Despite the fact that phenomenology has been a subject of theoretical discourse for over 200 years, at times the architectural discussion (education, projection | representation and theory) does not concern itself with the embodied experience of architecture, but rather (voyeuristic) image (drawn, rendered or photographic), self-producing (and consuming) commodity and “objective” theory. Simultaneously, as contemporary technological and cultural junkies, our need to know the already-objectified image of something, in this case, architecture, gives us an inaccurate, privileged sense that we “know” the work itself (we know its image).
There is a significant difference, however, between the embodied experience and the projection or image of a building. As articulated in the work of Peter Zumthor, Kenneth Frampton and Juhani Pallasmaa, built work must be experienced (bodily, experientially), or it is not known.
Given our contemporary technological, socio-political context, what does architecture mean to us today? There is an urgency to re-consider the values and ethics of (a) building, and, in doing so, to assess where and how we experience meaning. What constitutes a meaningful order for architecture in our everyday life?
As means of inquiry, this thesis engages a phenomenological approach in the understanding of building(s) and dwelling in the design of a homeless shelter. Herein, the research is twofold: first, to further an understanding of the meaning of dwelling as it has been written about in theoretical and architectural writing(s); and, second, to investigate shelter as the most essential function(ing) of architecture.
The work then focuses on homelessness in Cincinnati, Ohio, and, more specifically, that portion of the homeless population who will not go to traditional homeless shelters. A design intervention will be proposed which is located on a largely abandoned edge of Over the Rhine, a neighborhood in Cincinnati. The design seeks to respond to this human condition while affirming the poetic nature of building and dwelling in the everyday