Built Upon Love : Architectural Longing After Ethics and Aesthetics

Acknowledgments ix Opening conversation 1 Introduction: Architecture and Human Desire 3 Historical origins of eros and philia 7 I Eros, Seduction, and the Poetic Image in Architecture: Form 9 1 Eros and Creation 11 Opening conversation 11 Primordial Eros 12 Eros as creative power in classical philosophy 14 Renaissance incorporations 16 Modern transformations 20 Orphic Eros in late modernity 25 Inspiration in contemporary praxis 28 2 Eros and Limits 31 Opening conversation 31 Eros, spacing, and joints 32 Erotic space and the origins of Western culture 36 Erotic architectural space in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili 39 Chora as erotic space 44 Renaissance incorporations 51 Modern transformations 56 Eras and time 65 3 Eros and the Poetic Image 69 Opening conversation 69 Origins 71 Marsilio Ficino and the poetic image in the Renaissance 73 The poetic image in Renaissance theory 79 Modern transformations 81 The poetic image in modernity 94 From Lequeu to Duchamp 101 Frederick Kiesler's endless architecture 104 Daniel Libeskind's Jewish Museum 105 The poetic image in the contemporary world 107 Interlude: Eros, Philia, and Agape 111 Eros and recognition 111 Philia, ethics, and communion 118 Philia, eros, and agape 120 II Philia, Compassion, and the Ethical Dimension of Architecture: Program 123 Opening conversation 123 4 Philia, Ritual, and Decorum 125 Origins 125 From decorum to character 133 5 Architecture at the Limits of Language 137 Opening conversation 137 Language and architecture 139 Architecture as language 143 6 The Language of Philia in Architectural Theory 147 Vitruvian theory 147 The sequel 153 7 A Tale of Two Brothers: Jean-Louis and Charles-Francois Viel 167 The poetic architecture of Jean-Louis Viel 168 The political architecture of Charles-Fran s Viel 173 Interweavings 184 8 Poetry and Meaning from within a (Western) Architectural Tradition 187 Opening conversation 187 Architecture from within 187 Architecture as poetic writing 192 Architecture as critical poem 196 9 The Ethical Image in Architecture 203 Opening conversation 203 Hermeneutics and ethical intentions 204 On endless desire 211 Notes 215 Index 243