Skip to main content
Log in

Enclosure and disclosure on content and form in architecture

  • Original Article
  • Published:
AI & SOCIETY Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Martin Heidegger and Vincent Scully, writing from very different positions, agree that the enclosure of human life and the disclosure of a moral universe are the chief functions of architecture, and they agree further that the traditional house best exemplifies the first function and the Greek temple the second. The culture of technology has emptied the home of many substantial engagements, and it has reduced the monumental structures, the high-rises and expressways, to instrumental status. Architects need to understand the cultural force of technology, the ways buildings shape the conduct of our lives, and the responsibilities that follow from the comprehension of contemporary culture.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Heidegger, “Bauen”, p. 161.

  2. Heidegger, “Schöpferische Landschaft”, p. 12.

  3. Scully, The Shingle Style Today, p. 7.

  4. Ibid, p. 9.

  5. Scully, The Shingle Style (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1955), pp. 152–53; The Shingle Style Today, pp. 4–5.

  6. Scully, The Shingle Style Today, pp. 9–10.

  7. Ibid., p. 4.

  8. Ibid., p. 8.

  9. Scully, The Shingle Style Today, pp. 12–13.

  10. Heidegger, “Der Ursprung,” p. 31.

  11. Ibid., p. 32.

  12. Scully, The Earth, p. 2.

  13. Heidegger, Platons Lehre von der Wahrheit (Bern: Francke, 1947); Scully, The Earth, p. 186.

  14. Edwin Heathcote, “Grand Ideas on a Small Scale”, Financial Times, October 13–14, 2007, House and Home section, p. 11.

  15. Nicolai Ouroussoff, “Nice Tower! Who’s Your Architect?” New York Times, March 23, 2008, Arts and Leisure section, pp. 1 and 21.

  16. See my Real American Ethics, pp. 136–37 and 175–76.

  17. Scully, The Shingle Style Today, pp. 12–13 and 36; American Architecture, pp. 236, 280–81, 284, 286–89.

  18. Heidegger, Die Technik.

  19. Heidegger, “Schöpferische Landschaft”, pp. 10–13.

  20. Real American Ethics, pp. 127–30.

  21. Scully, The Shingle Style Today, p. 9.

  22. Ibid.

  23. Ron Jelaco, “The Window, the Staircase, and the Spaces Between,” unpublished.

References

  • Billington D (1983) The tower and the bridge. Basic Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Borgmann A (1984) Technology and the character of contemporary life. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Borgmann A (2006) Real American ethics. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Giedion S (1969 [1948]) Mechanization takes command. New York, Norton, pp 628–712

  • Heidegger M (1950) Der Ursprung des Kunstwerkes, Holzwege. Klostermann, Frankfort, pp 30–32

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger M (1954) Bauen, Wohnen, Denken, “Vorträge und Aufsätze”. Neske, Pfullingen, p 161 (translations are mine)

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger M (1962) Die Technik und die Kehre. Neske, Pfullingen, pp 15–16

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger M (1965) Aus der Erfahrung des Denkens. Neske, Pfullingen

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger M (1983) Schöpferische Landschaft: Warum bleiben wir in der Provinz? Denkerfahrungen. Klostermann, Frankfurt, pp 9–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Scully V (1974) The shingle style today. Braziller, New York, p 16

    Google Scholar 

  • Scully V (1979 [1962]) The earth, the temple, and the gods, 3rd edn. Yale University Press, New Haven, pp 1–8

  • Scully V (1988 [1969]) American architecture and urbanism. Henry Holt, New York, pp 241–245

  • Sharr A (2006) Heidegger’s hut. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Socolow R (1976) Failures of discourse. In: Tribe T, Schelling CS, Voss J (eds) When values conflict. Ballinger, Cambridge, MA, p 14

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiggins GE, Kahn LI (1997) The library at Phillips exeter academy. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Albert Borgmann.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Borgmann, A. Enclosure and disclosure on content and form in architecture. AI & Soc 25, 11–18 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-009-0240-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-009-0240-3

Keywords

Navigation