DECONSTRUCTIVISM AND DECONSTRUCTION: A CRITICAL RE-EVALUATION OF DERRIDA THROUGH HEIDEGGER WITH REGARD TO ARCHITECTURE

Download
2024-3
Eskandarnezhad, Obeid
Deconstructivism in architecture flourished in the 80s after influence of Derrida’s deconstruction in architecture. Displacement, fragmentation, and disorder are among those attributions of deconstructivism that resulted in exaggerated visual appearance to enhance the spatial experience to address the problem of indifference. Criticized as meaningless, un-functional, and anti-historical, deconstructivism is linked to nihilism and relativism. Reviewing major deconstructivist architects (including Libeskind, Gehry, Hadid, Koolhaas, Himmelb(l)au, Eisenman, and Tschumi) suggest a possible missed link between deconstruction and deconstructivism. While main evaluation of deconstructivism is based on some deconstruction’s keywords (like differance, trace, supplement, absence), this study aims to transcend this literally connected relationship in searching for deeper ontological and epistemological analysis of deconstruction together with conceptual sources of these thoughts to be argued for understanding the relationship between architecture, deconstruction and deconstructivism – as a necessity for progressive architectural criticism. Therefore, this thesis steps further of Derrida’s keywords into the main opposition against metaphysics of presence that has governed architecture since Plato which can be observed within part-whole relationship or influence of subjectivism and objectivism in architecture. Opposed to metaphysical thinking, Heidegger’s philosophy about Being and authentic Dasein is examined and interpreted through which a triplet strategy emerges based on recognition of Being as the abyss and foundationless foundation that can be confirmed within Caputo’s radical hermeneutics and Derrida’s strategy of deconstruction. Hence, the triplet strategy becomes the possible missed link between deconstructivism and deconstruction through which problematics of deconstructivism can be addressed and could bring an envision to architectural interpretation and criticism.
Citation Formats
O. Eskandarnezhad, “DECONSTRUCTIVISM AND DECONSTRUCTION: A CRITICAL RE-EVALUATION OF DERRIDA THROUGH HEIDEGGER WITH REGARD TO ARCHITECTURE,” Ph.D. - Doctoral Program, Middle East Technical University, 2024.