Dice of sensation: envisioning the phenomenological dimension of ecology

Abstract

Contemporary ecological discourse in architecture is often built upon an approach based on quantitative parameters, characterised by the use of scientific data for environmentally sound architectural design. This article questions how such an ecological approach relates to the architectural image, experience, and inhabitation. Through two archetypical projects - Siegfried Ebeling’s Wohnkubus (1926) and Cedric Price’s Generator (1976-9) – this article examines a possible theory of ecologically oriented architecture which engages aesthetic values related to the human experience of architectural space. The projects are separated by the same fifty-year gap that separates Generator from present day, and the article therefore tries to reveal if and how both archetypes could suggest the need for an updated model for environmental design. What can we learn from these projects, and how do the Wohnkubus and Generator unveil other modelling practices? Is architecture today capable of (or even entitled to) producing exemplary representations committed to the ethical dimension of the global change?