Why ‘The Eyes of the Skin’ still matters

One of the perennial questions asked of architecture by architects is, “How did we lose our way?”. 

The question is predicated upon the belief that ‘modern’ architecture has somehow failed. This belief may be related to the recent loss of social status of the architect in the face of the financialisation of global economies and particularly the rise of property as an asset.

When buildings are created to satisfy the insatiable avarice of shareholders, where is there space for authorship, for intent, for intelligence and wisdom? When buildings are disposable investment opportunities, an architect is not empowered to design for the long term, to think about legacy and generations. 

The type of economy in which we live is in direct conflict with purported sustainability goals of the construction sector such as reducing carbon in the atmosphere or minimising waste. And yet, very rarely, is this elephant in the room acknowledged.

We tinker around the edges, attempting to satisfy the demands of investors whilst trying in vain to address the impact of construction upon the environment. 

One of the questions Juhani Pallasmaa has asked over the past 70 years is, “How do we restore the status of the architect so that architecture can reclaim its authority and power to address pressing social and environmental issues?”

He began this line of questioning with his 1996 book, ‘The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses’. Pursuing the line of argument that architecture had lost its way through privileging the sense of sight at the expense of the other senses, the book seeks to bring architecture back to an understanding of the human body’s relationship with space.

A building which ‘looks good’ can attract investment, and necessarily, an architect must present visual plans to a client and is unable to help them to feel, hear or smell an imagined future space. But, Pallasmaa argues, ignoring these experiences leads to bad outcomes.

Pallasmaa calls for something more generous: an architecture which addresses the embodied human, an architecture that draws on natural wisdom, an architecture which understands that the synergy of material and space is the meeting between our whole being and the entire natural environment. 

Architecture is the space between humanity and the natural world.