Search results for ""Author Nili Portugali""
Edition Axel Menges The Act of Creation and the Spirit of a Place: A Holistic-Phenomenological Approach to Architecture
NOMINATED FOR THE RIBA INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARD 2007. In this book Nili Portugali, presents her particular interpretation of the holistic-phenomenological worldview in theory and in practice, a worldview which stands in recent years at the forefront of the scientific discourse, and is tightly related to Buddhist philosophy. The purpose of architecture is first and foremost to create a human environment for human beings. The real challenge of current architectural practice is to make the best use of the potential inherent in our modern technological age. Yet, modern society has lost the value of man and thus created a feeling of alienation between man and the environment. Contemporary architecture sought to dissociate itself from the world of emotions and connect the design process to the world of ideas, thus creating a rational relation between building and man, devoid of any emotion. Portugali argues that in order to change the feeling of the environment and create places and buildings we really feel at home' and want to live in, what is needed is not a change of style or fashion, but a transformation of the mechanistic worldview underlying current thought and approaches. Based on Christopher Alexander's basic assumption that behind human architecture there are universal and eternal codes common to us all as human beings, and that there is absolute truth underlying beauty and comfort, Portugali demonstrates how this approach, as well as her unique planning process stemming from it (based on the way things actually exist already on site) generates that common spiritual experience people undergo in buildings endowed with soul, no matter where or from what culture they come from. That she demonstrates through a variety of her buildings and projects (with over 600 color illustrations and drawings), in relation to the physical, cultural and social reality of the place they were planned and built on, an Israeli reality which reflects a unique interface between the orient and the west, a cultural interface she personally represents. The book is valuable to architects, artists, scientists, philosophers and anyone who cares about the quality and beauty of the environment we live in.
£35.91
Edition Axel Menges And the alley she whitewashed in light blue: The secret of all those timeless places where one feels »at home«
If someone asked me: what is the film about, I would have to say: It is really about the essence of human life! I find it incredibly beautiful! It is really a moving experience ... I think it is obviously art built and master full ..." (Prof. Howard Davis, University of Oregon, on my film and the alley she whitewashed in light blue.) At a time of existential threat to the physical and human environment we live in, architect and film maker Nili Portugali takes the readers through a poetic essay and a spectacular photo gallery, extracted from her awarded new film, into a deeply intimate journey of memories in the Galilean holy "Kabbala" city of Tsefat. A childhood journey that unfolds gradually from her present holistic / Buddhist / phenomenological point of view to a discovery of profound universal insights of what is the secret of all those timeless places endowed with beauty and soul where one feels "at home"? And what is that "one pure art of making" that creates them? At any culture at any place and at any time.
£32.40
