THE BODY OF ARCHITECTURE
“Body and space. An inquiry in preindustrial thoughts” seminar by Prof. Zhang Li (Tsinghua University)
After a decade of academic collaborations and educational agreements between Politecnico di Torino and Tsinghua University, in 2017 Prof. Zhang Li and Prof. Michele Bonino set up a joint research project investigating the relationship between human body and space.
The Ph.D. excellence course is part of this wider project that involves professors and researchers from both universities and addresses a transdisciplinary approach to the domain of architecture.
The human body is a highly contentious topic in the history of architecture, as is the relation between the human body and space. There have been three approaches to this topic. The first regards the body as an aesthetic ideal in architecture. The second regards the body as an operator of a physical-spatial system. The third regards the body as a vehicle of existential experience and embraces sensory memories and apprehensions.
The seminar presented a selection of treatises on human body and space, from both pre-industrial Europe and China, and lead out comparative readings and discussions. The goal of the seminar was to reach some sort of understanding and re-interpretations of the lost wisdoms about human body and space through readings and discussions.
CREDITS:
Location: Valentino Castle, Politecnico di Torino
Framework: Ph.D. excellence course – DASP Architecture. History and Project, Politecnico di Torino
Project time: March – May 2018
Research group: DASP – Politecnico di Torino and School of Architecture – Tsinghua University
Collaborative figures: Prof. Michele Bonino, PhD Deng Huishu, PhD Marta Mancini
