representations. I am here reminded of J.B. Jackson’s theory of the stranger’s path. By establishing cultural and geographic textures, the ordinary and trodden offerings of cities provide a circuit of acclimation by which new visitors grow in their confidence to probe deeper into outlying quotidian sectors. Inversely, it is the more difficult to assimilate manifestations of architecture, by ratifying the individual perspective within the mass, that urge us to take control of the ordinary fabric by seeking out its resonating qualities, making the impersonal personal with the tuned sensitivities of our perception.
