Códigos desplazables: hacia una estética evolutiva de la arquitectura
- Autores: Arturo Frediani Sarfati
- Directores de la Tesis: Antonio Armesto Aira (dir. tes.)
- Lectura: En la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) ( España ) en 2016
- Idioma: español
- Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Jordi Sardà Ferran (presid.), Cristina Jover Fontanals (secret.), Pau Pedragosa (voc.), Marcos Isamat (voc.), Javier Sampedro Pleite (voc.)
- Materias:
- Enlaces
- Tesis en acceso abierto en: TDX
- Resumen
Epistemological Framework. The present thesis provides a specific approach to the realm of Evolutionary Aesthetics, and is probably the first architectural research effort to take into account the recent achievements of this young field.The purpose of the thesis is to explore the evolutionary raison d'étre of a number of architectural phenomena . The theoretical framework underlying the essay is built upon so-called "Displaceable Codes", a means for relating the evolutionary aspects of such phenomena with their cultural and logical aspects. Hence, I postulate that biology, culture and logic are displaceable levels insofar as they all have the ability to influence each other. Rational manifestations have an impact on cultural patterns, while cultural behaviors make their mark on our instincts and emotions over the course of generations. Closing the cycle, culture and logical thinking can be explained as the outcome of certain evolutionary adaptations. The Origin of Architecture. I believe that architecture is far more ancient than it was assumed to be not so long ago. I argue that architecture existed as instinctive behavior prior to the development of its logical and cultural dimensions. At least two million years ago, a hominid not much different from a chimpanzee, homo habilis, was probably able to build its dwelling with a prepared ground surface, a walled enclosure and a roof. Architecture and the control of fire both provided our ancestors with a steadier and safer environment than the outdoors, making for a decisive shift in the course of their evolution and promoting their capacity for reason. Shelter, together with the deterrent power of fire and the possibility of cooking on its embers , provided the energy, the time and the appropriate setting for the cultural exchange of learned behaviors. As a consequence,the affinity towards such behaviors started to be biologically selected according to the advantages that they provided for survival. Ultimately, a greater predisposition for collaborative behavior prevailed, leading to the development of new capabilities such as analogy, imagination or anticipation, all crucial for building a rational consciousness . The Subsequent Origin of the Arts.Thanks to the virtues of the tour Semperian elements of architecture (floor, walls, roof and fire) our forebears started losing their body hair while the volume of their digestive system shrank and their brain size increased.The emotions that prompted storytelling, music, dance, painting or sculpture were likely to be born within architecture. The subsequent evolution of our own taxon towards homo sapiens -and other extinguished hominids that were also capable of building their own homes and handling fire- was accompanied by increasingly varied and complex architectures, bearing witness to the newly-acquired community oriented behaviors. Architectural Phenomena. Coziness, ornament, monumentality,the graceful and the picturesque, but also the urban form and its origin -the landscape- are all subjects that stem from the process mentioned above. While humans shaped architecture, architecture, in turn, shaped mankind. Conclusions. Displaceable Codes pose an architectural phylogenesis built upon ample and recent biological, paleontological and evolutionary psychological evidence.Our displaceable tool allows us to analyze architectural or urban aesthetic theories such as those of Gottfried Semper, Robert Venturi or Kevin Lynch from a new perspective . My work strives to shed new light on the processes that lead to the ongoing reconstruction of the human environment, and to provide evidence of the precursory and central position of architecture among the arts.
